Frank Underwood Got Involved In Our Budget Night And He Maybe Wants To Run For PM?

Hoo boy, the 2017 Budget isn’t the only big political news of the past 24 hours. There’s a new player in our federal political landscape, and mates, he’s gunning for PM. A brand-new ad campaign dropped online in time for budget night, introducing the new (fairly out-there) candidate for our next federal election: Frank Underwood, President of the United States and fictional television character.

The ad campaign is called “Australians for Underwood”, and it features an A-Grade Aussie Battler telling YOU to vote #1 Frank Underwood, the fictional US President portrayed by Kevin Spacey in Netflix’s political drama House of Cards. The campaign is, of course, a cheeky bid for viewers to jump on the upcoming fifth season of House of Cards, which drops on May 30 on Netflix.

The above video has been viewed more than 260,000 times from an accompanying “Australians for Underwood” Facebook page that’s emblazoned with green and gold. This has also been accompanied by a full-page spread on the inside cover of today’s Financial Review, which is sure to be seen by everyone looking for answers after Budget Night.

Pay attention to the fine print. #AustraliansForUnderwood pic.twitter.com/kOlCRtBYmF

— Aus for Underwood (@NetflixANZ) May 10, 2017

And, look, props for a great idea and all, but the ad itself does feel a teensy bit tone-deaf. First off, it opens with our A-Grade Aussie Battler exclaiming “the flamin’ treasurer’s at it again!” while tossing a bale of hay, which lol. My favourite part about this opening is the obvious reference to Alf Stewart’s era-defining performance on Home and Away, hence the use of the word “flamin'”.

Our A-Grade Aussie Battler then pleads with us to accept some “new leadership”, like what they’ve got in the US (hmmmm). He tells us we need a leader who “manages their borders”, and then shakes a fence because we clearly we Australians currently have infamously lax border security.

House of Cards has always riffed off real-life politics in unsettling and knowing ways. It ran similar promo campaigns during the US election and presidential inauguration. The whole series is constructed in a way that purposefully preys on political anxieties, but it’s certainly uncomfortable to see this in an Australian context.

Regardless, this whole campaign has certainly hit its target bang-on, or so it would seem on from the enthusiastic response online:

Dear Mr and Mrs Underwood, you have my vote! #AustraliansForUnderwood. @HouseofCards @KevinSpacey for President.

— Lou (@theKoala_Man) May 9, 2017

Only good thing to come out of #Budget2017 is #AustraliansforUnderwood ????

— Tiff Ng (@anytiffng) May 9, 2017

We contacted the ~mysterious~ creators of the campaign for comment, or perhaps a discussion of policy platform, but they said they’d rather let the ad speak for itself.