A Brief History of Political Campaign Buttons

One of the most prevalent items in every campaign manager’s toolbox is the campaign button.

For building awareness, establishing brand, staying top of mind, and encouraging word-of-mouth promotion, among many other uses, the campaign button is a widely used tool by anyone running for any office.

Campaign buttons are inexpensive to make, as all you need is a circle cutter plus a button machine and some button making supplies. They are also easy to distribute and require very little effort from supporters to use. It is no wonder then that since Abe Lincoln first used them in 1860, the stature and ubiquity of campaign buttons has only grown.

In this post, we provide a brief history of political campaign buttons, along with some examples.

» read more