Colourful campaign cars - Branded mobile sound systems striking strategy
Published:Sunday | January 15, 2012 | 12:00 AM
Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer
Convoys of yelling, fist-pumping or V-finger sign flashing, bell-ringing and, for last December’s poll, vuzuvela-blowing political supporters are standard for the general election campaigns in Jamaica.
The party faithful are invariably clad in their party’s colour, green for the ‘shower’ of the now opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and orange for the newly installed People’s National Party (PNP). Traditionally, the vehicles would also be marked by colour, from a small flag to a swath of cloth attached to the body.
However, for the campaign leading up to December 29, 2011, poll, first the JLP and then the PNP rolled out campaign cars that took vehicular political branding to a higher, more sophisticated level. Candidates’ faces were larger than life in professionally done, glossy style, the parties’ colours bright and vibrant.
And most of the vehicles, it seemed, had powerful sound systems, just right for blasting the message to “vote for Labour” or “vote out the green man”.
Commercialisation
However, for those who would rush to dub the branded cars with sound systems as a dancehall phenomenon, Dr Sonjah Stanley Niaah of the University of the West Indies (UWI) points out while they are used by dancehall in Jamaica, it is done in other countries. “It is a device that commercialises in essence what would otherwise be just a means of transportation,” Stanley-Niaah said.“It is not unique to dancehall or Jamaica.”
She opines that the strategy is a reflection of the population that has been mobilised on the candidates’ behalf, who would naturally use what they are accustomed to. There are certain advantages, Stanley Niaah said, pointing out that “a moving vehicle is going to be visible to many, especially in the motorcades put on by both parties”. In addition, less money is required to do the design and there is no need to rent billboard space.
“It is strategic use of the trends now available,” Stanley Niaah said, the branded campaign cars being economical, trendy and something of the people.
There is a long history of political campaigning in Jamaica being linked to popular music. Writing in The Sunday Gleaner on December 25, 2011, Roy Black detailed decades of adoption of popular songs by both major political parties, starting with Clancy Eccles’ Freedom, utilised by Sir Alexander Bustamante in his thrust towards West Indies Federation. Eccles was of the ‘socialist’ ilk, however, and in the 1970s did Rod of Correction and Power for the People for the PNP.
In last year election, in addition to the PNP catching on to the popular slang ‘tun up di ting’, put into song by Khago, the campaign cars blasted the contestants’ own signature recordings. “It going to cost you to get the big sound, but me know how much them spend on quality. The sound them me did hear did loud, but them never really sweet,” car audio system technician André told The Sunday Gleaner.
While he did not do the branding on any of the vehicles used in the campaign Carl Thornton, who has been doing graphic arts professionally for almost a decade, said the process would be identical to that done in vehicle branding for any other purpose. The image is printed on perforated vinyl which is then applied to the car in a process similar to tinting. “Although you can’t see through it from outside, the person in the vehicle has 90 to 95 per cent of the visibility that they would have without the branding,” Thornton said.
“When you don’t want it any more you just take it off, so all those vehicles that had on the candidates, they driving around right now and you would never know them.”
Naturally the cost depends on the size of the vehicle being branded, from Corollas to SUVs and panel vans utilised in the recent general election campaign. “I can’t see even the smallest of those jobs I saw running under $40,000 to $50,000,” Thornton said.
Not his real name
auto@gleanerjm.com
However, for those who would rush to dub the branded cars with sound systems as a dancehall phenomenon, Dr Sonjah Stanley Niaah of the University of the West Indies (UWI) points out while they are used by dancehall in Jamaica, it is done in other countries. “It is a device that commercialises in essence what would otherwise be just a means of transportation,” Stanley-Niaah said.“It is not unique to dancehall or Jamaica.”
She opines that the strategy is a reflection of the population that has been mobilised on the candidates’ behalf, who would naturally use what they are accustomed to. There are certain advantages, Stanley Niaah said, pointing out that “a moving vehicle is going to be visible to many, especially in the motorcades put on by both parties”. In addition, less money is required to do the design and there is no need to rent billboard space.
“It is strategic use of the trends now available,” Stanley Niaah said, the branded campaign cars being economical, trendy and something of the people.
There is a long history of political campaigning in Jamaica being linked to popular music. Writing in The Sunday Gleaner on December 25, 2011, Roy Black detailed decades of adoption of popular songs by both major political parties, starting with Clancy Eccles’ Freedom, utilised by Sir Alexander Bustamante in his thrust towards West Indies Federation. Eccles was of the ‘socialist’ ilk, however, and in the 1970s did Rod of Correction and Power for the People for the PNP.
In last year election, in addition to the PNP catching on to the popular slang ‘tun up di ting’, put into song by Khago, the campaign cars blasted the contestants’ own signature recordings. “It going to cost you to get the big sound, but me know how much them spend on quality. The sound them me did hear did loud, but them never really sweet,” car audio system technician André told The Sunday Gleaner.
While he did not do the branding on any of the vehicles used in the campaign Carl Thornton, who has been doing graphic arts professionally for almost a decade, said the process would be identical to that done in vehicle branding for any other purpose. The image is printed on perforated vinyl which is then applied to the car in a process similar to tinting. “Although you can’t see through it from outside, the person in the vehicle has 90 to 95 per cent of the visibility that they would have without the branding,” Thornton said.
“When you don’t want it any more you just take it off, so all those vehicles that had on the candidates, they driving around right now and you would never know them.”
Naturally the cost depends on the size of the vehicle being branded, from Corollas to SUVs and panel vans utilised in the recent general election campaign. “I can’t see even the smallest of those jobs I saw running under $40,000 to $50,000,” Thornton said.
Not his real name
auto@gleanerjm.com