The 'Republicans' in the 'Republicans are people too' advert are all just stock photos

Turns out Republicans aren't real people.

Earlier in the week, the GOP tried to humanise Republicans and shake off the stereotype of them being God-fearing warmongers with a YouTube video showcasing the diversity of its members.

"Republicans are black" it said, "Republicans drive Priuses."

It quickly failed spectacularly, with people hijacking the #IAmARepublican hashtag on Twitter to make jokes like "#iamarepublican because I believe in personal responsibility. Which is why I blame Obama, liberals, blacks, and feminists for everything," but today things got a whole lot worse.

Here's a purported proud black Republican from the video:

But wait, haven't we seen her before?

Here she is advertising glasses coupons:

And here she's an anachronistic office assistant:

Wait, she's giving loan testimonials too?

Either she's been very heavily engaged in brands the past week, or she's just a lady of no specific political persuasion who once sat for a stock photo.

Yep, it's the latter:

And it doesn't stop there, here's "Republican have tattoos and beards" guy.

And "Republicans have "Republicans read the New York Times" guy.

A simple reverse image search finds "Republicans drive Priuses" guy is from a Getty stock image too.

Original video ad:

It's not unusual for adverts to use stock images and videos of course, but when you're trying to make an emphatic point about the identity of your supporters, it's probably best to go out and find a real one.

Unless Republicans really aren't actual people.

This isn't the first time it's happened after all, with the GOP posting a video of a disaffected hipster complaining about gas prices earlier in the year who was almost certainly an actor.

(via The Daily Banter)