I am here in India and I see political billboards everywhere. While I can't read a lot of them as they are in Hindi, the messages they are communicating come across clearly. Using photo-shopped and altered images, the billboards depict political leaders as messiahs. Their faces dominate the billboards, with light outlining their silhouettes to communicate the hope they will (supposedly) bring to the masses. They gaze directly into the camera lens, peering out at their viewers. Their eye contact with their audience is meant to show their earnestness and truthfulness. They wear clothes which are traditionally Indian, communicating their down to earth, typically Indian and wholesome values.
From the colors chosen for these images to the hairstyles the political leaders wear, these billboards -huge and looming on the sides of small roads and big highways- are a form of political communications - they are spin. They are communicating an image of the political leaders they depict designed appeal to their target audience, communicate key messages about the leaders (supposedly good) characteristics and are ultimately an aid to get them elected.
What is most striking to me is that the techniques they employ are so similar to those used in North America and the rest of the Western world. It seems spin has truly become global.
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I have always been fascinated by these huge billboards of politicians with folded hands (they are with folded hands, aren't they). The billboards in South India, particularly in Tamil Nadu are the biggest that I have ever seen anywhere. Can we have pictures, please?
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