Kristin Macfarlane: Election 2020 - does New Zealand still need hoardings?

This year's general election is on September 19.

COMMENT:
Every election year we see and hear about candidates' hoardings being vandalised, destroyed or stolen.

It's an unnecessary inconvenience and extra cost for those candidates targeted by the immature reactions of the thoughtless offenders.

Whether these foolish acts are committed as a joke or for a reason more malicious, there can't be many people who find these behaviours interesting or even slightly amusing.

Across the Bay of Plenty, we're all sure to have noticed election billboards going up in our neighbourhoods. What we might have also seen are the defacing of some of those hopefuls.

Last week, Bay of Plenty MP and former women's refuge manager Angie Warren-Clark felt personally attacked when her billboard was vandalised with the blacking out of her eyes. She has also had swastikas spraypainted on hoardings and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has also been defaced ahead of this year's general election in Tauranga.

The week before, Waiariki MP Tamati Coffey laid complaints with police after his hoardings were ripped out of the ground or went missing.

To anyone who feels the need to carry out these acts, what is the point?

But are election hoardings still relevant today? Do we really need them?

They are there to give the candidates a presence in their communities.

But who exactly are the target audiences of billboards?

If it's voters over the age of 30, surely the same result could be achieved through a mail drop and a good old-fashioned chat at business or interest group gatherings?

I find it hard to believe these hoardings are targeted to the younger voters, the ones under 30 who are actually under-represented when it comes to voting.

A digital push would be a more age-appropriate way of reaching them.

Candidates and parties have to follow campaign rules when it comes to digital promotions but, surely, there are more effective ways to reach their audiences than the traditional billboards.

Hoardings have been used ever since I can remember and I've never been tempted to make a vote based on anything I've ever seen on one - defaced or untouched.