Rising use of social media for election campaign affects banners and poster printing business

Friday, 12 APRIL 2024 | PURNIMA BISHT | DEHRADUN

Big banners and hoardings were once an integral part of any election campaign but with the rise of social media, their usage has reduced considerably with time. This has affected the printing business significantly in Uttarakhand. The situation is worse during the Lok Sabha elections because most of the items like banners, flyers and pamphlets are brought to the State from Delhi by big political parties due to cheaper rates there, the shopkeepers associated with the printing business told The Pioneer. They said that printing a banner does not always mean only printing the written material they receive from the political parties. They put lots of thought and effort into it as it is one of the ways of mass communication with voters. The designing of a banner takes three to five days and they often have to come up with catchy lines that represent the party and its candidate well. However, the local businessmen have seen a considerable dip in this business in recent years. The owner of a flex and pamphlet printing shop at Chakrata Road Siddharth Gupta said,  “Election season used to mean good business. We were able to earn profits of at least two to three months in advance during elections. With the massive use of flex banners and hoardings, we used to consider election time as a festival season. However the situation has changed in the last five years and this time, the business is below average.” A shopkeeper Naveen who works in a printing shop in Patelnagar said that social media has transformed the way politicians engage with voters and they like to invest less in printing banners and hoardings now, especially in urban areas. “Earlier, we used to get orders for posters, banners and other materials soon after the parties declared the names of their candidates. Representatives of some parties even used to sit with us while we designed their banners and posters. Election season used to be the busiest time of the year for us. However, such things are rare now,” he said. Shopkeepers said they sometimes had to hire more people for different jobs like graphic designing, printing, packaging and delivering goods as work pressure increased manifold during elections. However, the demand for hoardings and pamphlets is less during this Lok Sabha election. A shop owner in Paltan Bazaar Ranjan Kumar said that ordinary flex hoardings cost about Rs 12 per square foot and the flex banners with frames cost about Rs 15 to Rs 20 per square foot. These prices are reasonable but still, many parties bring big hoardings, pamphlets and posters for elections from Delhi due to cheaper rates there. A shopkeeper Harish Gusain said, “Even major parties in the State are looking for cost-cutting for hoardings and poster printing. We have received some orders to make digital poster images to post on social media for the election campaign but no big orders for printing banners, posters or pamphlets. We also understand that a party has to bear the additional cost of the installation of banners on main roads and the distribution of pamphlets in inner areas. Pasting posters on buildings and people’s houses is also hectic work.  The whole task needs extra time, extra money and manual labour. Earlier, the candidates belonging to major parties spent about Rs 20 to 30 lakh each and the independent candidates spent about Rs one to Rs five lakh each. However, the situation is not the same anymore with increasing use of social media platforms.”