A Liberal Candidate Was Roasted For Claiming Stock Image Models Were A Local Couple In Need
Turns out, "Senior Couple Looking Through Finances Looking Worried" aren't actually residents of the Blue Mountains.
A Liberal Party candidate in the Blue Mountains has been caught out using a generic stock image of an elderly couple to make a point about local residents.
Jo Bromilow — the local Liberal candidate for Ward 2 Blue Mountains took to Facebook earlier this week to discuss the issue of elderly long-term residents being unable to downsize their homes and therefore having to leave the area.
“They are forced to move away from their family and friends, their support services, their favourite stores and the area they love. Why? The current Council doesn’t care about you if you can’t stay in your regular sized property, they aren’t interested in options for your lifestyle. We are,” she wrote alongside a picture of an elderly couple.
When asked if the picture — which is very clearly a stock image — was of a local couple, Bromilow asserted that “yes they are”. However, a quick reverse image search makes it clear that the photo is part of a stock image series on Alamy — and will set you back a cool $14.99 for personal use.
Image: Twitter – Preston Towers
Naturally, social media users were quick to notice that the picture is a stock image, and used this as an opportunity to take the joke to the next level.
For starters, somebody found another photo from the senior couple finance series, in which they look far less miserable — thus giving Bromilow’s story a happy ending.
And we simply can’t talk about elderly people becoming meme fodder without talking about everyone’s favourite stock photo meme man — Harold, who we can only assume is a Blue Mountains resident.
It is unclear where the elderly couple in the photo series are from, so we can’t exactly say that Jo Bromilow is lying when she said they are Blue Mountains residents. However, the photographer of the stock photo series — Ian Allenden — is a UK local, so either they’re an elderly British couple, or these Blue Mountains residents are a hot commodity in the stock photo modelling industry.
The post is still live at the time of publishing but comments have been limited. Junkee has reached out to Jo Bromilow’s office for comment.