Last week, a billboard was erected on Cross Street, Salford, displaying an image of Boris Johnson’s chief adviser Dominic Cummings.

The image was accompanied by the quote “Tory MPs largely do not care about these poorer people. They don’t care about the NHS”.

Cummings is reported to have said the comment in 2017, before he was appointed as ‘special government advisor’ by Boris Johnson earlier this year.

The billboard was created by ‘Led By Donkeys‘, a campaign group that relies on public donations to erect billboards and projections around the country containing statements made by pro-Brexit politicians which undermine their current position in politics.

They also organised a projection of the words “F*** Boris” across Manchester City Tower during the Tory Party Conference, which took place in Manchester City Centre last week.

The campaign is said to be in retaliation to the ‘JFC’ campaign led by the conservative party, with the intent of humiliating labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn.

The ‘JFC’ campaign, was a strategy employed by the Conservative party to suggest to the public that Corbyn is ‘spineless’ and ‘a chicken’, for refusing to call an election, after a bucket of chicken was sent out to press on September 6  with a statement labeling the party leader as ‘the biggest chicken in town’.

However, this caused an unpleasant response from labour supporters, criticising the conservative party for childish behaviour, and condemning them for wasting food, as the use of food banks in the UK has increased by 73% in the last 5 years under Tory leadership.

Some labour supporters took the JFC campaign in their stride, using the images of Corbyn as the famous ‘Colonel Sanders’ to create their own media campaign: #jezzaforchange.

In an Instagram poll of 107 people, we asked whether the public thought this type of propaganda was helpful or not. 66% of people agreed that it was helpful and had good intentions.

Ellis Forshaw, a physics student at University of Manchester, said:

“I think that piece of propaganda in particular isn’t childish because it’s quite literally pointing out inconsistencies and hypocrisies of the Tory party”.

However, 41% of voters thought it was a waste of money.

Alix Marriot, 25, said : “We can’t say the Tories are childish for the chicken stuff they did to Corbyn if we are going to do the exact same in retaliation”.

What do you think of the billboard? Tell us on Twitter @SalfordNow.

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