Livingstone's campaign poster mocks opposition. (Stefan Rousseau/PA Images)
poster boys

Boris as a martian - but are dirty poster tricks alien to Irish politics?

The gloves are off in the London mayor elections – do Irish politicians know how to play the poster game?
6.25pm, 1 May 2012
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THE LONDON MAYOR elections are on the last hurdle with just over two days left until polling. The candidates have released their campaign videos (moving some to tears) and election posters.

Ken Livingstone, in a last ditch effort to narrow the gap, has launched a new poster depicting Boris Johnson as a martian. “The Tories are on a different planet” is the slogan that hovers over the head of Johnson and blue-skinned David Cameron and George Osborne.

Are these below-the-belt tactics or are we just not used to a ‘gloves off’ approach in Irish politics? Admittedly the opposition always tries to taint the policy choices of their counterparts (we’ll be liveblogging the blows in the TV3 fiscal compact debate here tonight from 9pm) but no Irish politician has ever been turned into an alien:

Boris as a martian - but are dirty poster tricks alien to Irish politics?
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  • Tame politics?

    London Mayoral candidate Ken Livingstone at the launch in south London of a poster supporting his campaign to be Mayor of London. (Stefan Rousseau/PA Images)

  • Tame politics?

    Labour leader Ed Miliband at the launch of Livingstone's London Manifesto. "Better of with Ken" is Livingstone's campaign slogan. (Stefan Rousseau/PA Images)

  • Tame politics?

    No low blows for the opposition here, just Bertie Ahern promising lower taxes in 2007. (Albert Gonzalez / Photocall Ireland)

  • Tame politics?

    Enda promises that streets will be safer with Fine Gael in government. (Albert Gonzalez / Photocall Ireland)

  • Tame politics?

    Lucinda Creighton putting up a poster of former Minister for Justice Michael McDowells electoral heartland of Ranelagh, which calls into question his committment to the poster which he put up in the 2002 General Election proclaiming" Single Party Government? No Thanks". (Eamonn Farrell/Photocall Ireland)

  • Tame politics?

    One of Fine Gael`s posters as part of the "Ireland Deserves Better" campaign criticising Fianna Fail's policies ahead the General Election 2006. (Leon Farrell/Photocall Ireland)

  • Tame politics?

    One of Fine Gael`s posters as part of the "Ireland Deserves Better" campaign taken in 2006, criticising Fianna Fail's policies ahead the General Election. (Leon Farrell/Photocall Ireland)

  • Tame politics?

    The late former Taoiseach Dr Garret FitzGerald views a 1932 election poster of his father the late Desmond FitzGerald published by Cumann na nGaedheal from the political collection of the National Library of Ireland.(Sasko Lazarov/Photocall Ireland)

  • Tame politics?

    Side by side, Fine Gael and Fianna Fail General Election Campaign posters in Dublin 2002. Still no harsh jibes at one another. (Photocall Ireland)

  • Tame politics?

    Grafitti which has been spray painted onto a Conservative Party poster on a roadside billboard in Ormskirk, Merseyside. (Dave Thompson/PA Wire)

  • Tame politics?

    The Conservative Party criticisms rolled into town in 2010 when they displayed their new poster campaign by driving them past the Houses of Parliament in central London.(Lewis Whyld/PA images)

  • Tame politics?

    UpStart Poster depicting Fianna Fail Leader Micheal Martin as a magician on show on Liffey Street, Dublin. UpStart is a non-profit arts collective which aims to put creativity at the centre of public consciousness during the Irish General Election Campaign in 2011. (Photocall Ireland)
  • London Mayoral candidate Ken Livingstone at the launch in south London of a poster supporting his campaign to be Mayor of London. (Stefan Rousseau/PA Images)
  • Labour leader Ed Miliband at the launch of Livingstone's London Manifesto.
  • No low blows for the opposition here, just Bertie Ahern promising lower taxes in 2007. (Albert Gonzalez / Photocall Ireland)
  • Enda promises that streets will be safer with Fine Gael in government. (Albert Gonzalez / Photocall Ireland)
  • Lucinda Creighton putting up a poster of former Minister for Justice Michael McDowells electoral heartland of Ranelagh, which calls into question his committment to the poster which he put up in the 2002 General Election proclaiming
  • One of Fine Gael`s posters as part of the
  • One of Fine Gael`s posters as part of the
  • The late former Taoiseach Dr Garret FitzGerald views a 1932 election poster of his father the late Desmond FitzGerald published by Cumann na nGaedheal from the political collection of the National Library of Ireland.(Sasko Lazarov/Photocall Ireland)
  • Side by side, Fine Gael and Fianna Fail General Election Campaign posters in Dublin 2002. Still no harsh jibes at one another. (Photocall Ireland)
  • Grafitti which has been spray painted onto a Conservative Party poster on a roadside billboard in Ormskirk, Merseyside. (Dave Thompson/PA Wire)
  • The Conservative Party criticisms rolled into town in 2010 when they displayed their new poster campaign by driving them past the Houses of Parliament in central London.(Lewis Whyld/PA images)
  • UpStart Poster depicting Fianna Fail Leader Micheal Martin as a magician on show on Liffey Street, Dublin. UpStart is a non-profit arts collective which aims to put creativity at the centre of public consciousness during the Irish General Election Campaign in 2011. (Photocall Ireland)

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8 political playboys (or, they fancied they were…)>

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