2008 Austrian legislative election campaign posters

The political parties used numerous campaign posters in the 2008 Austrian legislative election.
The SPÖ announced on 30 July 2008 that it would put up the first election posters on 3 August 2008; they featured a picture of Faymann, his name and the words "Enough bickering." (Genug gestritten.), thus criticising the grand coalition's lack of agreement on fundamental issues, which the SPÖ attributes to the ÖVP's refusal to accept that the ÖVP lost the 2006 election. The poster was attacked by ÖVP, who claimed that the SPÖ was responsible for the disputes in the coalition, and the smaller parties, who feared a costly election campaign due to the early start of the campaign. A second poster was presented at the federal party conference on 8 August 2008, which also prominently featured Faymann, but had no thematic content. A third poster was presented on 29 August 2008, when the SPÖ officially started its election campaign in the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna; it emphasised Faymann's personal qualities.
The text of the SPÖ election posters was:
On 22 August 2008, the day of the TV debate between Strache and Haider, the SPÖ put up online advertisements pointing to the time of the TV debate and calling it "two good reasons to vote for Faymann: today, 21:15 ORF2". Furthermore, the SPÖ-affiliated Socialist Youth Austria (Sozialistische Jugend Österreich) on 27 August 2008 presented an election campaign (gegenrechts.at, gegen Rechts meaning "against the right") calling for an end to the majority of the right in parliament and for preventing an ÖVP–FPÖ–BZÖ coalition.
The ÖVP presented its first wave of election posters on 5 August 2008. Unlike the SPÖ's posters, they didn't feature Molterer; what the three subjects have in common are the words Molterer used to break up the grand coalition, "That's enough!" (Es reicht!) and the words "A new start instead of stalemate" (Neustart statt Stillstand). The different posters call for doubling home care subsidies, stricter immigration controls and doubling family subsidies in September to help families with children in education. The SPÖ refused to comment on these posters, the Greens were horrified that it was neither the FPÖ nor the BZÖ but the ÖVP which first brought an anti-immigrant tone into the election campaign and both FPÖ and BZÖ considered it proof that the ÖVP did not consider Molterer to be charismatic enough to win the election. A second wave of election posters with new thematic priorities was officially presented on 26 August 2008; one of the posters (previewed in Österreich on 24 August 2008) called for harsher punishments for child abusers and showed two judges about to hand down a judgment, in a change from the nonpictorial earlier election posters. SPÖ justice minister Maria Berger strongly criticised the ÖVP for trying to influence decisions in the court room through the election campaign, and the judges' association (Richtervereinigung) also strongly criticised the election poster's intent. The ÖVP officially started its election campaign on 5 September 2008 in the Helmut-List-Halle in Graz. The third and last wave of two election posters prominently featuring Molterer and the slogan "The better choice." (Die bessere Wahl.) was presented on 10 September 2008; furthermore, the ÖVP in September 2008 employed TV and radio spots criticising the SPÖ for the cost of its campaign promises and for not keeping them after the 2006 election.
The text of the ÖVP election posters was:
The Viennese ÖVP put up election posters on 6 August 2008 which consisted only of white text before a red background criticising Faymann for "just smiling, as always" while the SPÖ Vienna "prevented free of charge kindergartens" and "cashed up without hesitation: in housing costs, parking fees, waste disposal fees ...". The Young People's Party (Junge Volkspartei) presented a website attacking Faymann (roterstillstand.at, roter Stillstand meaning "red stalemate") on 28 August 2008.
The Greens' first slogan was "Not on my watch" (Nicht mit mir). The first wave of posters was presented on 13 August 2008; they prominently feature Van der Bellen (four different close-ups) and slogans which criticise the other parties (the SPÖ for not trying hard enough to fulfill its election promises, the ÖVP for blocking decisions in government, both parties for their bickering, and the FPÖ and the BZÖ for agitating against immigrants), as well as a circular logo containing "vdb 08" (for Van der Bellen). In addition, a second wave of posters was put up starting with 3 September 2008; the second wave featured positive slogans highlighting four demands of the Greens regarding taxes, human rights, measures against the rising prices and equal opportunities. Half the posters featured the Greens' deputy leader Eva Glawischnig instead of Van der Bellen; the common slogan was "when, if not now!" (wann, wenn nicht jetzt!). The Greens officially started their election campaign on 10 September 2008 in the Architekturzentrum Wien in Vienna. The Greens also held a contest for proposed election posters from the internet community; the four winning designs (as there were two equal third places) were put up as actual election posters on triangle stands from 8 September 2008 onwards.
The text of the Green election posters was:
The FPÖ presented its first wave of election posters on 7 August 2008; they consisted of one big election poster and four to be put on triangle stands (Dreiecksständer); two of them (including the big one) prominently featured FPÖ leader Strache, and all of them depicted an eagle (from the coat of arms of Austria) giving a thumbs up. The main slogan was "They are against HIM. Because HE is for YOU." (Sie sind gegen IHN. Weil ER für EUCH ist.) (which had been Haider's election slogan in the 1994 election campaign), and the slogan on the three other posters was "WE for YOU – Therefore ⊗ FPÖ HC Strache" (WIR für EUCH – Deshalb ⊗ FPÖ HC Strache). The other slogans were rhymed and endeavoured to be witty, similar to the 2006 election campaign; one of them featured a prominent spelling mistake ("heisst" instead of "heißt"), which was corrected later in the day. The FPÖ officially started its election campaign on 29 August 2008 on the Hauptplatz in Linz; a second wave of posters was put up in early September, which consisted of one poster featuring Strache before an Austrian flag and two smaller triangle stand posters.
The text of the FPÖ election posters was:
The BZÖ presented its election posters on 27 August 2008; the three posters prominently featured party leader Haider in different postures which are meant to emphasise his image as a man of the people, the claim that he was "the original" and a stylised Austrian flag at the bottom of the posters. The posters will be put up on 1 September 2008. The BZÖ officially started its election campaign on 30 August 2008 in the Stadthalle Graz.
The text of the BZÖ election posters was:
The LIF presented its first election poster on 22 August 2008, which featured Schmidt and called for a three-party coalition as the next government; the LIF stated it would prefer an SPÖ–Greens–LIF or ÖVP–Greens–LIF coalition and that it would not work together with the FPÖ and the BZÖ. Further waves of election posters are planned. The LIF officially started its election campaign on 4 September 2008 in the Palmenhaus in the Viennese Burggarten. On 11 September 2008, the LIF presented a second wave of four election posters only to be put up on triangle stands; they shared a common design and image (a portrait of Heide Schmidt) and the text "for fairness" and differed only in what the LIF stated it was against (populism, scare tactics, exclusion, stalemate and taking people for fools).
The text of the LIF election poster was:
The FRITZ started its election campaign on 5 September 2008 on the Freiheitsplatz in Graz. On 15 September 2008, it presented an election poster (featuring Dinkhauser) which was put up in Vienna only.
The KPÖ started its election campaign on 5 September 2008. Its posters had two different subjects, both of which were only presented on triangle stands:
Save Austria's slogan was "We citizens now vote for ourselves!" (Wir Bürger wählen uns jetzt selber!). They had an election budget of €100,000.
The Christians started their election campaign on 5 September 2008. They stated they could not afford election posters and widespread advertisements and that they would employ less costly ways of advertising for the election. Their slogan was "Strong families. Strong country." (Starke Familien. Starkes Land.). They refused to announce their election budgets and stated they considered employing newspaper advertisements and election posters in the final phase of the campaign.
The Christians had a triangle stand poster (which was only used online and not put up on actual triangle stands, however):