Satirical Website Posts Spoof News Article
By Turlough Delaney | April 1, 2009
On-line surfers were momentarily amused when they stumbled across a spoof news article today about Taoiseach Brian Cowen on humour website The Daily Spa.
The headline “Sleepy Cowen Finally Awakens From Winter Hibernation” was posted in the early hours of this morning, and has had approximately 300 hits since.
Accompanying the article is an image of Fatboy Slim’s You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby album (right) with the head of Mr Cowen competently photoshopped onto the body of the cover’s iconic overweight child.
The bulk of the piece involves a satirical analogy of the Taoiseach and a wild animal awakening from winter hibernation.
Those who bothered to read further than the headline were mildly entertained by the rest of the article, a half-hearted meta-commentary on Mr Cowen’s widely-criticised lack of visibility since last October.
Implicit in the text is reader awareness of Brian Cowen’s perceived poor leadership of the country during the current economic crisis. For this reason it is mostly aimed at an Irish audience.
The article begins: “That rare species of Irish carnivore, Brian Cowen (Bignorous Fuckerous) commonly known as the Biffo, finally awoke from its winter hibernation today…
“For the first time in 5-months, the Biffo was seen up and about, wandering around his natural habitat in Co Offaly, on the prowl for food. His diet is said to mainly consist of burger and chips, washed down with pints of Guinness.
“This creature prefers to keep his own counsel, but can become very aggressive when provoked… he is also extremely territorial, and has been known to roar and gnash his teeth with indignation whenever the Electoral Commission attempt to redraw his constituency borders.
“Up to recently political wildlife experts thought Biffo remained active during the winter months, but with the scarcity of food in the present economic climate, they believe this time he decided to sleep through it in the hope of staying out of the way of those crafty Blueshirt poachers…”
The website – it’s title is a weak pun on British tabloid the Daily Star – was launched in April of 2007 by two full-time Irish journalists in an effort to rip off (and possibly cash-in on) the superior American website The Onion.
Ostensibly a commentary on news events via parodies and lampoons, The Daily Spa consists mostly of crude, ill-conceived humour, relying on headlines filled with gratuitous swearing in order to garner cheap laughs.
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