The Tradition of Marketing Nigeria Politicians through Visual Media

Abstract

Before Nigerian independence in 1960, all political campaigns and debates were limited by the colonial masters to outdoor rallies, soap box speeches, but sometimes there were press editorial efforts in the tabloids and  broadsheets; the broadcast media were, however, not allowed for political marketing. By 1963, after independence, all media of communication were systematically introduced during rallies to send campaign messages to the electorate. This study focuses on the visual media used during political  campaigns in Nigeria since the year 1963. Data for the study were collected from secondary sources such as books, journals, newspapers, magazines and the internet. Replicable and valid inferences were made before  synthesizing and analyzing the contents of these materials, using  descriptive method. It is discovered that the visual media used by visual  artists in marketing politicians through advertising agencies are signage  that include theme/above-the-line media (print and electronic-television), scheme/below-the-line media (posters, leaflets, stickers and calendars,  among others), outdoor/transit media (transportation/vehicle branding and billboard advertising) and ephemeral media (body painting, callisthenic  display and sky writing). The researcher concludes that the visual concepts adopted by visual artists to market Nigerian politicians have successfully  educated the entire citizenry on the democratic process. This is the only  area in which they have contributed their quota to building a politically  stable country with a good creative tradition.

Key words: Political campaigns, Political marketing, Campaign messages, Visual artists, Nigerian politicians