While some Dunedin City Council candidates can see the funny side of getting a googly-eyed makeover, the mayor is less impressed.
Many council and mayoral candidates have had "googly eyes" pasted on their campaign posters in South Rd in the build-up to this year’s election.
Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich said the googly eyes were annoying because it ruined the poster when the eyes were removed.
While the eyes might have been applied for amusement, there was considerable direct cost to the affected candidates, who were investing their time and money to benefit the city and its residents.
The glue on the eyes was too strong and tore the vinyl image off the corflute backing, he said.
"For that reason, I will not be removing the googly eyes."
Mayoral candidate Sophie Barker said while she did have a giggle over the googly eyes, it was disappointing when posters were vandalised because then they could not be reused.
Silliness aside, vandalism was hurtful to candidates financially and emotionally.
In her third election this year, she had noticed an increase in targeted vandalism for individual candidates and it was alarming.
She said people were brave to stand for local body elections and targeting individuals’ campaigns was not encouraging.
Mayoral candidate Andrew Simms said the addition of the googly eyes was amusing and good-natured.
"It is far preferable to signage being maliciously defaced or damaged."
He was planning on leaving the googly eyes on his posters so passers-by could have a chuckle at his expense.
Councillor and mayoral candidate Mandy Mayhem-Bullock she had had faeces smeared on a poster in the past and she much rather preferred the pasted-on eyes.
"It’s hard not to take that personally," she said.
Her posters had also been frequently slashed or defaced in the past.
In comparison, the eyes were just some light-hearted fun and did no lasting damage, she said.
Councillor candidate Conrad Stedman said he was not too worried about the eyes being pasted on.
"It probably makes me look better, to be fair."
He also would rather have the googly eyes pasted on his posters than having them more seriously damaged.
In 2016, his signs were run down by someone in a four-wheel-drive so he strategically placed them in spots where if someone tried to drive into them they would end up in a culvert or smash into a pole.
