As next week’s parliamentary elections approach, driving has become a rather serious affair. Cruise down the highway and billboard pictures of smart-suited candidates loom overhead at regular intervals. Crawl along the car-choked roads of the main towns and every few metres you are confronted with one serious face after another gazing down at you expectantly.

In Nicosia, massive billboards on the sides of all main roads made their debut well over a month ago, and they’ve glanced at so many times it’s almost impossible not to associate certain candidates with their very own “sweeping statements”.

“Together, we make a difference,” says DISY’s Nikos Tornarides, while another DISY candidate, Sotiris Drakos, appears with a simple “Enough is enough.” Neophytos Constantinou, standing for DIKO declares: “You know why.”

Others take a slightly more unusual approach. Take, for example, the EDEK candidate, Maria Vasiliadou, whose slogan reads: “The teacher with the sweet smile.”

Some candidates, women in particular it seems, attempt to woo the young.

The attractive blonde Alexia Savadaki from the Green Party appears on a poster reading: “I vote for young people,” while DIKO’s Elena Papadopolou states she is: “A young woman with an opinion.”

Some candidates even list their personal website at the bottom of each image.

Dotted in between all those glazed looks are a few billboards that promote the political party as a whole; AKEL only opts for party posters, choosing not to favour any individual candidate while focusing on teamwork. “For the future of Cyprus, for Cyprus of the future,” say AKEL. “We dare,” says DIKO.

Billboard advertising has become more popular than ever before, and the amount of advertising in the press has dropped markedly in comparison to the last parliamentary elections in 2006. The print media allows for more space to state views and visions, while a billboard is really all about a face and one - hopefully - impressionable line. So what accounts for the change?

The cost of each billboard doesn’t sound cheap. A position on the highway costs well over a €1,000 per month, while a hot spot on any main road costs an average of €650 for just two weeks.

“To be honest, although it might not sound like it, this is actually a very cheap form of advertising for the campaigners,” says Yiannis Emilianides from Niche Outdoor Media, adding that many candidates are lawyers or big businessmen with funds coming from various directions. “Most of the ads they placed with us have been sponsored and the money doesn’t come directly out of the pockets of the candidates.”

Emilianides insists that billboards are both efficient and eye-catching. “So many people are stuck in traffic each day and in just a couple of moments, they can be aware of a new candidate with a simple message. It’s modern and uncomplicated.”

DISY candidate Chris Sofroniou sends out a message “For a brighter future” on his billboards around town. “I think this kind of advertising creates awareness but I don’t really think people will make a decision based on a given billboard or what someone looks like,” he admits. “But we have to follow the trend and you feel a certain urge to put up a poster. I only made an appearance on the billboards about a week ago.” The 39-year-old said he chose an optimistic slogan which gives a positive message for the future as a younger candidate.

DIKO candidate Christiana Erotokritou has made her appearance on a couple of billboards around Nicosia with a slogan that reads: “We can do it together.” But she confesses that she wasn’t keen to embrace the billboard trend.

“I don’t think they make very much difference in the votes and can sometimes be a bit of an injustice,” she says. “The way the law stands is that campaigners are privately funded and that means that those with more money to back them are in a much better position than others. That’s not fair for some people.”

But many candidates have managed to find additional methods to publicise themselves. Those appealing to a younger internet-savvy crowd are also making full use of the cyber world with a big emphasis on Facebook. Regular local users of the social networking site have lately been inundated by ads running down the side of their homepage that boast the merits of one candidate or other.

Click on the ads and in most cases you’ll be taken to a page which lists the candidate’s full biographical details and interests. Some even list their favourite TV shows, while others give their mobile numbers and a list of their hobbies. In some instances, the link will even take you straight to their ‘open group’ Facebook page with information on all the public events they are attending and interviews that they’re giving. Click ‘like’ on their page and all your Facebook friends will then be able to access their information.

Erotokritou set up her Facebook page and a personal website, especially for the campaign. “Using the internet is an absolute must these days. Especially for the younger generation who don’t really read papers and find political programmes boring. And it’s good for us as candidates to keep up with technology,” she says. “The really positive thing about the internet is that you can communicate with people without a third party involved, it’s free and anyone can use it.”

But is it really necessary for a candidate to reveal so many personal details online? “If you choose to be a candidate, you’ve chosen to reveal your personal life up to a certain extent; so listing your interests and hobbies gives people an idea of your all rounded personality. Of course, it’s a very fine line between that and completely selling yourself.”

As a Facebook user with his own page for the campaign, Sofroniou believes that such promotion has its serious pros and cons. “It’s an exciting tool that’s especially useful at reaching out to young people,” he says. “But it has also been abused with many candidates bending over backwards just to give people what they want to hear to get votes. You shouldn’t change what your goals are just to get fans off Facebook.”