of
Political Parties
in
Trinidad and Tobago
I cannot remember when I have witnessed such fanatical elections campaigns by the two dominant political parties of Trinidad and Tobago; the People’s National Movement (PNM) and the United National Congress (UNC). Moving beyond the traditional forms of plastering flyers of potential candidates on every possible public space, the endless billboards, banners and the monotonous and thunderous rallies. The UNC more than the PNM has taken full advantage of the digital and social network platforms. They have bombarded the nation with their emails and text messages of continuous calls to action and have interrupted user’s Youtube sessions with their relentless campaign promises.
However I digress, as this initially made me ponder about the impact of how political identities are communicated and what they suppose to represent. It all begins visually with their logo and how it is associated with their own ideals and history. Every millimeter of the logo has been carefully selected and dissected to accurately represent the party it was designed for. Each colour, symbol, form and typography was deliberate to show strength, positivity, hope, stability and reliability; all valuable qualities for a political party.
Depending on how the political parties brand themselves with the various qualities of their logo. They can create a campaign that can become infectious to be ingrained into our mental space. For example whenever red is predominantly used during election season it is associated with the People’s National Movement as red is also a patriotic colour representing Trinidad and Tobago. The same goes for the United National Congress which associate itself with the colour yellow to symbolise the rising sun in their logo; a powerful metaphor for hope in a new beginning.
Approaching into uncharted territory, curious on what will be the impact from the manipulation of these iconic characteristics will have on the logos. It feels almost like changing the inner essence of the political parties itself. Just with the switching of the colours of the logos alone, is quite uncomforting and invasive, as we are programmed to see the logos in their usual colours and settings.
Afterwards this brought up the question of combining the logos together. What will this new logo represent? Will this hybrid represent the combined attributes of both parties? Instead of bitter rivalries and pointless bacchanal of one’s personal life. Could you imagine if the United National Movement (UNM) or the People’s National Congress (PNC), has the support of both political parties fighting against the surge of crime and corruption, investing in sustainable alternative energy away from oil with its falling oil prices which also needs to be tackled as the economy is becoming more unstable and making the concerns of the people a priority.
This is all just a thought.
