Showing posts with label australia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label australia. Show all posts

Sunday, 15 May 2016

Tall Bronnie Syndrome

Australian values are a contentious thing to define, but every so often, there's a sense of unity that develops between us. Unfortunately for Bronwyn Bishop, that sense of unity failed to include her. When Bronwyn made the executive decision to take a helicopter from Melbourne to Geelong on the taxpayer's dime, Australia collectively sighed and did what we do best – made fun of the whole debacle on the internet. The #choppergate hashtag arose and a public conversation started around what our politicians think is a good use of funds. Typically, that conversation consisted mostly of memes.

The saga over entitlements for politicians played out for weeks, and eventually, Bronwyn found herself being asked to resign. She probably wasn't looking for a meme to cover that particular event, but the internet provided for her anyway...

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How many can you do?


Weet-Bix™ is Australia’s favourite breakfast cereal.  Weet-Bix is seen in both Australia and New Zealand as an iconic national food. An online poll of 16,000 people in 2006 identified it as Australia's favourite trademark. The product has been marketed in Australia since 1985 with the catchphrase "How many can you do?".

Since then Brett Lee, a former Australian fast bowler has taken over and started advertising for Sanitarium. Every kid in Australia has seen the Brett Lee Weet-Bix video. Ever since when people think of Weet-Bix before and still we always think of Brett Lee.


Moving forward, there is one question that Brett Lee asks "How many do you do?". This question has become soooooo dammn popular, if you say it to anyone and i m mean anyone, they will always know what food you are talking about!! So they took a picture of Brett Lee and made him a meme!



 As Brett Lee was a fast bowler for Australia when he did theses ads for Weet-Bix he had to be very conscientious about his diet & stick to it rigidly. Weet-Bix are a good source of fibre. He used to eat 7 every morning and once said his plan was to eat 9! He sticks to a high carbohydrate diet of such things as pasta & rice dishes, with plenty of fluids. Ultimately, very Weet-Bix he eats, will be another wicket he takes for his country against any other team. 

So.......How many do you do?? :) 



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Saturday, 7 May 2016

Peter Dutton and the case of the unflattering photo.

"Peter Dutton photo goes global" is not necessarily a headline we'd expect out of Australian politics but this week, the immigration minister became a trending topic when a poorly lit photo met the internet before his press secretary had time to stop it. Journalist Stephanie Peatling tweeted the photo, taken by Alex Ellinghausen, and gave it the simple caption of "Eek". At this point, it could've just been another unattractive photo on the internet that would soon be forgotten, but for the actions of Dutton's media team. They requested Peatling remove the photo, claiming it to be "unflattering". Peatling agreed, on the condition that she could state why the photo was no longer on her twitter feed. The internet collectively saw an opportunity, and a meme was born.

It started with a tweet raising the idea that perhaps Dutton's staff don't understand how the internet works...

And then, we descended into pop culture villains with this Hannibal Lecter reference.

Followed by Darth Malgus...

And Dracula, Stephen King's Pennywise, and the "monster under the bed" trope.

Queen made an iconic appearance.

Our Dutton coverage ends with a meta-meme. In 2013, Beyonce's publicist requested that Buzzfeed remove some "unflattering" photos from her Superbowl half-time performance. Buzzfeed responded by doubling down, starting a new thread with the photos featured. This edit adds one unwanted photo to another, whilst creating something comically absurd but distinctly unique to the internet.

Politics is fertile ground for content. Memes can sit in the cross-section of visual media and satire, allowing for something that is easily accessible, capable of making a point and, in many cases, hilarious. We'll be looking at a few other instances of political memes over the next few weeks so if making fun of politicians sounds like your idea of a good time, be sure to follow us on Twitter - we're @MemeMachineMQ.

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