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The Government is rallying against the tide of political inertia

among Britain's youth with a poster campaign for the Electoral

Commission aimed at getting young people to vote in all future

elections.

The campaign comes after MORI figures revealed that the 18- to

24-year-old age group was less likely to vote in local or general

elections than any other age group in the UK. This contrasts with the 35

million mostly young people who voted during the two series of Big

Brother and the eight million who voted in last week's Pop Idol final on

ITV.

St Luke's two-poster campaign comes just a month after the agency won

the business in a pitch against Euro RSCG Wnek Gosper and Miles Calcraft

Briginshaw Duffy.

The campaign will target two audiences: young Londoners who will see the

posters on the Underground, and students throughout the UK who will be

targeted through the National Union of Students.

Students will also be targeted through a radio campaign and special

posters promoting postal voting. Postal voting is seen as a key tactic

to increase turnout owing to the numbers living away from home and their

electoral register. The media planning is through Zenith.

The creative director on the account at St Luke's, Seyoan Vela, said it

was wrong to say that young people were apathetic about voting.

"They are politically aware and they have strong views. It's just that

voting is no longer seen as a valid way of making your voice heard," he

said.

The advertisements will run for two weeks from 15 February, and were

written by Matt James and art directed by Vic Polkinghorne.