From Hold the Front Page (HTFP):
The Electoral Commission has called for “real change” on misleading party political leaflets which resemble local newspapers.
The Commission has said the practice was among the major concerns of the public in its report into campaigning ahead of last year’s general election.
Over the course of the campaign, HTFP highlighted a series of instance of political parties bringing out political pamphlets which sought to mimic established local titles.
The industry subsequently united against the practice, with News Media Association chairman David Dinsmore calling on all political parties to put an immediate end to it.Such newspapers have long been part of Liberal Democrat campaigning and the newspaper industry's particular concern is that some local parties have chosen titles that could be confused with those of existing publications.
But public disquiet with the tactic, as reported by the Electoral Commission, goes deeper.
1 comment:
The great thing about traditional Focus leaflets was that they didn't look like anything else pushed through your letter box. They were as amateurish as the local church newsletter and every Focus team had their own style. Local version of Private Eye or a sombre tone with real type setting. Every Focus said something about where people lived, and the leaflets' designs informed readers about their creators.
I used desktop publishing in 1986 or so to layup a few Focus leaflets, but I was never happy with them. They looked like stuff pressed in your hand at a conference. I couldn't build character in them; my artistry was constrained by the medium, cough, splutter. Every political leaflet which has been pushed through my letter box in recent years has been a communication failure; just a glossy flier, well printed but useless.
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Not-a-newspapers first appeared in the early 1980s, so perhaps a Liberal Party innovation. They were created in order to push a Liberal Party message through letter boxes -- something which people might pick up and read at the weekend after a bombardment of more obvious political fliers.
Design of Not-a newspaper was to represent the style of a generic local newspaper but not to mimic content of particular papers. The intent was to get people to pick up Not-a newspaper, get them reading for a while. There was no intent to suggest that a local newspaper favoured Liberals.
Not-a-newspapers were/are printed at a local news press; they own the kit.
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If you push a flier through my letter box, show individuality or design or humour. Or "My mate is looking for volunteers on Saturday, just for an hour..."
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