Poster

Anyone seeking to take the temperature of Argentina in 2013 could do a lot worse than having a look at a poster that appeared plastered over the walls in Buenos Aires and other cities this morning. As even the casual observer will have appreciated, Argentines are enormously expressive, and the streets of Argentina’s cities are full of pictorial examples of said expression: from captivating street art to angrily imploring graffiti, from posters advertising cultural events and happenings to gratuitous nudity. The city in Argentina breathes communication.

Political adverts, posters that appear overnight and may often be torn down during the next day, are never far from the walls and signposts of Buenos Aires. One likes to imagine that each political group has an army of supporters who are just desperate to scurry out into the night and furtively spread messages of exultation or hatred, depending on the issue du jour, but unfortunately I have seen some of the people who put up the posters and I am fairly sure that this is just a job.

Today’s advert is simple, and to the untrained or uninterested eye, it will be of no consequence. I only saw two copies, and they were on pillars next to each other, during my daily commute; by the time I laid eyes on them, one had been almost entirely torn down and the other looked quite wrinkled. The concept is basic: the face of a fat man, looking knowingly at the observer, on a background that has been divided into two colours – half yellow, half orange. Both the backgrounds have ‘BA’ written on them in the opposing corners, and in very different fonts. Underneath is a slogan in Spanish.

This advert, though simple, is very clever. It has united several themes that will be key to the Argentine government this year and shows clearly who is considered to be the enemy. It is a paranoid, angry, swiping piece of political propaganda, which is entirely typical of an election year.

Let’s start with the background. The yellow and orange, both startling and eye-catching colours by themselves and worse together, are not accidental. The yellow refers to the Buenos Aires City government, led by Buenos Aires City Mayor Mauricio Macri, who even today announced what everybody has known for some time: that he wants to be President, and will run for election in 2015. He is the most obvious enemy, and much money and effort has been put into making a figure of hatred to government supporters – and by Macri supporters in his defence.

Less obvious is the inclusion of the orange background. This is a reference to the government of Buenos Aires province, led by Governor Daniel Scioli, who was vice-president under the late former President Néstor Kirchner. Scioli is the popular governor of the largest province in Argentina (representing 40 percent of the votes) and he is not a dyed in the wool Kirchnerite. It is also apparent that he is seriously considering his political future, and many expect Scioli to run for President in 2015 – not in allegiance with President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. As a result, the national government has again spent a lot of time, money and effort in making him an enemy, goading him in the same way they have Macri. The problem for the government is that, while Macri is keen and up for a fight, Scioli is not. The Teflon Don, as he has been referred to, is playing the long game and refusing to fight. This has only made the government angrier.

The next figure attacked in the advert is the fat man, Jorge Lanata. Lanata is famous for many reasons, not least of all for being one of the founders of pro-government newspaper Pagina/12. He was forcibly ejected, but in the last year he has enjoyed something of a renaissance – as a key opposition figure. Lanata’s weekly Sunday night show ‘Periodismo Para Todos’ (Journalism for All), riffing on the government’s trend to put ‘para todos’ on anything within reach, aimed to present investigative journalism into key Argentine issues. The result was thousands of viewers for his broadcasters (Canal 12, owned by opposition media group Clarín), and his launching as a recognizable face of anti-government reporting. Lanata’s show was often in the unique position among Argentine TV of setting the political debate for the week following its broadcast, as the government rushed to refute allegations made by his team of investigators.

The line in Spanish bringing everything together is another riff on an opposition show. This time, the message refers to a series (also broadcast by the Clarín Group’s Canal 12) which is about losing weight, called ‘Cuestion de Peso’ – in English, this translates to ‘Weighty Question.’ However, on the advert, the line is ‘Cuestión de Pe$o$’ – ‘A Matter of Pesos’, the local currency. In this one line, the authors of the advert have made it clear that the issue here is money, while at the same time taking a dig at Lanata for his weight.

No government spokesperson nor government-affiliated group claimed responsibility for the advert, but the message is loud and clear. Facing up to the midterm elections scheduled to be held in October, the government’s enemies in 2013 are: Macri, Scioli, Lanata and Clarín. And, of course, there is one thing that unites all of these groups – money.

This advert is eye-catching and disgusting. It is offensive, unprovoked, cunning and malicious. It is a piece of work that would not be allowed or even tolerated in most other truly democratic states. However, it is also well-timed, and as a depiction of animosity, as an underlining of the ‘us vs them’ mentality espoused by the ‘national project’ of the present administration, it is brutally effective. This City does indeed breathe communication.