Sunday, February 09, 2025
Labour giving Farage credibility by copycat adverts
The paper says that instead the ads use the turquoise blue - and the straight-edged font - of Reform UK:
One Facebook page set up under Reform UK's colours is the UK Migration Updates, which is run for by the Yorkshire and Humber Labour party. It posts stories and updates celebrating Labour's deportation figures. The account appears to have become active at the start of January.
And a Reform UK-style attack ad has been posted on a Facebook page called Putting Runcorn First, which is run by Labour North West. It has a banner at the top reading "breaking news", with a caption saying: "Labour hits five-year high in migrant removals. Labour government removes a record 16,400 illegal migrants since taking power including 2,580 foreign criminals."
It is not a new tactic for Labour to tailor its campaigning material depending on the region, demographic or subject matter of the ad. Similarly it is not unknown for other parties to use Labour's signature red in attack ads against the party. But it is the first time the use of Reform UK's colour as a deliberate choice has been so explicitly noticed, illustrating Labour's shift in starting to take Mr Farage's party more seriously.
Such targeted advertising is being rolled out in areas where Reform UK could pose a threat, such as constituencies where the party came in second place to Labour at the general election. It comes after Reform UK topped the UK's polls for the first time earlier this week. Elsewhere in the country Labour has used targeted ads to challenge the Tories or the Green party.
Some social media users did not look favourably on the tactics. Commenting on a post the UK Migration Updates, Facebook user Nicholas Graham said: "This page is absolutely disgraceful in branding values and message. If the Labour Party really has no higher ambition than to be mistaken for the witless rabble of Reform, you have thrown away whatever moral compass you may once have had."
Another user Anna Hubbard: "Appalling. You can't out Reform Reform. Stop pandering."
This really is scraping the barrel by Labour.
