Politicians making a pitch by DVD

By Sean Coughlan
BBC News

The DVDs are being sent to targeted voters in key seats

If you're stuck for something to watch in the evening, how about putting on an election DVD?

Candidates in marginal constituencies are by-passing the regular media by sending voters their own campaign DVDs.

Labour candidates in key seats are sending DVDs to targeted voters showing them evidence of extra spending in education and health.

Shadow Home Secretary David Davis has also entered the digital fray with his own promotional DVD.

This bid to reach the remote controls of the nation is the latest attempt to find a way of campaigning that fits in with modern living.

Digital posters

Candidates who want to get beyond the rosettes and fluorescent posters are hoping that the DVD will be a more accessible format for some voters.

Labour candidates are using the professionally-made DVDs as a way of showing specific local examples of increased investment in public services.

David Davis has sent his DVD message to 35,000 households

"It's a way of showing what's different, what's been achieved in the constituency," said a Labour party spokesperson in the north of England, where the DVDs are being used by candidates.

This might include showing improvements in local schools, hospitals or early years centres, with endorsements from people living in the constituency.

Sending this feelgood message directly to voters is intended to counter the "cynicism" of other coverage, said the Labour spokesperson.

Meanwhile voters in David Davis's Haltemprice and Howden constituency are also able to get some political home entertainment from his own promotional DVD.

Produced before the election, this DVD has already been sent to 35,000 households in the constituency. It includes testimonies from constituents who have been helped by Mr Davis, with everything from problems with boilers through to efforts to protect local jobs.

A spokesperson for Mr Davis said the DVD aimed to give tangible examples of how people were being helped by their representative, using "real" people, rather than abstract messages.

For anyone wanting to take the enjoyment of political recordings a stage further, West Lancashire District Council is offering residents a free DVD of council deliberations "so you can watch the meeting in the comfort of your own home".

'Don't call me'

While the politicians with DVDs are hoping to hit the voters' on buttons, the Liberal Democrats' campaign is appealing to voters' appetite for an undisturbed evening.

They say they are respecting the privacy of anyone who has signed up to the "telephone preference service", that allows people not to receive marketing phone calls or automated sales messages.

But the Lib Dems say that other parties are not abiding by the rules - and have complained to the Information Commissioner.

In response, the Information Commissioner has issued guidelines reiterating that political parties have to keep to the rules that prohibit unsolicited marketing calls to people who have signed up to the telephone preference service.

It also noted that automated calls were "extremely intrusive and even disturbing".