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Scott Morrison Photoshop fail on official family portrait

It’s a lovely picture, the PM and his smiling family. But there’s no escaping the awkward Photoshop blunder that has social media in hysterics.

2 min read
January 10, 2019 - 6:42AM
Scott Morrison's family portrait...and Photoshopped shoes
Scott Morrison's family portrait...and Photoshopped shoes

In politics they say perception is everything. Which is probably why the Prime Minister’s spin doctors saw fit to make an odd change to an otherwise charming family portrait.

Scott Morrison, wife Jenny and daughters Lily and Abbey were pictured on his official website pm.gov.au, sitting close together in the sun in a garden (possibly at the Lodge or Kirribilli we can’t tell).

The eyes of Australian voters wouldn’t normally be drawn to the Prime Minister’s feet, but in this case, we have been led there by the eagle-eyed team from Labor leader’s media unit who have tweeted a Photoshop fail of hilarious proportions.

Because if you look closely, the bright white shoes Mr Morrison is wearing aren’t, well, real. or to be more accurate — they aren’t on his feet.

The shoes were Photoshopped in place of some trainers — which some thought looked like “K-Swiss tennis shoes” — that the well-paid folks in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet obviously felt was a better look for Australia’s latest leader.

The shoes, before and after the Photoshop. Picture: lukerhn/Twitter
The shoes, before and after the Photoshop. Picture: lukerhn/Twitter

But that’s not even the worst part.

It appears he has two left feet as a left shoe has been Photoshopped onto his right foot.

“The decision was made by an officer in the graphic design team in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet in developing design options for the Prime Minister’s Christmas card,” said a spokesperson for the department.

“The work was part of preliminary exploration of design concepts.

“The image was inadvertently published by the Department.”

Mr Morrison hit back at the scandal with a tongue-in-cheek response on Twitter on Wednesday morning.

“Message to my Department (PM&C): I didn’t ask for the shoeshine, but if you must Photoshop, please focus on the hair (lack thereof), not the feet!” he wrote.

“Here they are in all their glory — my footwear of choice whenever I can get out of a suit.”

Twitter saw the funny side of shoegate, which is already being jokingly called Australia’s first political scandal of 2019.

“Not just that, TWO LEFT FEET!

Who is being paid to do this? Who is deciding it needed to be done to begin with? WHY” twitter user Ed said.

“Because he’s a “marketing man”, another person offered helpfully.

“It looks like it was edited using Microsoft Paint,” one man complained.

Not everyone saw the funny side though, with several people saying the Prime Minister should be respected.

Michael on news.com.au’s Facebook page wrote: “Leave him alone. He is the Australian Prime Minster. Respect” — which sparked a number of responses including this: “I don’t think anyone is laughing at Morrison himself, but clearly the professional photographer is now a laughing stock”.

A statement from the Prime Minister’s office to news.com.au said: “The white shoes photo was doctored by the PM&C department (Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet) without the knowledge of, or the authorisation from, the PM or the PM’s office.

“The PM’s office has asked the department to replace the photo with the original.”

As of Wednesday morning the family portrait has been uploaded on the Prime Minister’s website so his shoes are cropped out.

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Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/technology/online/scott-morrisons-hilarious-photoshop-fail-on-official-family-portrait/news-story/3c55041cf17096fea855035575d925fe