The Fake Tradie has quickly become an internet sensation, after the Liberal Party released an ad starring an unconvincing tradesman concerned about the welfare of banks and negative gearing.
Although it turns out, the #FakeTradie could be a #RealTradie after all. The Daily Mail has reported the tradie is the real deal, a former electrical supervisor.
The tradie, Andrew MacRae, insisted he was a tradesperson - even showing his NSW government contractor's licence to prove the point.
Broadcast Sunday night, the ad sparked immediate response on social media with many questioning the authenticity of the fluoro-vested tradie.
In the clip, the tradie is drinking a cup of coffee on a building site and complaining about Labor's "war" on business.
"Let me get this right, Mr Shorten wants to go to war with my bank? He wants to go to war with our miners?", he says.
"Bill Shorten wants to go war with someone like me, who just wants to get ahead with an investment property.
"Well, I'll tell you what happens when you get a war going on the economy — people like me lose their jobs.”
The Twittersphere caught on quickly, nailing the Fake Tradie, with the hashtag #faketradie trending overnight.
The Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union tweeted a screenshot of the video and wrote: "He just wants a fair go dinki di VB cricket shannon noll BBQ crack at negatively gearing his 5th home #faketradie".
Another questioned the tradies political stance saying: “Expressing the deep, deferent love that ordinary, working class people have for multinational banks.”
One Twitter user noted the #faketradie could be wearing a rolex.
A Liberal Party spokesman told ABC News the man was not an actor, saying the tradie is real unlike Bill Shorten’s claims about Medicare.
Fake Tradie now has its own parody Twitter account. In one of the tweets he wrote: "Fair dinkum you lot, why can't I pretend to be a tradie. Turnbull is allowed to pretend to be a leader."
You should check it out the account if you know what’s good for you - @faketradie
In this five part series, creatives weigh in on what makes great election advertising. Check it out here.
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