The people have spoken, and what they want is well-being and hygiene.
Once upon a time, during the year 1967, it was election time in the tiny Ecuadorian town of Picoazà. Like many other small towns, they were holding an election for the mayor of their community. This election was different, however, as the results led to a foot powder called Pulvapies being announced as the winner. Yes, you read that right.
Hilariously enough, the foot powder was not a candidate that was included on the slate but was a write-in candidate. In other words, when the masses came out to vote, a majority of them somehow all decided not to give their vote to anyone already on the ballot, but instead independently came to the conclusion that they should add a foot powder to the slate and vote for it to be their mayor! The obvious questions is, “Why?!” — what would possess so many people to write in Pulvapies the foot powder? Well, Pulvapies had just released a very successful advertising campaign that was made to look like an election slogan, which stated: “Vote for any candidate, but if you want well-being and hygiene, vote for Pulvapies.” This statement must have resonated with the people, as it led to the foot powder winning the election.
It is unknown how Picoazà dealt with the election of the foot powder to their mayoral role. This election goes to show that people will vote for the “ridiculous” option when all of their other non-ridiculous options appear to be undesireable. Furthermore, this election truly shows the power of writing in a candidate for an election and the impact it can have on the results.
This isn’t the first non-human electoral candidate to be elected into office and I am sure it will not be the last. Some of the various non-human candidates include but are not limited to: cats, dogs, goats, a wooden trading post, rhinos, and boars. In fact, a joke party exists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York called the Inanimate Objects Party (IOP). The IOP was formed as a protest to the fraternities deciding the nominees.
People, when given the option to vote for what they believe in, will make all kinds of decisions, including voting for inanimate objects if they do not feel anyone else on the slate rightly represents their wants and needs.