Branding Halimah Yacob: Design meets Politics

Halimah Yacob, the 8th and current President of Singapore, won this year's 'election' by being the only candidate approved to run for the highest office in the land. Due to this controversial walkover result, people started to voice their opinions on PE 2017 via creatively thought-out memes, written arguments and a viral hashtag. 

While not from Halimah's campaign team itself, these creations have overshadowed the content from the President's team, inevitably contributing to the brand of Halimah Yacob. Let's take a look at her official brand and the brand created by the Internet, and learn what it means to be a politician in this day and age. 

The Official Brand of Madam President

When Halimah Yacob became the first out of 3 presidential hopefuls to launch a Presidential campaign website, I was hoping to see (and eventually critique) a logo to represent her campaign. Unfortunately, I was greeted with a cheeky slogan which did not make much sense. 

Screengrab of Halimah Yacob's website (Source)

But of course, branding can be done via other means - the logo is just a component of a brand. Colours matter, and Madam President did a fairly good job at sticking to her brand colour of orange by dressing regularly in the bright colour and making her website cheery with different tones of orange. 

Orange looks good on her tbh (Source)

In Singapore, orange represents racial and religious harmony. The yearly Orange Ribbon Celebrations consist of activities promoting understanding and appreciation for people of different cultures. One such activity, the Orange Ribbon Run, was held about a week ago.

Halimah's campaign colour

Depending on your political viewpoint, using orange as Halimah's brand colour for a Malay-reserved Presidential election can either be an apt or hypocritical move. 

The only time when she did not use orange (ironically) was when she held a press conference announcing that she was running for President.

Still dressed in orange, together with her girlfriends! (Source)

By that time, I was convinced that Halimah's campaign did not include a logo. I mean, just look at the billboard behind her - it's a pattern of her questionable, frankly grammatically incorrect slogan. 

I was wrong. Halimah did have a campaign logo all this while.

It was probably released too late, because by the time her logo was publicly released, the walkover result had already been announced. The logo looked like this:

Halimah supporters proudly displaying their merch on 'Nomination' Day (Source)

Similar to the colour used for her campaign, the H logo suggests unity and harmony, working together. Do together, if you will :P

Mothership pointed out that the logo resembled Honour Singapore's logo.

Oops! (Source)

By comparing the 2 logos, it is clear to see which one is more impactful. The handshake in Halimah's logo appears rather limp while Honour SG has a firmer handshake. The relationship between the hands and the 2 stems of the H should also be strengthened - when the logo is enlarged, there seems to be a visual disconnect between the 2 elements. 

Not too long ago, a certain female candidate from a world power nearly shattered the glass ceiling to become leader of the free world. Coincidentally, her name also began with the letter H.

Emojisident

A special limited edition emoji was released on Twitter to celebrate Halimah's win, which was designed by Jiahui Wee of Mothership. Tweets with #HalimahYacob, #PresidentHalimah or #MdmPresident will feature the emoji-fied President. Pretty sweet.



Damn, emojis should totally replace those ugly Presidential symbols on voting slips. That is, if we do ever get to see another Presidential election voting slip in this lifetime.

The Unofficial Brand of Madam President

This election has definitely been a polarising one. It was not between the candidates (well technically only 1 candidate), but rather between the Government and the people. Many Singaporeans saw this election as a rigged, kelong one, to prevent Tan Cheng Bock from ever becoming a Presidential candidate. 

If only he got 0.35% more of the vote in 2011... (Source)

Trigger the Internet dwellers and you'll get gems which accurately depict how you feel about the election, or lack thereof.

#NotMyPresident Movement

Whenever a news article about Halimah is shared on Facebook, you can be sure to see this hashtag along with the angry react. The hashtag was used back in 2016 as a protest symbol when Donald Trump won the USA Presidential election.

During the silent protest on 16 September, Not My President was the slogan for the event, and many wore tee shirts or held banners with the hashtag.

No vote = silenced (Source)

The protest symbol is symbolic as it is terrifying, depicting the loss of democracy in Singapore. Politics aside, its design is aggressive and thought-provoking; a very strong and worthy graphic which the resistance can rally around.

Depressing. (Source)

Yistana

This is now a legitimate thing, as far as G Maps is concerned (Source)

Hopefully no breakdown (Source)

This one is my fav.

Do what?! Together

The slogan was doomed from the moment it was announced - when you search 'Do Good, Do Together' on Google, you'll be greeted with search entries of Durex Together condoms sold on Redmart and Lazada. The slogan doesn't even need memes, it's just trolling itself. Definitely something her team regrets, as this was one massive branding fail.

To say that Halimah Yacob's road to presidency was a controversial one would be barely scratching the surface. Like it or not, the negative backlash against her and the Government during PE 2017 will be part of her branding, as it is very difficult to ignore this voice of resistance. With political veterans such as Tan Cheng Bock and Chee Soon Juan putting the spotlight on election issues, the voice is not dying just yet.

No political leader wants to leave his office in shame, with #notmypresident perhaps being the most viral thing he helped create. It remains to be seen if President Halimah can win over the Singaporeans who have lost faith in the democratic process, but she has 6 years to do so. Hopefully, through her good works as President, her brand can become more appealing over the years. 

Whether or not you are a supporter of Halimah Yacob, we can all agree that it sucks that we do not have a public holiday thanks to the walkover result. Sian leh.

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