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Ad of the Day: Subverted political posters want 15.5m non-voters to visit ballot box

By Amy Houston, Senior Reporter

June 26, 2024 | 5 min read

The important project highlights a staggering figure: in the last UK General Election, 33% of registered voters didn’t actually vote. The message has landed our top spot today.

'The Unheard Third' posters / Brave Spark

In 2019, 15.5 million registered voters did not visit the ballot box. To put that into context, that is more people than voted for the Conservative party, which won the election. This means that the group of non-voters could have significantly influenced the election’s outcome, underscoring the power and potential of each vote.

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Voting Counts, which calls itself an unbiased political resource, has now dubbed this group ‘The Unheard Third,’ which, if it was real, would make it the UK’s biggest political party. Its pseudo-manifesto reads: “We want you to have a say. We want you to make a change. We want you to stand up for what you believe in. So, please. Vote for anyone but us.” This clever narrative strategy turns the spotlight on non-voters, framing their inaction as a form of silent yet potent political force.

This is what makes the campaign so brilliant and engaging – the sheer bluntness of the humongous numbers. It’s a rallying cry for people to get out and vote but in a fairly unbiased way. It doesn’t push for a particular political agenda but instead focuses on the democratic process itself. By doing so, it seeks to empower individuals to realize the significance of their vote without aligning them with any particular party.

Cleverly, the out-of-home posters twist tropes and phrases from typical political advertising campaigns, with headlines such as ‘We don’t want your vote’ and ‘If you don’t vote, you don’t count,’ subverting what you’d normally expect from a party rallying for support.

Meanwhile, pastel colors are used to give the work a contemporary feel while not aligning with any existing political party.

Credits

Client: Rachael Farrington, founder, Voting Counts

Agency: Brave Spark

Executive creative director: Juliet McLaren

Creative: Dan Middlehurst

Designer: Alessandra Conti

Account director: Elise Bola

Strategy director: Katie Mulligan

Project director: Natasha Bannister

Media planning: Conor Pathan @ Jack

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