D250 is on buses. D250 is on posters. D250 is on the violently neon-green pen I stole off someone鈥檚 desk. Featuring artsy black-and-white graphics and edgy slogans, D250 is reaching a wide audience here in Halifax. There鈥檚 just one question: what the heck is it?
鈥淢y guess is a camera model,鈥� says Iain Canuel, a 21-year-old sales representative.
鈥淚鈥檝e seen people wearing shirts with (D250) on it,鈥� says Sean Smith, 20, holds a technical degree. 鈥淏ut (I鈥檝e) never checked it out to see what it is.鈥�
鈥淭hey鈥檙e this company, I guess,鈥� opines Stewart Delo, a student studying theatre courses at Dalhousie. 鈥淭hey give out these forms that have totally oversimplified justice questions.鈥�
Of all the people I talked to, only Hannah Sarrouy, 20, a screen arts student, knows what it refers to. 鈥淚t鈥檚 250 years of democracy,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hey have all these ad campaigns because they鈥檙e trying to get youth to vote... And they have all these hip, cool ads all over the place.鈥�
The , with the slogan Make Your Mark, does look hip and cool. 鈥淗onestly, does your opinion matter?鈥� Its main page asks. 鈥淒oes your vote make a difference to anyone? Does it even make a difference to you?鈥�
Chastised, I read on. 鈥淚n the last federal election, more than 1.2 million young Canadians (between 18 to 25) didn鈥檛 bother to vote. That鈥檚 enough to affect key issues AND determine a different Prime Minister. That鈥檚 enough to make people care what you think 鈥� But none of that matters if you don鈥檛 vote in the first place.鈥�
It鈥檚 true that Canadian youth are infamously apathetic when it comes to the ballot box鈥� especially considering their more politically engaged American peers. But is the problem that youth aren鈥檛 鈥渂othering鈥� to vote鈥攐r that they simply see no reason to? 鈥淢y personal vote doesn鈥檛 really matter,鈥� says 19-year-old Stewart. 鈥淚鈥檓 out of touch. I don鈥檛 know how the world works.鈥� Besides, 鈥淭he choice (of candidates) is鈥� interchangeable.鈥�
Hannah is more radical. Democracy is 250 years old. Maybe, she muses, the system itself is becoming outdated. 鈥淒emocracy works better when there鈥檚 a smaller country 鈥� I鈥檓 positive that there鈥檚 a better system, I just don鈥檛 know what it is.鈥�
Why this sudden wave of contrasted radicalism and apathy? Does the under-25 set simply need a talking to? (鈥淲hen I was your age, I walked 10 miles in the snow to vote 鈥� uphill l鈥� both ways!鈥�) Or, are there deeper forces at work? Apathy plays a role in the absent youth vote, as does disillusionment with a system dismissed as symbolic. But insecurity about being able to make an informed choice when voting is another reason youth steer clear of the ballot box.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 follow politics or local news 鈥� I don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 happening,鈥� says Matt Coffey, 21. 鈥淚t would almost be stupid for me to vote 鈥� I don鈥檛 think I really deserve to vote, if I don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 going on.鈥�
Iain knows 鈥渨hat鈥檚 going on,鈥� but it doesn鈥檛 impress him. 鈥淰oting for political leaders is very skewed. When given two or three options to choose between, all with similar policies and the pockets of the corporation to think about 鈥� my vote ends up meaning very little.鈥�
Perhaps the refusal of disillusioned youth to vote is itself a social critique. For the federal election, Hannah, Sean, and Iain were planning to vote. As am I. Twenty-one-year-old Alycya Moore, Matt, and Stewart were not.
鈥淧eople my age are a) Marxist, b) apathetic, or c) very jaded about how social systems work,鈥� says Stewart. 鈥淗ence the not voting.鈥�
鈥淚 just know who I want to run the country, and then I vote for them,鈥� says Hannah. 鈥淚鈥檓 having a say in how the country is run.鈥�
By the time you read this, a federal election will have just passed and the youth demographic will have made their mark 鈥� or not.
Either way, however, it seems unlikely that D250 will sway the youth turnout too drastically, especially since many young people regard the campaign with a cynical eye.
鈥淎ll of a sudden, they鈥檙e die-hard about getting people to vote,鈥� says Hannah. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like high school. The cool kids are putting (D250 ads) out.鈥�
鈥淭here are a lot of companies doing this kind of thing,鈥� Stewart agrees, tuning his guitar. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e trying to be so hip and cool that it turns people off of them.鈥�
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: What do you think about the D250 campaign? Did it prompt you to vote in the federal election? Will you vote in the municipal election on Saturday?