A sign war is a competition between two or more organizations to gain the best visibility, or simply to engage in friendly "
one-upmanship". The goal may be to put up more signs than one's competitors, or it may be to put up wittier signs.
Business sign wars
Sign wars between local businesses may consist of good spirited jabs at one another. For example, a sign war in
Christiansburg, Virginia in 2021 started when a local music store challenged their neighboring shoe store to a sign war. The good-hearted "war" spread across town and attracted national attention.
Political campaigns
In politics, sign wars are competitions between opposing
political campaign
A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making progress within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, by which representatives are chosen or referend ...
s at events and/or locations where campaign visibility is paramount to each side. During a sign war, campaign workers, both staffers and volunteers, seek to have a greater sign presence than their opposition. Sign wars may consist of tens of thousands of signs in standard sizes ranging from
placards to 4'x8's and may include a wide variety of signs that have been improvised by campaigns and their volunteers.
Sign wars as a campaign tactic
Journalists frequently report on sign wars during the campaign season. Particularly for campaigns that aren't large enough to have a regular stream of polling data for the local news media to report on, journalists will use other numbers based metrics such as the number of yard signs for each candidate in the district to help gauge support for individual candidates.
Candidates and campaign staff often stoke the fires of election sign wars to claim that their candidate has popular support among the voters in the district.
Notable political sign wars
A notable sign war occurs during the popular
Shad Planking in
Wakefield, Virginia. Every April, locals and politicians from all around the Commonwealth gather for some politicking, beer drinking, and fish eating.
Nationally, in August 2007, Democrat presidential hopefuls
John Edwards
Johnny Reid Edwards (born June 10, 1953) is an American lawyer and former politician who served as a U.S. senator from North Carolina. He was the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2004 alongside John Kerry, losing to incumbents George ...
and
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
each claimed victory for his side in the sign war that occurred at
Drake University
Drake University is a private university in Des Moines, Iowa. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs, including professional programs in business, law, and pharmacy. Drake's law school is among the 25 oldest in the United States.
His ...
in
Des Moines, Iowa. Probably one of the most famous sign wars occurs every presidential election year at the Jefferson Jackson dinner in Des Moines Iowa.
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
References
Political terminology of the United States
Political campaign techniques
Signage
{{Poli-stub