Satirical images criticising Liberal Party ahead of Victoria poll mislead social media users

The images appeared to show billboards for Australian barbeque store Barbeques Galore with the slogan "Almost as many cookers as the Liberal Party".

"Cookers" is Australian slang for anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theories.

"Well played, Barbeques Galore Australia! Too funny," read a Facebook post that shared the images on November 21 on a page with more than 90,000 followers.

"According a source on Twitter they're digital billboards so it's hard to know whether or not the system was hacked. But if they're legit, BBQs Galore deserves a mighty salute!"

The images circulated on Facebook in Australia, including here and here, ahead of Victoria state elections on November 26, which saw the majority Labor government re-elected, beating opposition from a conservative coalition led by the Liberal Party.

Image

Screenshot of the misleading post taken on November 25, 2022

Many social media users appeared to believe the images showed genuine billboards.

"Great advertising ahead of the Victorian Election!" one comment read.

"I cannot love this enough!! Well played!!" another said.

However, the images were doctored and originally shared as political satire.

'Protest memes'

Reverse image searches on Google found the images shared on Twitter by Melbourne-based designer Adrian Elton on November 21.

Elton later clarified in a separate Twitter thread that the images had been digitally altered.

"Like 'The Cat In The Hat' that cleans up the house after he's had his fun, I just wanted to confess, that I indeed done did it," he wrote.

In another tweet, he posted: "I hope you saw my tweet clarifying that it was all done in Photoshop."

He told AFP that the images were "first and foremost a protest" intended to criticise the Liberal Party, which he accused of harbouring far-right candidates.

Meanwhile, a representative for Barbeques Galore said that the company did not release the billboards seen in the pictures.

"We are aware of the photoshopped, parody advertisements in circulation across some social media platforms," the spokesman told AFP ahead of the election.

He said the company would "leave it to the political commentators" to give candidates "a good grilling" in the election.