From Far and Wide: A Brief Rant on Public Advertising and Political Campaigns in Canada (or: Stick Your Ads up Your Ass)

Well, election time is upon us here in Canada (and has been for a while now, actually). You know, that time where we Canucks vote for who we want to represent us locally to try and squeeze some amount of influence on federal matters, indirectly affecting who gets to run the country. Strap yourselves in, it'll be a wild one this year.

Almost as depressing as election time itself is the sheer volume of useless campaign signs I see littered about. I realize that I could very likely be an anomoly in the grand societal scheme of things here, but the notion that my vote hinges on how many signs I see littered around town seems a bit misguided - even insulting - to me. I'm not likely to vote for Joe Conservative instead of John Liberal because I saw more blue signs on my way to work than red. I also don't get the large clusters of small signs that I've seen - wouldn't one larger, clearer sign get the job done? Do we really need to waste that much paper and ink to make hideously ugly signs? I suppose there are worse crimes against humanity to bitch about than this.

I mean, sure, now we have politicans slapping their names on signs to try and using name recognition and exposure in an attempt to influence the way we think about them and what we have to offer. But imagine what it would be like if people did that all the time; not just to try and sell ideals through a largely artificial image, but to sell crap we don't need like fast food and beauty products in the same manner: with sign after sign of the same image, posted up in public view in an intrusive way.

Oh.. wait.