This is an election poster from the Meretz Party in 1996. The man asks: “Aren’t you coming on Friday night?” echoing the words of a popular Israeli pop song of the same era. The woman answers: “No. There are no buses.” Underneath the picture, the wording reads: "Meretz is the only party fighting for human rights, women’s rights, minority rights, and against religious coercion.” At the bottom of the poster is written: “A strong Meretz so that we do not go back years.” The design of the poster resembles Roy Lichtenstein’s pop art figures. The figures are designed in comic-like style and have light eyes and hair, giving them an Ashkenazi look.
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Meretz - The Meretz Party is a Zionist left-wing, social-democratic political party in Israel. The party, that is largely secular, believes in religious freedom and the separation of religion and state. One of the issues that Meretz fights for is enabling secular citizens of Israel to observe Shabbat in any way that they see fit. Consequently, Meretz opposes laws such as banning public transport on Shabbat.
The imagery of the poster and the song reference provide an indication as to who Meretz were targeting in their election publicity, namely, upper middle-class, educated Ashkenazim, probably living in the centre of Israel and not in the geographical or cultural periphery, who were, indeed, the majority of people who voted for this party.
