The Liberals' 'Tim Cheese' fires back at AFR over 'brain rot' video claims
On Friday, the Liberal Party responded to The Australian Financial Review with a cheeky TikTok video, fronted by animated mouse Tim Cheese, after the newspaper asked about its TikTok video strategy in the campaign.
@liberalaus 🧀 #timcheese #brainrot #australia #auspol #fyp
♬ original sound - Liberal Party of Australia
In particular, the major political party hit back at questions about whether it has embraced "brain rot" videos. Brain rot was Oxford's word of the year in 2024 and "describes the supposed deterioration of a person's mental or intellectual state, often attributed to overconsumption of trivial or unchallenging online content."
What they said: The video saw the Liberal Party use various cartoon characters such as SpongeBob SquarePants to explain how they were using TikTok to reach younger votes and arguing "it works because we are reflecting the concerns people have in a fun way... we don't think that's brain rot, we think that's common sense."
Why it matters: This election campaign has really highlighted the growing role of influencers and platforms like TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, in reaching consumers under 40.
The Liberal Party TikTok account has more than 100k followers, with over 80% of them men.
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