Siena

[starsandsparkles]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDhD2t2W3Ag

Nice video.

[James.C.]

Not sure, i prefer this one personally... http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/vid ... 2399852161

[Haunted]

How very irritating.

[Guest]

irritaTED

[donpablo]

Nauseating.

[maxray]

I think horrible indie rock will become a standard for all official presentations and advertisements in 20 years.

[DACrowe]

How very irritating.

Which did you find more irritating, out of interest?

Do you think people would be more likely to vote for either of these candidates on the basis of these videos? I can imagine there might be some anti-video negative voting, but as competent as I'm sure they both are I didn't find myself saying 'wow! She's got a whiteboard! She's a shoo-in' or 'he answers his phone and mugs for the camera like he was born to be DoRep'. If they're going to make a video shouldn't it be about policy or something? Or am I thinking 'inside the box' here?

[RedCelt69]

I didn't find myself saying 'wow! She's got a whiteboard! She's a shoo-in' or 'he answers his phone and mugs for the camera like he was born to be DoRep'. If they're going to make a video shouldn't it be about policy or something? Or am I thinking 'inside the box' here?

Whilst watching the Siena video, I found myself hoping that she would be a bit more original as DoRep than she was with the video. Yet another white-board video? Oh, really?

I think horrible indie rock will become a standard for all official presentations and advertisements in 20 years.

I do hope that you're not referring to Vampire Weekend as horrible indie.

[maxray]

I do hope that you're not referring to Vampire Weekend as horrible indie.

I am.

[Jono]

Well I for one am glad that the election rules now afford candidates the freedom to do videos and use the internet without restrictions.

[steelegbr]

Thankfully I'm on my way out of this place so it has no real effect on me. However, one thing I remember about most of the election candidates last year - lots of flashy posters, silly videos and no clear message telling me what they were actually planning on doing. Those videos linked to fall firmly into that category - "vote for me... erm, because.... vote for me".

My approach last year was a couple of posters detailing what I was actually looking to do and what effect it would have. Maybe if I'd stuck some bits of foil on it and attached a silly slogan I might have got in.

Oh, I also hope the above candidates got the appropriate copyright clearance for the music...

[Haunted]

Frankly, the idea that pointless videos that lack political merit such as those posted could influence votes positiviely offends me.
Almost to the point where I have a good mind to vote for 'anyone else' just to make the point clear that I do not enjoy being pandered to like the lowest common denominator the producers of those tacky videos seem to think I am.

[starsandsparkles]

Frankly, the idea that pointless videos that lack political merit such as those posted could influence votes positiviely offends me.
Almost to the point where I have a good mind to vote for 'anyone else' just to make the point clear that I do not enjoy being pandered to like the lowest common denominator the producers of those tacky videos seem to think I am.

Flyers, hecklings, 250 words, facebook groups, websites are all places where policies are broadcast and discussed, not to mention speaking to the candidates personally. I must've missed the rule that said "election campaigns cannot be fun". Let's be honest, how many times and from how many different candidates can you take hearing "I want to get you cheaper accomodation" or "I want to improve the library"?

If you want a video with policies then I suggest http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7THb0pjArgk

[Haunted]

Flyers, hecklings, 250 words, facebook groups, websites are all places where policies are broadcast and discussed, not to mention speaking to the candidates personally.

I am misunderstanding the point of your original post? Were you or were you not posting that video to colour opinion about the candidate (whom you are presumably endorsing)?

I must've missed the rule that said "election campaigns cannot be fun".

Well call me a killjoy but I don't think elections should be fun. They are not recreational activities and despite the fact that this is student election (and thus completely unimportant in the grand scheme) I am attracted towards candidates who show a degree of seriousness in their campaigning and who would not seek to waste the time of voters by producing videos like the above.

Let's be honest, how many times and from how many different candidates can you take hearing "I want to get you cheaper accomodation" or "I want to improve the library"?

Seriously? You are implying that because you find politics boring due to the repetitive nature of talking points and setting out policies (which are pretty much unavoidable if not the whole point of campaigning) that we must therefore produce vacuous crap like the above?

[starsandsparkles]

I am misunderstanding the point of your original post? Were you or were you not posting that video to colour opinion about the candidate (whom you are presumably endorsing)?
Well call me a killjoy but I don't think elections should be fun. They are not recreational activities and despite the fact that this is student election (and thus completely unimportant in the grand scheme) I am attracted towards candidates who show a degree of seriousness in their campaigning and who would not seek to waste the time of voters by producing videos like the above.

Killjoy. I posted the video because I like it. Yes I would like Siena to win [athough to clairfy I am not her, nor am I on her campaign team], but I am under no illusion that the video will change people's minds or persuade them to vote for her if they already support another candidate. As I said before, it's fun and, probably because I am preparing to leave St Andrews, a little nostalgic and sentimental.

Seriously? You are implying that because you find politics boring due to the repetitive nature of talking points and setting out policies (which are pretty much unavoidable if not the whole point of campaigning) that we must therefore produce vacuous crap like the above?

Of course policies are the whole point, and as I said before, these are easily found on facebook, 250 words etc etc. I am 99.9% sure however that a sizeable number of students simply decide their vote on whose name sounds most familiar, whose advertising they've seen most and so on. In a perfect world every voter would have done full research into the candidates and their policies but unfortunately this simply isn't the case as far as I'm aware.

I presume you are also opposed to such vacuous methods as banners and posters?

[Fawksie]

I must've missed the rule that said "election campaigns cannot be fun".

Well call me a killjoy but I don't think elections should be fun.

14. Elections should be fun and inclusive...
36. Have fun and enjoy campaigning!

*cough*

[donpablo]

I'm sick of these elections already and only intend to vote to keep the few people in, that are standing for re-election, that I feel actually did a good job over the last year. I might vote to keep certain people out too. I certainly don't intend to pander to either of the candidates above and wish them an epic fail, along with the others that resort to popularity contest style campaigning. I don't want to be represented by anyone that tries to market themselves as some sort of hipster Apple product. Unoriginal videos = unoriginal candidates that will change nothing, is what I'm thinking.

Shame there is no perfect system, but hopefully people will show a bit of integrity when it comes to voting.

[Haunted]

I must've missed the rule that said "election campaigns cannot be fun".

Well call me a killjoy but I don't think elections should be fun.

14. Elections should be fun and inclusive...
36. Have fun and enjoy campaigning!

*cough*

There is no conflict. I never pretended to suppose what the Students Association Election rules actually were.

[Haunted]

Killjoy. I posted the video because I like it. Yes I would like Siena to win [athough to clairfy I am not her, nor am I on her campaign team], but I am under no illusion that the video will change people's minds or persuade them to vote for her if they already support another candidate. As I said before, it's fun and, probably because I am preparing to leave St Andrews, a little nostalgic and sentimental.

Well in that case things aren't as bad as I was first led to believe.

I am 99.9% sure however that a sizeable number of students simply decide their vote on whose name sounds most familiar, whose advertising they've seen most and so on.

Probably true. Which is what irritates me.

I presume you are also opposed to such vacuous methods as banners and posters?

If the banner contained nothing (relevant) about why the candidate should be elected then yes they too would be a waste of time.

[Fawksie]

There is no conflict. I never pretended to suppose what the Students Association Election rules actually were.

Understood. I just thought it amusing that rather than there being a rule stating "election campaigns cannot be fun" as starsandsparkles mentioned, there are rules stating that they should be fun.