Published: 24 May 2019
Last updated: 4 March 2024
Some of Palmer’s United Australia Party ads suggested all Chinese Australians are communist spies. Others made false accusations about Labor policy, which some analysts said helped cause the crash of Labor’s primary vote to just 26 per cent in Queensland.
Creative director and graphic designer Adrian Elton, 47, took it upon himself to roast Palmer’s failed advertising with a photoshopped billboard ad, which went viral on social media after it was shared by many notable Australians including Smart Money host Jon Dee and television and radio presenter Lee Lin Chin. After comedian Catherine Deveny shared it on Twitter, some news outlets thought it was a real ad, with one headline reading “Ikea roast Clive Palmer with this very cheeky billboard.”
Elton told The Jewish Independent that he created the ad days after the election after reading a newspaper article about “how Clive Palmer had sunk a cool $60 million on the acid yellow atrocities that were masquerading as ads and subsequently plastered indiscriminately all over Australia.”
Given the extraordinary media spend, Elton thought “that’s a lotta money to spend, to not get a seat”. The ad took only 12 minutes to create. Elton explained, “I have done hundreds of memes over the years and nothing has exploded quite like this has.”
Reflecting on the role his Jewish identity plays in his work, Elton said, “I guess the reason that I also feel bidden to make a noise about this sort of stuff is very much in the context of being a member of Melbourne’s Jewish Community.”
He added that as the grandchild of European Jews who escaped the Holocaust, “I feel a moral imperative to use my voice, and my penchant for humour and absurdity, to discredit the repugnant ideas and claims of those who would seek to erode and endanger the magical multicultural life that makes Australia, at its best, such an incredible place to live.”
While he doesn’t think Palmer has more on his radar than money and mines, Elton affirmed that “we live in frightening times where those who were once very much on the fringes of society feel emboldened to stand up and say and do things that would have until the last few years been social anathema. While there are dangers at both ends of the spectrum, the lurch towards white supremacy by the hard Right should be of particular concern to Australia’s many ethnic and religious communities.”
One of the biggest surprises for Elton was when the spoof ad was shared by Pauline Hanson, who has espoused white supremacist and anti-immigration messages throughout her campaign.
In response, Elton said, “Who would of thunk I would have had Pauline baying for a raise on my behalf. But more seriously, the fact that she was prepared to compromise the fundamental safety of Australians by trying to relax gun laws with the help of the NRA is chilling. She may be a fan - but I think it’s safe to say the adulation is not shared. Except that it may not be safe to say. She has friends at the NRA. Note to self: Must buy bullet proof vest.”
