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A campaign button badge is used in the United States during an election as political advertising for (or against) a candidate or political party, or to proclaim the issues that are part of the political platform. Political buttons date as far back as President George Washington.

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-onc clothing button badges, whereas the modern forms typically have pins on the back and are therefore also called pin-back button badges.

Campaign button badges bear some similarity to bumper stickers, which are also used for political and other promotional messages. As a novelty item, campaign button badges are part of the hobby of collecting.

The Campaign Button Badge

A Barack Obama supporter during the 2008 presidential election.

Presidential campaign button for Abraham Lincoln, 1860. The reverse side of the button shows a portrait of his running mate Hannibal Hamlin.

History

The first photographic image on pins dates to 1860. Abraham Lincoln and his various opponents used the tintype or ferrotype photo process.

The first mass production of metal button badges dates to the 1896 William McKinley campaign for president with "celluloid" button badges with one side of a metal disk covered with paper (printed with the message) and protected by a layer of clear plastic.

Since 1916, buttons have also been produced bylithograhing the image directly onto the metal disk. Thousands of button badges are produced and distributed to the public. A celluloid-type button badge is fastened to a garment using a pin on the back side of the button (in recently-produced button badges, the pin generally fits into a safety-pin style catch).

A lithographed button badge 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 button badges occurred during the 1940 U.S. presidential election, whenWendell Willkie’s campaign produced millions of lithographed slogan button badges in rapid response to news items about President Franklin D Roosevelt.