German election campaign placards

After three terms in office, Chancellor Angela Merkel is no stranger to election posters. With a budget of 20 million euros, the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is pinning up some 22,000 placards across Germany. The use of a deconstructed German flag brings out the party's patriotism, while the main focus of slogans is on issues such as security, family and work.

The Social Democrats are keeping it classic with their long-time red, square logo. Posters concentrate on topics such as education, family, pension, investment and wage inequality. At the end of their 24-million-euro campaign, the SPD is planning a final crusade ahead of election day, which still remains under wraps.

More than 5 million euros have been spent on the liberal FDP's poster campaign. With their black and white photoshoot, the FDP have gone for thoroughly modern marketing, with one man at the center: Christian Lindner. Voters, however, will have a hard time reading the text heavy posters. "Impatience is also a virtue," reads the slogan.

The Greens have remained faithful to their cause and focused on classic topics such as the environment, integration and peace. "Environment isn't everything. But without the environment, everything is nothing," says the slogan. A mainstay on all of the posters is the party's sunflower logo.

The prize for most controversial placards goes, without doubt, to the right-wing AfD. From afar, the poster showing a smiling, pregnant woman seems innocent until the slogan becomes legible: "New Germans? We make them ourselves." In another poster, set against the background image of three bikini-clad women, the AfD asks: "Burkas? We like bikinis."

The Left party have certainly given their best to use as many fonts as possible. In a combination of font and wordplay, this slogan one reads: "[Colorful] People. Decisively against right-wing hate." Affordable rents, fairer pensions and an end to arms exports are the main issues for the leftist party.