Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Political Yard Signs

Let's have some fun.

Who has the best campaign signs and who has the worst? This has nothing to do with whether you support them or not. Lets just look at thier signs. Which one is most eye catching, or has best colors, or gets the candidates name out their clearly. Extra points for avoiding the tired red white and blue color scheme.

The better ones thst I can think of from the top of my head are:

Best
Rose Ferlita. Good strong colors and name stands out.
Chloe Coney. The hat is a good device to make it stand out. Names stands out.
Kevin White. Good colors. Name stands out well.
Betsy Hapner. Nice colors and name stands out well. The symbol is good.
April Griffin. Name stands out well.

Worst
Les Miller. Dull. Does not stand out well enough. If I remember right, May be a retread color and design from Gwen Miller's campaign.
The "I have a dream guy". Too much clutter. Simplify.

One thing I like about political campaigns is that after the election I get plenty of signs I can use to make yard sales signs with. What creative things can you do with old political yard signs?

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Disagree with you on Ferlita's signs - that ugly mustard background doesn't work well. They're certainly readable, but they're easily overshadowed by larger signs. (Look at the one right by Osborne & Fla - she's flanked by two huge judge signs, and hers disappears.)

Anonymous said...

I agree, Rose missed it this year. Her signs blend with the back ground. Kevin White's do jump out. I like the Chloe signs for thier colors, but it looks like something for a high school prom.

Anonymous said...

Ken Allen's signs are also very boring, and they look exactly like someone else's signs (Ashley Moody, I think) - same blue background, same skinny serif font in white. Low contrast + serif font = hard to read. They fade into the background pretty fast, too.

Hakeem's signs at least have his picture on them. But nicknames in quotes? Argh. That's been Les Miller's problem for years - first it was Les "Blue" Miller, then it was Lesley "Les" Miller. David L. "Dave" Schmidt needs to be dipped for the same fleas there.

Karen Perez has recycled the same commercial-art-student logo she used last time she ran against Ed Homan - round and multipart on a white background. Someone told me it looks like the label on a pickle jar.

Mary Mulhern has about the best logo I've seen so far this cycle. It's artistic, but it's easy to read and clever. Once the primary is over with, her signs can come out and be seen, and they'll show up better than Rose's will.

Speaking of Rose (again), from her financial disclosure forms it looks like she's relying heavily on direct mail ($21,540.86 for postage, brochures, envelopes, and the like) and $28,287.76 for billboards (to the same company she's paying $3,333.00 for campaign consulting services). If her billboards look like her yard signs, that'll be $30,000 wasted. Not a good beginning for somebody wanting us to think she'll be a good steward of taxpayer dollars.

Anonymous said...

Is there such a thing as a good political yard sign? I am a very active in the political community, and still find these signs tacky. Like some yard sign is going to change my vote?

If anything it's a way to help the extreme left in Seminole Heights locate republican supporters so they can vanadalize their homes. Those peace loving, environmentally friendly vandals. Gotta love them.

Anonymous said...

anon 1:19 - nice straw man there. If you can't find something real to attack, make something up. That seems to be SOP for the GOP. I don't think Seminole Heights *has* an extreme left. With a very few exceptions we're homeowners who worry about property insurance, making a living, getting health care, taking care of our families, and making it through the day. Not a lot of "extreme lefties" there. But you get an 'E' for effort.

As for yard signs changing peoples' votes, it happens. It happens much more than you think. And it happens much more than with those expensive glossy mailers that go right from my mailbox into my trash can.

Anonymous said...

Technically, these political signs are nothing more than illegal snipe signs unless they have the property owners permission. How many times do you think they have permission on commercial corridors, etc.

Anonymous said...

shrekswife - not great billboard placement, given how much people have to concentrate on finding their way through the "new and improving" malfunction junction. The best places for billboards are at intersections where people will be stopped and have a couple of minutes to look around. Look at the "Rent King - friends with benefits" billboards and where they are for examples. I bet that site was chosen because it's "high traffic", and maybe because it's owned by her campaign consultant.

I really have not been impressed with Rose's signs or her campaign so far. If she's using her campaign account to give kickbacks to her campaign consultant, how honest will she be in office?

Anonymous said...

I love it! Only in Seminole Heights will we argue about something as stupid as political signs! LOL Sweet!

Anonymous said...

what about the signs for al fox?
has anyone seen the signs about castro's voice bing heard?
wondering if i was just high

Anonymous said...

Tyler Durden - that's a good reason to keep a digital camera with you; you can take their pictures in the act, upload them to flickr, and post links to neighborhood blogs. Bet it won't be long before someone recognizes them and busts them.

Anonymous said...

ShreksWife - You and everybody else. Something tells me her consulting outfit is sweet-talking her out of a whole lot of money for not a whole lot of effect. Once again, I'm not that impressed by Rose. She's not nearly as good as her resume would suggest.

Anonymous said...

It's got to be better than Caroline Tesch's sign. She has a huge sign in front of one of the most offensive hooker hotels on Nebrasks - the Haven. She's running for a judge's position. Hmmm, do the owners of the Haven have any pull with her? Makes hme wonder if she's got a clue what goes on in the 'hood.

Anonymous said...

anyone else annoyed by the overflow of Kevin White signs? They're everywhere! fast food joints, highway entrances- I see them in my sleep! lol. It's like...is this guy is running for President or something?

Anonymous said...

ShreksWife 12:59 - point taken, but if you look on

http://www.votehillsborough.org/CFElectionFilings.aspx?elect_id=3&office_id=79&cand_id=-1631

you can look at her campaign finance reports and see how much money she's spending on everything. As of today she's taken in $316,055 in contributions and spent $142,334.94. Lots of that seems to be going to an outfit in Tampa called Strategic Solutions LLC and an outfit in West Palm Beach called Public Concepts LLC (haven't totaled it up, but it's a big chunk of that $142K). And the billboard deposit is made out to Strategic Solutions, so I think they own the billboard space.

At the risk of paraphrasing Yogi Berra, you can see a lot just by looking.

Anonymous said...

First of all, the fees she is paying is in line with the real world. I am not familar with the billboard you are referring, but you can plan on billboard running $5-7,000 per month depending on location and traffic count plus creative and production charges. As for the direct mail, it is not too expensive to by a mailing list and create the card, but to mail to a large group will be expensive because the postage, Usually $.19-$.23 cent per household. I would wager that the companies mentioned in the earlier post are marketing firms hired to handle press releases, creative design and media placement, etc. All in all, the fees being quoted here are not very expensive. Some media come election time charge add on fees, surcharges, etc. Any publisher of newspapers will tell you they love election years because it creates a revenue cash cow. If you think this is bad, you should see what the real polititians pay.