Things have changed...

In most Irish colleges when it comes to elections, candidates with little imagination of their own tend to rip off designs from elsewhere. Cartoons have been a popular choice, with the Simpsons and Family Guy becoming firm favourites for people who don't know any better.

At UL it's been different for a few years as the Student Union have to approve all election material and SU staff members have usually laid down a no fist on anything that might rip off someone else's trademark or creation. Two years ago, the entire campaign plan of one candidate for Education Officer had to be thrown out when they didn't like candidate Diarmuid Healy using Time Magazine's look for his campaign, down to replicating the front page as a poster. Bad boy Healy was sent away to get the permission of Time Warner to use their look. Good luck with that mate.

So we're a bit confused that Ruan Dillon McLoughlin's campaign is allowed to rip off the BBC by repeatedly using images of speedy driver The Stig in his campaign, from multiple posters down to creating a facebook profile that purports to be The Stig supporting him. And Finn McDuffie's campaign using the Duff beer logo from the Simpsons, actually licensed by Fox to a beer maker who makes real Duff beer (you can buy it in the Stables).

The BBC tend to sue when their stuff is ripped off. Fox are even worse for it. Neither company is a fan of their intellectual rights being ripped off by a crowd of opportunistic students. Fox sued a public service creche in the US last year when they put a picture of Bart Simpson on the wall. While the SU may think they're immune from this, it still makes us wonder. Is this stuff only approved for the candidates they like?

Questions, questions... probably not going to be answered as long as the results are what they want...

Note that we edited a name out of this post as on mature thought we decided it wasn't fair to point the finger at one person in particular.