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The 'dank' election meme takes off

They're the newest communication tool of the election campaign: welcome to the world of dank memes.

2 min read

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Source: AAP


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Stand aside, meme-generators. The country kid of political internet jokes has arrived.

The Nationals now have their very own page dedicated to poking fun at Labor and the Greens using the 2016 election campaign's newest communication tool: the dank meme.

For the uninitiated, dank memes are purposely bizarre or bad clip-art jokes posted on social media with the intention of going viral, if not just to induce a chuckle.

In politics, they're being used with fervour by Labor-aligned unions.

The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union appears to be the leader of the pack with intentionally bad Photoshop cutouts of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's head in many odd situations, accompanied by a political caption.

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Not to be left out, the junior coalition partner is fighting back with "The National Party of Memes" pages on Facebook.

There's a meme comparing Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce and his Hollywood nemesis Johnny Depp, who as it's pointed out "wore a s*** hat on Pirates of the Caribbean".

And one with the headline "Things I'd like to export", featuring members of the Australian Greens.

Page creator Gus Crouch, who is a supporter but not a Nationals member, says he set it up because the party was under-represented in the election memes.

"We just wanted to have a bit of fun," he told AAP.

"It does also help that Barnaby is easy to make into a meme."


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