The Politics of Promotion

With less than a week till the midterm elections, there’s an unusual tactic some retailers are taking to mark the event. Usually off midterms slide by with just a brief apparence of paper signs on street corners hyping a comptroller or school levy. But there’s a lot more at stake this year. The news media is going berserk over the story.

NYC is largely devoid of campaign ads but two things recently caught our eye and we wonder if this is a prelude to a larger trend as ‘08 nears.

ABC Carpet had dedicated all their Broadway windows to voter organizations. The windows use posters paired with single chairs from ABC collection. Messaging on the windows read ‘you fill the seat, your power’, ‘you fill the seat, your future’, ‘you fill the seat, your passion’ ect. The windows remain party neutral and urge you more to consider taking time to vote….and consider parting with a few grand so you can have something to sit on when you get home.

The only other example we found was at Patagonia on the upper west side. They have a simpler approach. Large vinyl letters spell out ‘vote’ on the second floor windows.

We’re keeping an eye out to see where this goes. Here’s a few more photos from ABC: [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ]