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Losing Your V Plates just got political

Students get fancy and encourage first-time voters to lose their V plates

Hamilton, September 8, 2014: A somewhat controversial campaign was launched 29 August to encourage first-time voters to vote in the upcoming general election. The campaign, titled Lose Your V Plates uses sexual innuendo to resonate with youth voters and engage them in the voting process.

Lose Your V Plates includes an extensive social media campaign with a parody of the popular Iggy Azalea song, “Fancy,” as well as targeted memes and metaphorical video testimonials. Lose Your V Plates is also hosting a competition called ‘Tick Stick Snap’ to win an iPad Mini. The competition involves participants posting a selfie displaying their “Yes, I’ve voted” sticker to Facebook or Instagram with the hashtag, #loseyourvplates.

Lose Your V Plates is created in response to what the Electoral Commission describe as a “particularly steep” decline in voting, from 89% in 1981 to 69% in 2011. However, the 18-24 year old age group is showing record low engagement, with less than 40% voting in the 2011 election.

Lose Your V Plates is an initiative designed and managed by a group of University of Waikato students in collaboration with the Electoral commission to engage first-time voters in the upcoming general election.

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