Print stays at the forefront of politics

It has long been held that elections are good for print. There are orders for posters, for door drop newsletters, for hoardings as well as for polling cards. And if this boosts print for the UK and other European democracies, their scale is dwarfed by the amount of print generated by a US presidential election. This time around there has been even more print as collateral to support the Biden-Harris ticket has been superseded by the need for collateral to support Harris-Walz. To judge by the rallies, by the conventions and by other meetings, the US printing industry has excelled itself. Print fills television screens as visual evidence of the support for the candidates. Emails simply can’t do this.

The style of print though has changed. Candidate addresses continue in print, but the way that voters show their support has changed. It is not only posters in windows or stakes in the lawn. Support is shown by the apparel, printed T-shirts, hoodies, baseball caps, that voters can wear and the tote bags that they carry. All kinds of material can be printed to demonstrate support for one team or another. This is possible now thanks to digital print technology, inkjet in particular, which did not exist when Ronald Reagan or Margaret Thatcher were leading their countries. Politics is changing print.

Today print is used to show support for the candidates for leader of the Conservative Party, whether a Priti Patel coffee cup or Robert Jenrick  tote bag. Print will be a reminder of a contest that will otherwise be forgotten quickly. Branded collateral will endure and will serve as a reminder of an event that has otherwise passed. At one time proof that someone had participated in an event depended on retention of the ticket, to an Oasis gig perhaps. More than a decade on, digital tickets have replaced the traditional paper voucher. But print remains on the T-shirt which declares each supporter’s participation in a little piece of history.