As soon as Jedward were voted out of The X Factor, the Conservatives launched a new poster:

This was in direct response to a previous poster made by Labour:

Some seem to view this as the parties having “pretty low regard for the intelligence of the voter” and are giving no reasons to vote for that party or aren’t very likely to convert anyone.

But that’s not the point of these posters. They’re not there to persuade people to vote Labour or Conservative. They’re not there to make high-brow policy points. They exist to show that poltiicians are “down wiv da kidz,” “just like us” and watch trashy TV too, and to make a quick political point in the process.

It is merely a publicity exercise; there is no intrinsic merit to them, but there isn’t supposed to be. Both parties are trying to get a subliminal message into the minds of the public (and neither are particuarly effective at it).

These postsers are nothing more than something quickly knocked up to make politics seem slightly relevant to the majority of people who aren’t really interested in politics, to get their slogan read a few times and maybe reinforce their party message. They’re not going to get people interested or involved in politics, but that’s not what they have been designed to do.