With an election coming up, Aussies will soon have a night where we can be glued to a TV screen watching polling results roll in across the country. Not something you do? That’s OK, you’ll probably be doing something more interesting.
But while you’re making up your mind whether to watch the 2022 Federal Election coverage on the channel of your choice, let me tell you that sometimes election graphics can get high production value, like what we saw in the South Korean election.
SBS starts us off with an adorable but faceless bear pic.twitter.com/R4pd3tw53Z
— Andrew Peng (@TheAPJournalist) March 9, 2022
See, election coverage programs love a high-value graphic — something that visualises vote differences, swing seats, projected victories, losses, that kind of thing. Usually, this can be something fairly harmless like a presenter standing beside a bar graph or Antony Green standing beside a large TV.
Oooor… It can be the Bish Boot.
The Bish Boot was probably the wildest election graphic we’ve seen in Australian election coverage. Referencing Julie Bishop’s red heels, the retired Foreign Affairs Minister would “boot” ousted MPs from their seats.
This wasn’t the first time Nine did something like this. Back in 2007, Nine wheeled out “The Shredder”, which shredded ousted MPs. I love the creativity.
Yeah, those are cool and weird. Do they compare to what we saw in South Korea? Not exactly.
I stumbled across a Twitter thread set up by Andrew Peng, an editor at The Yappie. The thread was filled with absolutely wild graphics involving the South Korean election, graphics that would have taken dozens of hours to produce.
A big part of the coverage included a big white bear interacting with rockets, picking the candidates up, and just being a cute mascot.
The bear wasn’t all viewers were treated to. Political candidates were edited quite often in the coverage, in spy thriller-style short films and in carnival rides.
Honestly don’t know where to begin with this one pic.twitter.com/PZuSzYUHU0
— Andrew Peng (@TheAPJournalist) March 9, 2022
Probably the wildest graphic was a dance-off between candidates in a Mad Max-style world. Leather-clad with goggles and beside muscle cars referencing the legendary V8 Interceptor, this was off the charts.
Now the candidates are dancing and driving cool cars as “Next Level” by aespa rages in the background pic.twitter.com/YesJcZUJJ2
— Andrew Peng (@TheAPJournalist) March 9, 2022
Anyway, if you’re interested in the results, South Korea elected conservative candidate Yoon Suk Yeol as its new president.
Are we going to get this kind of coverage during the Australian Federal Election? Look, probably not. I’ve never covered a South Korean election, but I know things are typically pretty tame as far as election night coverage goes in Australia.
We might see the return of the Bish Boot, or a Bish Boot-like graphic, but beyond that, it’s tough to say what graphics we’ll see — other than Antony Green with his trusty bar graphs. Not that I expect you to be holding out for what graphics we see on election night, but it’s always fun when they’re such high production value.
Anyway, as you were.