# Campaign button > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Campaign_button > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Campaign_button.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campaign_button > Source revision: 1338808343 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Election object worn as political advertising}} {{About|the political item|the album by Fionn Regan|Campaign Button}} [[File:Lincoln button 1860.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Presidential campaign button for [Abraham Lincoln](/source/Abraham_Lincoln), 1860. The reverse side of the button shows a portrait of his running mate [Hannibal Hamlin](/source/Hannibal_Hamlin).]] A '''campaign button''' is a [pin](/source/pin) used during an [election](/source/election) as [political advertising](/source/political_advertising) for (or against) a [candidate](/source/candidate) or [political party](/source/political_party), or to proclaim the issues that are part of the [political platform](/source/political_platform). In the United States, political buttons date as far back as President [George Washington](/source/George_Washington).{{cite magazine|title=The Long Story Behind Presidential Campaign Buttons and Pins|url=https://time.com/4336931/campaign-buttons-history/|last=King|first=Elizabeth|magazine=[Time](/source/Time_(magazine))|date=May 17, 2016|access-date=July 16, 2024}} They have taken many forms as the technology to create an image and mass production has allowed. In the late 18th and first half of the 19th century they were sewn-on [clothing](/source/clothing) [buttons](/source/buttons), whereas the modern forms typically have pins on the back and are therefore also called [pin-back button](/source/pin-back_button)s. Campaign buttons bear some similarity to [bumper sticker](/source/bumper_sticker)s, which are also used for political and other promotional messages. As a [novelty item](/source/novelty_item), campaign buttons are part of the hobby of [collecting](/source/collecting). ==History== The first photographic image on pins dates to 1860. [Abraham Lincoln](/source/Abraham_Lincoln) and his various opponents used the [tintype](/source/tintype) or ferrotype photo process. The first mass production of metal buttons dates to the 1896 [William McKinley](/source/William_McKinley) campaign for president with "celluloid" buttons with one side of a metal disk covered with paper (printed with the message) and protected by a layer of clear plastic. [[File:Wm j bryan campaign button.jpg|thumb|right|[William Jennings Bryan](/source/William_Jennings_Bryan) presidential campaign button]] Since 1916, buttons have also been produced by [lithographing](/source/Lithography) the image directly onto the metal disk. A celluloid-type button is fastened to a garment using a pin on the back side of the button (in recently produced buttons, the pin generally fits into a [safety-pin](/source/Safety_pin)-style catch). A lithographed button may fasten with a pinback or with a metal tab which folds over a lapel or pocket. One of the most famous uses of campaign buttons occurred during the 1940 U.S. presidential election, when [Wendell Willkie](/source/Wendell_Willkie)'s campaign produced millions of lithographed [slogan](/source/slogan) buttons in rapid response to news items about President [Franklin D. Roosevelt](/source/Franklin_D._Roosevelt). [[Image:Obama supporters (grant park).jpg|thumb|right|A [Barack Obama](/source/Barack_Obama) supporter during the [2008 presidential election](/source/2008_United_States_presidential_election)]] Recently, increasing advertising expenses and legal limits on expenditures have led many U.S. campaigns to abandon buttons in favor of disposable lapel stickers, which are much less expensive.{{Cite web |url=http://www.igs.berkeley.edu/library/BerkeleyVoiceArticle.htm |title="Cal gets collectibles from old political campaigns" |access-date=2006-05-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051117114941/http://www.igs.berkeley.edu/library/BerkeleyVoiceArticle.htm |archive-date=2005-11-17 |url-status=dead }} Another recent trend is the use of graphical campaign buttons, or "[web button](/source/web_button)s", that Internet users can place on their personal websites. Graphical campaign buttons are useful because they can be widely distributed for little cost. However, wider availability of machines for producing celluloid-type buttons (as well as [inkjet](/source/inkjet) and [laser printer](/source/laser_printer)s and design [software](/source/software)) now permit even small campaigns to produce or acquire buttons relatively inexpensively, even in small quantities. Campaign buttons are particularly popular in the United States. They are a less prominent in [Canadian politics](/source/Politics_of_Canada), and many Canadian campaign buttons are manufactured in the US.{{cite web |url=https://www.waybacktimes.com/collecting/canadian-political-pinback-buttons/ |title=Canadian Political Pinback Buttons |last=Harper |first=Grant |website=The Wayback Times |access-date=June 26, 2021 |quote=Compared to our American cousins, we produce substantially less promotional bric-a-brac in both in types and number of items...About half of all Canadian pinbacks produced before 1930 were manufactured in America and sold in Canada via agents.}} ==Collecting== Campaign button collecting exists as a hobby. The American Political Items Collectors{{cite web | url= https://www.apic.us/ | title= What is the APIC?}} is a non-profit membership organization, dedicated to promoting the collection, preservation and study of materials relating to political campaigns and the presidency. The most valuable example is believed to be a rare campaign button from the [1920 presidential election](/source/1920_United_States_presidential_election) showing the likenesses of candidate [James M. Cox](/source/James_M._Cox) and his running mate [Franklin D. Roosevelt](/source/Franklin_D._Roosevelt).{{cite web | url=http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2004-07-18/entertainment/0407141107_1_political-items-buttons-political-collectibles | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150221084048/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2004-07-18/entertainment/0407141107_1_political-items-buttons-political-collectibles | url-status=dead | archive-date=February 21, 2015 | title=The Smart Collector | publisher=Sun Sentinel | access-date=26 June 2014 | author=Arnet, Danielle}} Librarians at [Radcliffe College](/source/Radcliffe_College) began collecting campaign buttons in the mid-19th century, starting with [women's suffrage](/source/women%E2%80%99s_suffrage) buttons. The [Harvard Kennedy School](/source/Harvard_Kennedy_School) library now holds a collection of thousands of buttons.{{cite news |last=Mitchell |first=Stephanie |date=March 24, 2016 |title= Political buttons trace political and social change |url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2016/03/pinning-their-hopes-on-buttons/|work=The Harvard Gazette |access-date=June 26, 2021}} ==See also== *[Pin-back button](/source/Pin-back_button) *["I Voted" sticker](/source/I_Voted_sticker) *[Meyer R. Bimberg](/source/Meyer_R._Bimberg) ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== *{{Commons category-inline}} *{{US patent|401094}} Campaign Button, Patented 9 April 1889 *[https://www.buttonmuseum.org/category/political Political Buttons] from the Busy Beaver Button Museum {{Phaleristics}} {{Authority control}} Category:Collecting Button Category:1860 introductions --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Campaign button](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campaign_button) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campaign_button?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.