Labour joins battle of the billboards

Part of the Labour Party's new billboard.

A big bouncing baby suspended in a harness is Labour's opening salvo in the battle of the billboards.

Labour plans to highlight positive themes every week during the four-week parliamentary recess which began last Thursday.

National opened the battle in early June with striking billboards that starkly compare it and Labour on a range of key issues from tax to race relations.

Labour's initial response pictures a baby with arms outstretched suspended from a red harness and surrounded by four messages about Labour's health and family support moves. Under the picture is the slogan: "You're better off with Labour".

Paid for by the party, the billboards go up over the next few days at a limited number of high-profile sites in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

They will change weekly, with the theme also changing. The next is education and training, but party president Mike Williams would not reveal last night what the other themes would be.

The billboards would also be supported by Sunday newspaper advertising.

Mr Williams said the billboard campaign would push positive message and not indulge in attack politics, at least initially.

"We're running a positive campaign ... we think that what we can do is be in stark contrast to National who are very negative, grumpy and talking the place down."
He said advertising comparing parties tended to appear later in the campaign. "What we are doing at the moment is setting the mood for our campaign."

National's billboards have upped the tempo in the propaganda war and proven both controversial and effective.

The red and blue billboards contrast a grumpy-looking Prime Minister Helen Clark with National's leader, Don Brash, and canvass key themes.

The simple slogans include one headed "Beaches" with the words "iwi" on the Labour side and "Kiwi" on the National one.

The ploy is known as "dog-whistle" politics - the use of subliminal messages to appeal to a segment of voters.