An increasingly employed means of communicating voter and civic education messages is the use of product packaging. In this way, articles such as boxes of cereal, milk containers, candy wrappers, airtime scratch cards and match box covers can all carry messages to voters.
Another option has been to print shopping bags with voter education slogans, logos, and pertinent information to be distributed to shoppers through vendors at stores and market places. Because plastic bags, in particular, can be used over and over again, these tend be a highly visible item out on the streets during the course of an election campaign. (In the case of plastic bags, it is important to give consideration to the environmental impact of its use)
Some restaurants will also have paper placemats or tray mats (in the case of many fast-food restaurants) that can be printed with voter education messages and that can accommodate a significant amount of information. In style and theme, this might reinforce other materials such as posters and leaflets that are being made available through other means.
Packaging is printed on a routine basis and companies are often pleased to provide a valuable public service by incorporating certain messages into the overall packaging design. Once cooperation is agreed upon, educators will want to confer with the company printing and assembling the packaging to determine their schedule relative to that of the voter education programme. Print ready designs, in the specified dimensions and format, for the voter education announcement can then be provided to the printer.
