Borders, Perrin, Norrander, an agency based in Portland, USA came out with a voting consciousness campaign for the recently concluded US elections. The campaign was quite apparently a reverse psychology scheme that was ultimately aimed to get people to go out and vote. The campaign was hugely visual, including the campaign website. It wasn’t partisan and didn’t endorse any political candidate (or so it seemed) – just a reminder of the responsibility of citizens to exercise their right of suffrage.

The copy was simple and straight to the point. It was also most notable for its sarcastic tone. “Don’t vote. Things are fine just the way they are” might have sounded simply constructed, but seen in the light of the visuals, the campaign took on an entirely new meaning. The advertiser ‘Things are fine’ juxtaposed the standard line with visual translations of the social, economic, and political issues raging the US today, such as Made in China products flooding the US, the cost of the Iraq war, the reality of US dependence on
oil as a noose on the neck, among others.

The website contains 12 posters, 3 web banners, and a registration form. The call to action is in the opening lines of the home page main page: “Take a look around. Our world needs a change. You can be that change. Vote. And encourage others to vote. Grab a poster. Print it. Spread the word.” People were encouraged to download the posters and banners, print them, post them, share them, and spread the message of the campaign.

Was it just a coincidence that what the campaign was talking about was also the same slogan of the Obama campaign? Hmmm… Politics walks in mysterious ways.

Via osocio/Things are fine