Obvious actor is obvious #FakeTradie in Australian political campaign

UPDATE: June 20, 2016, 3:58 p.m. AEST A Liberal party spokesperson told the Daily Mail that the tradesman in the advertisement is not an actor, as some people claimed, but indeed a real tradesman: "The claims are wrong. The name of the person who appears in the ad is A. MacRae and he is a tradie."

The looming federal election means peak political advertising season in Australia, where hastily put together attack campaigns become the unfortunate norm.

This includes a cringeworthy ad from the ruling Liberal party, featuring a tradie (translation: tradesman) taking aim at opposing Labor leader Bill Shorten on the issue of big banks. Thing is, a hilariously wooden performance had people thinking this tradesman might be little more than *gasp* — an actor.

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"Mr Shorten wants to go to war with my bank? He wants to go to war with our miners? Bill Shorten wants to go war with someone like me," the alleged tradesman said. "So I reckon we should just see it through and stick with the current mob for awhile."

Yes, despite the ruse of a hi-vis vest and baby blue coffee mug, the public was quick to accuse that this tradesman was little more than an actor posing as a #FakeTradie. The hashtag trended on Sunday night, shortly after the ad aired.

The ad's attributed to the spoken part to an "A. MacRae," who many mistook for voiceover artist Andrew MacRae. MacRae was quick to dispel claims of his involvement in the advertisement on Twitter on Monday.

"Dear all, It's not me. I'm not in the ad. I didn't voice the ad. I had nothing to do with the ad," he wrote.

The actual tradesman in the ad, actor or otherwise, is yet to speak out.