The 2010 Election Posters: A Journey Through Photoshop...

Well, seeing as even the volcano ash has buggered off, it's election news time again. Today we'll be examining a key battleground. Fake posters on the internet.

With the age of Photoshop in full swing, every Saatchi + Saatchi or any other PR firm must know that it's inevitable that any poster they create can easily be lampooned or altered by keen 'shoppers. The most famous example of user-created poster media was probably the now infamous 'Step Outside, Posh Boy' poster created by the Guardian for April Fools day.

Simply but effective and actually proved rather popular with the Labour supporters.

When the Conservatives released their first election poster featuring a stern-looking His Shiny-headedness, it was spoofed on everything from Mock the Week to daytime magazine shows.


I picked this one because it was the only one I had saved to my computer. It's a good effort nonetheless, particularly the strapline 'fucking shit up again, and again, and again'. Equally good are:


Their next effort didn't hold up too well against the e-campaigners either...

Again, a poster that lends itself to photoshopping. Many of them took this line, but then there was this superlative effort...

This was seemingly the final straw (coupled with a sound beating in the first leader's debate) and the Tory press released a new no-nonsense poster, carrying the right-wing message that they've tried to hide for so long. They made the crucial error of calling it 'unshoppable', but then look what happened...