It’s hard not to be cynical and depressed about the upcoming federal election: there seems to be such a slim chance we will see a change of government – ever, it feels like.

But a bunch of designers seem to be convinced that the combination of viral marketing, street culture, and archly hip design might mobilise the young folk into turfing John Howard out next month. They’ve created DearJohn.org, where you can download readymade t-shirt transfers, bumper stickers, posters, “letters”, postcards – you name it, they all tell John to take a hike in a way that is both humorous (allowing the hope of proliferation through social communication channels) and politically sharp.

People are invited to submit their original designs, or new applications of the designs on offer – to get maximum “virulence” out of the enterprise, this could have been emphasised more, but in any case I’ll be interested to see if the idea takes root and proliferates. Report sightings of Dear John paraphernalia here!