photo credit: Suffragettes and petitions (LOC) via photopin (license)
Have you seen the new Suffragette film?
One of the most moving moments for me was the scrolling credits at the end, when it shows the year each country gave women the vote. It ends something like: ‘2015. Saudi Arabia. Still thinking about it.’
Years ago, I studied ‘women’s issues’ as part of my OU degree. At a talk at summer school, the audience was asked to list the reason why children shouldn’t have the vote. Suggestions included: ‘They don’t have the information to make a good decision’, ‘We know better than they do’, and ‘We’ll vote in a way that looks after them’. The speaker then pulled up a Victorian document that listed all the same reasons to justify why women shouldn’t vote.
That memory has stuck in my head for a looooong time.
However, voting can be unnecessarily complicated.
Sainsbury’s are silly sausages
I saw this display on my way into my local Sainsbury’s (see right).
Customers are invited to choose which charity to support by writing A, B or C on a slip of paper, and then posting their vote in the box. However, the design is ridiculous.
- There are 3 identical pads which causes confusion
- There are 3 slots all presumably going into the same box (if not, why write A, B or C?)
- The instructions are down by your knees
- Voting depends on customers having a pen to hand
Waitrose runs a similar system but much more simply. They give you a green token at the till and you drop it into one of 3 separate boxes on your way out.
Vote with your butt
As part of a street clean-up campaign, smokers are encouraged to vote with their cigarette ends for the F1 Grand Prix or US Open.
As you can see, it stops people dropping fag-ends on the ground.
What a good idea.
World’s most intelligent beggar
This homeless man has separate begging bowls for each religion – how tempted would you be to give?
What this means for you
People like interaction, especially online, so maybe you could use an easy voting system to help promote your business.
Good idea? Vote yes or no in the comments.
