Billboards don’t win elections, but they can cause defeat

It's difficult to take a walk on the streets of Slovak towns and not notice them, and even though the election campaign hasn't yet officially begun, political parties have been busy putting their billboards all over Slovakia to attract voters. But do they work? According to advertising expert Igor Brossman, while billboards don't win elections, they can indeed cause defeat. This was reported in a story in the Hospodárske Noviny daily on Tuesday. The governing Smer-SD party is preparing to change their motto from 'We work for people' to 'We protect Slovakia'. Experts see a clear connection between the theme of the billboards and the current migrant crisis that is affecting Europe. "It turned out that the position of a protector brings certain benefits", said political Scientist Tomáš Koziak from Košice's P.J. Šafárik University. Sociologist Pavel Haulík doesn't believe that refugees will be a strong theme of this campaign, however. According to him, while Smer-SD's motto change is in response to the current situation, he believes they will return to their original motto later. Extra-parliamentary Sieť party chairman Radoslav Procházka's face has been on billboards for the longest time in the pre-election era; since 2014. Experts agreed that Most-Hid has the most original billboards - they have dark backgrounds, a face by either chairperson Béla Bugár or vice-chair Lucia Žitňanská and there is white text, often with a double meaning, targeting particular issues surrounding members of the ruling Smer-SD party. "A sophisticated voter is able to take that hint and at the same time it's not primitive; it suits the party", said Robert Slovak, President of Slovakia's Advertising Agencies' Club.