Labor, Liberal parties turn to memes ahead of election

Labor’s attack ad featuring the likeness of the ficticious Griffin family has caused a stir among young voters.

A Family Guy-themed political ad attacking Peter Dutton has caused a stir online with the quirky clip labelled “brainrot” – as the major parties chase young voters.

Campaigning for the federal election has not officially begun but both Labor and the Coalition have started ramping up their messages, on traditional and new platforms.

One video posted to Australian Labor’s social media pages featured AI-generated voiceovers in the guise of cartoon characters Peter, Stewie and Brian Griffin discussing the government’s record on jobs, tax cuts, Medicare, wage rises and other achievements.

Peter Griffin made an appearance in the ad. Picture: TikTok

As did Brian. Picture: TikTok

“If it wasn’t for Labor I’d still be working as a casual at the toy factory, even though they employed me at full-time hours,” the voice of Peter Griffin says.

It also features the Griffin family’s dog Brian asking “why should I care about Peter Dutton wanting to gut Medicare?”

“Brian he was so bad doctors voted him the worst health minister in 40 years,” the voice of his fictional owner Peter replied.

The advert includes the likeness of the iconic TV characters superimposed over a clip of game play from the widely popular Minecraft.

For the first time at this election, likely to be held in April or May, Gen Z and Millennials will outnumber Baby Boomers – representing close to 50 per cent of voters.

Dr Intifar Chowdhury, lecturer in government at Flinders University, said this changing of the guard was one that “massively shifts the centre of gravity of Australian politics”.

Memes are becoming more prominent in political ads. Picture: TikTok

The ad was authorised by party head honchos. Picture: TikTok

Labor appears to be tapping into viral video formats on platforms such as TikTok in the lead up to this year’s election, with the insertion of video games used a common tactic to keep a viewer’s attention.

Its ad has gained dozens of comments, some laughing along with the idea and many describing it as “brainrot”.

“Didn’t expect Labor brainrot on my reels,” one user wrote on Instagram.

“I can’t believe one of the major political parties of Australia made this and uploaded it for all to see. I’m honestly impressed I can’t even hate,” another said.

Brainrot was the 2024 Oxford word of the year having increased in use 230 per cent in 12 months.

According to the dictionary, it means “the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging”.

Anthony Albanese. Picture: David Caird

And Peter Dutton are set to face off at the election. Picture: NewsWire / John Gass

Another video inspired by popular meme born from a video game version of Japanese anime Yu-Gi-Oh! is captioned “Peter Dutton announcing his cost of living policies”.

“I summon pot of greed,” a voice can be heard saying.

There was a largely positive reaction to this video with comments including: “Give the intern who made this a raise”.

Labor is not alone, however, in employing meme tactics in its political campaigning with the Liberal Party also leaning in to similar formats.

One Liberal post on TikTik earlier this month captioned “2 deals that were worse than the Luka Doncic trade” allowed users to swipe between two other frames.

The two “bad deals” were football star Antony’s underwhelming big-money move to Manchester United and “Labor spending $450m on a failed referendum” – a reference to the Voice vote.

One of the Liberal Party’s meme ads.

They have focused on the economy. Picture: TikTok

Another post buying into the “emergency contact” meme shows Anthony Albanese struggling to hold onto a lobster as it flails in his hands. “We are cooked,” the video caption says.

Australian Labor and the Liberal Party of Australia were contacted for comment.

Speaking to news.com.au, Dr Chowdhury said the issues younger generations care about that may not be top of mind for older voters will “definitely” shape and impact the upcoming election.

“Another important thing to note is that, although young people do have a progressive leaning, they do not necessarily neatly align with either of the major parties,” she said.

“Younger people are more volatile voters compared to older people and this means that the way they vote might be quite sensitive to the election campaign.”

Dr Mark Chou, Associate Professor of Public Policy at the Australian National University, pointed out that if Mr Albanese and Mr Dutton want to truly engage young voters they need to take their campaigns online.

“Unfortunately, this is something that neither Anthony Albanese nor Peter Dutton do particularly well; and politicians in parties like the Greens do better,” he told news.com.au.

“But even if the PM or Opposition leader were to switch their tactics, they’d need to be genuine about it.

“Young people know when political leaders aren’t being genuine – particularly because there are now younger politicians like Jordon Steele-John and Georgie Purcell who use social media as their main platform to communicate with their constituencies.”