When campaigns and committees drop mail sometimes the content becomes a point of controversy. How accurate is that statement? What is the context of that quote? Did that bill really do that? Is that still true? On and on. It doesn’t matter what side you’re on, everyone calls “b#ll$h*t” on a poorly cited or quoted mail piece once in a while.
Content aside, the design and graphics on mailers also tends to stir people up. How bad is too bad when you’re using a picture of your opponent? How far can you take altering (for mail, not for a satirical blog post)?
Case in point, in the District 6 City Council race we’ve seen some hard hitting mail on both sides, but someone sent me a piece today that really struck me. The non-cited content aside, the thing that really stood out to me was the picture of Lorie Zapf that the Howard Wayne/Democrat Party used.
To date, the Zapf campaign has been extremely generous toward the Wayne campaign in terms of pictures. I’ll be blunt here, Howard Wayne is not a visually appealing person and the fact that in the few times I have seen him speak he almost tries to make funny faces, whisper to himself, or click his teeth probably means that there is an endless number of unflattering pictures floating around.
If I were the Wayne campaign I’d stick to playing fast and loose with the facts, because if this becomes a game of who can put the worst picture on a mail piece, well, my friend, game over.
