Poster designs for political campaigns are usually laden with patriotic clichés — red, white and blue, stars, stripes, eagles — which given their turgid redundancy have a numbing rather than rousing effect.
The reason for this design rut is simple: conventional campaign imagery is usually produced by mainstream advertising agencies slavishly following old formulas lest they make a truly novel statement that might offend a single voter.
But now everyone is talking about the Social Realist inspired poster of Barack Obama by Los Angeles graphic designer and street artist Shepard Fairey, and how unique it is. In truth it’s not all that unique. Indeed, artists have been inspired by particular candidates for years and have designed posters that break the mold not only in terms of color and style but also in message and tone.
These posters are memorable because they reject bland tropes while making novel graphic statements that reflect the times in which their candidates are running. Mr. Fairey’s work appeals largely to young audiences, and this poster exudes a youthful cachet.
Since these artists’ designs have not gone through the routine vetting process, the image is unfettered by a canon and commands attention because of its freshness. Take a 1968 poster for Eugene McCarthy by Ben Shahn, rendered in his signature loose linear style. Instead of a ham-fisted patriotic message, it exudes an image of hope — of change.
Ben Shahn’s signature loose linear style is captured in this 1968 Eugene McCarthy poster.
Or the poster that Andy Warhol produced in 1972: an impressionistic image, based on an official portrait of Richard Nixon under which Warhol roughly scrawled “Vote McGovern.” It was the height of irony in a campaign that later became known for its dirty tricks.
Andy Warhol used an official portrait of Richard Nixon in this 1972 George McGovern poster.
In 1984, vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro was depicted as Lady Liberty in a convincing send-up of Eugène Delacroix’s 1830 painting “Liberty Leading the People.” Parody of existing artworks is one of the easiest forms of graphic humor because it turns the table on recognizable images, forcing the viewer to have a double take, which impresses the picture in the mind.
A 1984 campaign poster depicting vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro as Lady Liberty.
In 1996 Peter Max, who gave signed copies of his Statue of Liberty prints to whichever president was in office, created a poster for Bill Clinton and Al Gore’s re-election campaign. Mr. Max’s post-psychedelic poster was a welcome alternative to the tried-and true.
Peter Max’s post-psychedelic poster for Bill Clinton and Al Gore’s re-election campaign in 1996.
Breaking from tradition does not add votes to a candidate’s column, but alternative graphic approaches are decidedly more eye-catching and that can’t help but have a positive public impact. Sure, posters, banners and buttons are not going to sway a voter, but they may touch responsive chords with those who have already made choices.
During the McCarthy campaign I hung the Ben Shahn poster in my apartment window not just to show support for the candidate but to ally myself with my generation, which the poster’s artful graphics telegraphed so well. Likewise, the Obama poster is street art, which signals a message to youth culture. And even for older voters it signals change. At the very least it suggests that if campaign messages were not so formulaic there might not be the perception of business as usual.
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