Election videos are the curse of UK campuses

Across the land, candidates are using music videos as part of their electoral campaigns to become sabbatical officers – effectively singing manifesto promises about their suitability for the role. SOAS’s Ali Habib recently butchered Skepta and Toby Gladwin sung why he would make a great Guild President for Exeter University with the help of Adele.

It seems successful – Toby Gladwin won the election partly due to the publicity from making a music video that brought some badly needed publicity to the Sabbatical election itself. Turnout for Sabbatical officers are often miniscule: last year UCLU elections had a turnout of just 16.7%. It’s therefore no surprise that prospective candidates are pulling out all the stops to find new, innovative ways to win the hearts, minds and most importantly of all, votes of an apathetic electorate.

Although music videos might seem part of the solution, they do nothing more than cause long term damage by trivialising elections as well as the position of Sabbatical Officers.

Music videos make candidates comical caricatures rather than campaigners for serious reform. Instead of explaining what makes them the ideal candidate for the role, music videos are populist methods to make the candidate appear likeable rather than suitable. Instead of engaging seriously with voters- candidates are turning to flashy campaigns for success.

What’s needed is a change of emphasis. Music videos place importance on cracking jokes instead of testing whether a candidate is actually suitable. If sabbatical officers want to drum up electoral participation they should try to make more of an effort engaging with the student body by actively campaigning on what issues are important and driving relevant student engagement, not just making a funny video.

Sabbatical officers are full time and paid out of students’ fees in order to represent the interests of the student body as a whole. Electing a funny-man could mean having a Sabbatical Officer lacking the skills to to represent the student body effectively. Issues and proposed reforms wont be taken as seriously and a year will be utterly wasted with an incompetent officer, having a negative impact on student welfare.

A music video wont save Bloomsbury Theatre

If nothing else – get your money’s worth by voting for candidates that can tackle key issues rather than those who can compose a jaunty song.