Zimbabwe SMS Campaigns

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A Voice of America report on Zimbabwe’s 2008 presidential election campaign, in which the three main candidates — Robert Mugabe, Morgan Tsvangirai and Simba Makoni — used SMS text messages, slogans and jingles to reach voters directly, alongside a flood of satirical messages Zimbabweans forwarded to one another mocking the candidates. It notes that despite text messaging’s low cost and directness as a campaign tool, network crashes meant many messages went undelivered, while opposition supporters also turned campaign songs into ringtones as an alternative way to spread their message.