The Conservative Party has admitted to posting an insensitive tweet, featuring the former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, as part of an online campaign celebrating Shakespeare and poking fun at its political rival, the Labour Party.
The tweet was posted along with an altered photo of Mr Brown and his wife outside Number 10, Downing Street. It read:
“All’s Well That Ends Well #LabourPlays”
The picture used, however, was of Mr and Mrs Brown at a memorial service marking the 65th anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE) Day.
First used by the Sunday Times newspaper in 2010, to illustrate Gordon Brown leaving office as PM, it is not clear who was responsible for using the contrived image for the Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) tweet.
When it became aware of the posting, a spokesperson for the Tories said that the tweet had been removed. He explained:
“It was a mistake and inappropriate. We deleted the tweet as soon as we realised the origins of the picture.”
Highlighting why many organisations use professional marketing services to create their online marketing campaigns and tailored news feeds, Labour MP Sheila Gilmore said that the episode showed a lack of judgement.
She went on to call on the party to make sure that such an occurrence does not happen again.
The tweet was originally posted by CCHQ to promote its #LabourPlays campaign, launched to coincide with the 450th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s birth. It asked followers to create satirical comments and images of Labour and tie them in with the Bard’s works.
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