Scott Morrison, a bus and a fair dinkum internet meme
The internet is never kind to politicians but, when you are a prime minister on an aggressive pre-election tour, with a folksy “daggy dad” media strategy and a bus with your face on it, it becomes ruthless.
Add in the existence of Photoshop and an over-reliance on the phrase “fair dinkum”, and you have a viral recipe for ridicule.
So it was for Scott Morrison on day one of his trip through marginal seats in Queensland.
First came the bus, launched on Sunday, painted in a pure sky blue that made it an easy target for image manipulation.
While it promised “A stronger economy [and] a secure future”, this was too easily scrubbed off and replaced by critics – who also mocked the debut of a new signature that simply read “Scomo”.
Then came the hat.
Morrison’s awkward new persona was roundly mocked on Monday after he published a video thanking the mother of the Australian surfer Mick Fanning for giving him a new hat.
Standing on a beach in a business shirt, Morrison thanked Elizabeth Osborne in a speech that many said was stuffed chock full of too many supposedly true-blue slang terms.
“G’day, Elizabeth, Mick Fanning’s mum,” he said. “We’re here at the Gold Coast down at Broadbeach and yeah, fair dinkum, we should be supporting Australian businesses, so great to have the Rip Curl hat.”
Since he became prime minister in August, Morrison has sported a wide variety of surfing caps and other hats. A previous hat he wore was made by the brand Hurley, which is US-owned. Rip Curl is an Australian company that sponsors Fanning.
But commentators quickly derided the video. The comedian and ABC host Charlie Pickering tweeted: “If I hear him say [fair dinkum] again I will fair dinkum throw up.”
Others also pointed out a scandal in 2016 where Rip Curl was found to be using slave labour in North Korea to create its products.
Many observed that the prime minister’s awkward, low-quality video style was a conscious political choice by his media team. Morrison has previously tweeted praise for a parody by the ABC’s 7.30 that suggested they were supposed to “look like fucking shit”.