VOTE NOT TRADE

TitleVOTE NOT TRADE
BrandFUNKY CITIZENS
Product/ServiceFUNKY CITIZENS
Category D04. Spatial & Sculptural Exhibitions and Experiences
Entrant FUNKY CITIZENS Bucharest, ROMANIA
Idea Creation KUBIS INTERACTIVE Bucharest, ROMANIA
Credits
Name Company Position
Alin Marghidanu Kubis Creative Director
Carina Toma Kubis Creative Group Head
Victor Firan Kubis Art Director
Stefania Bercu Kubis Strategic Planner
Stefan Chiritescu Kubis Head of Strategy
Silviu Stefanescu Kubis Front-end Developer
Paul Mustacescu Kubis Back-end developer
Cristina Rugina Kubis Front-end Developer
Daniel Placinta Kubis Chief Technology Officer
Vlad Iosipescu Kubis Social Media Manager
Vlad Iosipescu Kubis Social Media Manager
Vlad Iosipescu Kubis Social Media Manager
Vlad Iosipescu Kubis Social Media Manager
Sebastian Luba Kubis Head of Social Media
Ionut Avadanei Kubis DOP Lighting Cameraman
Marian Ciungu Kubis Editor
Oana Carcei Kubis Logistics Manager
Claudiu Mihalache Kubis Logistics Manager
Vlad Popovici Kubis Managing Director
George Popa Freelancer Visual Artist
Gabriela Petre Freelancer Scenographer
Dan Perjovschi Freelancer Visual Artist
Diana Papuc Freelancer Visual Artist
Cofetaria - - Visual Artist
Dume De Mestecat Dume de Mestecat Content Creators
Avanpost Production Avanpost Production Company
Cosmin Pojoranu Funky Citizens Communications Director
Elena Calistru Funky Citizens President

Background

In a context of political corruption and apathy in the population, Funky Citizens, a civic NGO, set out to convince people to enroll as election observers for the Romanian 2019 presidential elections. In Romania, rather than creating programs that bring change in society, politicians rely on offering short-term goods to vulnerable communities in exchange for votes. While acknowledged by our audience, trading goods for votes was seen as a topic for online mockery and internet memes. We set out to demonstrate that the low-value items offered in exchange for votes have implications for us all. And, while we cannot stop this practice, we can make sure that we have a fair voting process, by observing what happens at the polls. Our challenge was to get at least 250 people to enroll as election observers (in previous elections, a four-NGOs consortium registered 980 observers - client data), with no media budget.

Describe the creative idea (40% of vote)

Our campaign targeted the new type of “social activist”: active on social media, educated and informed about the main social and political events, but who are satisfied with commenting and blaming others for things going badly, without taking actual steps to fix a situation. We wanted to empower this audience to get involved, by asking them to keep an eye on voting polls to ensure a fair voting process. We created an unconventional art exhibition: the most popular items offered in exchange for votes in the past years were artistically reinterpreted to demonstrate that this practice is a wide-spread phenomenon that perpetuates corruption and deceit. Each exhibit was accompanied by real stories of these goods being offered in campaigns, showing that these are not isolated incidents, but rather well-orchestrated political strategies. Visitors were directed to our online platform, where they could register as election observers, to help keep voting fair.

Describe the execution (40% of vote)

In the exhibition, we reinterpreted the most popular traded-for-votes-goodies as art installations. These aimed to jolt the audience by showing the striking difference between the low monetary value of these items and the high costs they carried for our democracy. Snow-shovels were made to construct a prison cell. Packs of sugar became a Stairway to Nowhere. Buckets with oil, flower and maize inhabited an electoral tent. A wheelbarrow was coated in cheap gold paint. A pork knuckle was placed on a vote collection-box, a play on the Romanian saying that “politicians only want a piece of the pork knuckle”. The labels that accompanied each piece told the story of these items being used as electoral bribery and called upon people to register as observers to counteract this phenomenon. The gallery could be visited for 10 days in the biggest co-working space in Bucharest, ensuring high traffic from our desired audience.

List the results (20% of vote)

During our campaign, we registered 488 valid enrollments for election observers, surpassing our objective (250) by 95%, with no media budget. (Source: client data) On opening night, hundreds of people (journalists, influencers, regular people and people that have their office in the co-working space) saw the exhibits, found out more about the role of an observer and could enroll on the spot. Media was also interested in our campaign - over 50 press outlets reported on the Electoral Exchange Gallery, resulting in 55 K euro earned media (Source: PR agency). Additionally, 46 influencers visited our gallery and created social media posts about the initiative, completely unpaid, encouraging people to visit the gallery and enroll as observers. (Source: PR agency) The exhibition was also invited to be part of TedX - Metamorphisis event on 16th-17th November.