Gallery of oil paintings fit to put on canvass

'Hot list' of image-conscious young political turks turning heads with eye-catching posters

Una Mullally

Averil Power, FF

Charlie McConalogue, FF

Claire O'Regan, Labour

Maria Parodi, Labour

James Carroll, FF

Laura Moriarty, FF

Niamh Moran, FF

Catherine Yore, FG

John Paul Phelan, FF

Catherine Ardagh, FF

Rebecca Moynihan, Labour

John Lyons, Labour

FF poster boy: Ronan Callely

Irish politics is not known for throwing up aesthetically attractive candidates, but this year's local and European elections look to be changing that trend, with a bevy of young, fresh-faced and attractive candidates emerging.

Good looks in politics have come under the spotlight recently, with Veronica Lario, the (soon to be ex-) wife of Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi lambasting the premier for his preference for attractive, young female politicians. In response to Berlusconi's coalition putting forward several politicians who fit that bill for the forthcoming European parliament elections, Lario said his methods were "shamelessly trashy" and "a dangerous degradation of Italian politics".

Perhaps we aren't so accustomed to beauty pageant-calibre electoral candidates in Ireland, given that men in their 50s from rural backgrounds – ie, the majority of Irish politicians – are arguably not the most well-groomed demographic in Irish society.

But a quick glance at election posters now blanketing every visible surface across the country illustrates how much that is changing. Photoshopping, hair styling, make-up and a carefully chosen wardrobe now seem to be de rigueur for our prospective local councillors, and the addition of a clutch of younger male and female candidates is certainly helping to change the face of Irish politics.

The epicentre of political beauty is Dublin, perhaps due to the greater population and large number of candidates running (although those with a Dublin bias might simply claim people are better looking up in the capital.)

Maria Parodi, running for Labour in South-East Inner City, joins her fellow party members Claire O'Regan (Dublin North Inner City) and Rebecca Moynihan (South West Inner City), in changing the face of the Labour party from a little less Pat Rabbitte to a little more Jessica Rabbit. They join their Labour comrade John Lyons (Finglas/Ballymun) to make up a stunning Labour stronghold in the city.

Cork City South East also fairs well, with Ken Ahern from Sinn Féin and Des Cahill of Fine Gael smouldering from their posters. In Donegal, Fianna Fáil candidate Charlie McConalogue brings his dapper image to the Inishowen ward. And in Kilkenny, Senator John Paul Phelan is melting hearts in the course of his European-election canvassing, while Fianna Fáil's Laura Moriarty is turning heads in Leixlip.

But does any of this actually matter? Melanie FitzGerald-Power, the director of image consultancy Colour Me Beautiful seems to think so. "A first impression is very important, like it or not," she said.

"They are going for a job in a sense. If they give a bad first impression, that's it. Most people are going to go for the more charismatic, good-looking person because they appeal to you or they look the part."

FitzGerald-Power also believes that new candidates are paying more attention to their looks. "I think we are seeing more attractive-looking women, and younger women who are very much more aware of their image. And you can certainly see men looking smarter than they used to. They look as if they got their acts together."

In fact, one prospective politician, 21-year-old Ronan Callely (son of Ivor), even claims people are stealing his poster because he is so gosh darn attractive.

Piaras Kelly, blogger and account director at Edelman PR, says that being aware of your image as part of your overall brand is important, as long as you don't lose the run of yourself. "We need young blood, but we also need people with experience," Kelly said.

"In terms of branding you need to look the part. But it's better to have a good-looking poster in terms of it being striking and colourful... A visual impact is important in order to communicate a message. If you look at the current party in power at the moment, they're minimising their logo. In their case they're hiding the party logo, or the candidates are choosing to hide it."

While Irish electoral candidates have yet to reach the self-obsessed heights of Italian politics, during these local elections the ugly side of politics is certainly getting an airbrushing of sorts.

May 17, 2009

Comments

#1 clodagh bryan commented, on May 18, 2009 at 11:26 p.m.:

What's obvious in FF's goverment's candidates posters is the tiny size of the party logo. When I looked at the Ronan Callely poster, I did not see any logo, the name FACEBOOK was only prevalant so I thought he had cut the apron strings of daddy and gone independent, but on another one of his posters in tiny black writing was Fianna Fail, maybe a ploy to hide his belonging to FF.