While political parties yesterday marked the first day of the election campaign by unveiling their respective slogans and logos, which later in the day were splashed on their every billboard around the country, others seemed keener to point out the lack of ideas or striking similarities with campaign material used abroad.

As a matter of fact the debate on the social media was more about discrediting the rival campaign, rather than anything else.

The Labour Party was the first to roll out its slogan and logo, in a rather pompous fashion on the stroke of midnight on Monday. Its slogan ‘Malta taghna lkoll – Malta belongs to us all’ was immediately criticised in some quarters for being too similar to the one adopted by the UK’s Labour party in their general conference, held last October. Back then Labour leader Ed Miliband had harped on the slogan of ‘One nation. One country for all’.

As for the PL’s logo, some immediately drew similarities with Malta’s republican coat of arms used between 1974 and 1988, highlighting their identical circular shape with the sun shining at the top. Others went even a step further and tried to give a political spin, claiming that this “is further proof that Labour will be reverting back to its Mintoffian days”.

Meanwhile the PN, which opted to unveil its campaign in a more traditional fashion through a morning press conference, once again scored no points for originality as its billboard featuring Lawrence Gonzi and Simon Busuttil is practically modelled on an almost identical billboard used by Barack Obama and Joe Biden in the US presidential campaign of 2008.  However similarities end there, since the American presidential candidates oozed confidence in their expression and body language, whereas the PN leader and his deputy look rather stale and stage managed.

Labour party supporters quickly seized the opportunity not only to highlight this fact, but to remind that the PN has literally run out of ideas since its first billboards in August was a remake of the 1979 Tory Party poster by Saatchi and Saatchi with the slogan ‘Labour won’t work’.

As for the logo chosen by the PN, this is somehow reminiscent of the MSNBC logo, the financial news TV station based in the US. The rainbow colours also suggest that the party which is renowned for its conservative beliefs, is trying to project itself as more liberal, possibly by luring the gay and lesbian community as well as to make up for the damage inflicted to its liberal credentials by its anti-divorce stance 18 months ago.

While it is still early days in this election campaign, it is significant that both parties are trying to project a new identity by ditching their respective emblems from their campaign material, in their quest to lure undecided and first-time voters, who are being eyed as the ones who can tilt the balance of power. 

However by the end of the first week of the campaign, the emphasis may start shifting from the superficial aspects to the core issues, with both parties pledging to unveil the electoral programme in the coming days.