I never thought I would see the day when a PN politician would be used with subtle irony by the Labour Party in its election campaign.

This morning when I saw the now much talked about billboard shown here, I thought it was the PN being clever by using the image of Franco Debono, who has been causing trouble for Gonzi, with the slogan, “with Gonzi you have peace of mind”. I thought that the meaning behind it was that, despite being a critic of his own party , Franco was back on board and in this campaign he would be pulling the same rope as the PM.

As it turns out I got it completely wrong and this was in fact a mock billboard by the PL which was using Franco’s image for a diametrically opposite meaning.  In a parody of the slogan and billboard used with Gonzi’s image to good effect in 2008, they are saying that not only don’t we have peace of mind,  but even his very own backbencher does not agree with him.

I’ve been discussing this with people on FB all afternoon, and everyone seems to have reacted differently. Some enjoyed the humour saying it’s a breath of fresh air, while others think the PL got it wrong because it still has not focussed on its own policies, and is simply resorting once again to negative campaigning.

I can see both points of view on this one, but ultimately one thing’s for sure: people are talking about it. And from a marketing angle, that’s always a good thing.

Whether a tongue-in-cheek billboard translates into more support for Labour is another thing.  Some have pointed out that people do not decide who to vote for based on a billboard.  True. But in that case, why is so much money spent on billboard campaigns?