New South Wales police say there is a serious strategy behind attracting likes and shares to their Facebook page with light-hearted content

'Tag a mate who loves pineapple on their pizza': how Australian police bought into meme culture

If you’re among the 732,300-odd people who like the New South Wales police force on Facebook, the proliferation of puns about Adele might have tipped you off – or the invitation to “tag a mate who loves pineapple 🍍 on their pizza 🍕”.

Since the start of the year, the force in Australia’s largest state has freshened up its social media strategy, dotting memes among its public service announcements and appeals for witnesses, some with a law enforcement message and others – well, barely.

A mock screengrab showing missed calls from Adele (“You must’ve called 1000 times to tell us traffic will be hell”) was liked by more than 13,000 people; one showing “LIVE scenes” of the Sydney heatwave – the Opera House amid a desert – raised more than 11,000. Police dog Bob the “professional doggo” who works out six days a week and doesn’t eat gluten (“#fitspo”) drew nearly 500 comments.

Though the vast majority of posts on the force’s Facebook page continue to be informative, the sprinkling of levity has not gone unnoticed. On Twitter it has drawn a spray of commentary, equal parts amused and bemused by the police’s new direction.

Jess Muscat (@jessmuscat) NSW police force are killing it with the memes lately

mahitha (@daylightsljp) WHO is running the NSW police force page pic.twitter.com/xQwYsroxl2

argel 🌊 (@argel_santiago) I love how the nsw police force facebook page is just another meme page

The force has been active on social media for the best part of a decade, but Strath Gordon, its director of public affairs, confirms that what he calls the “meme strategy” has been deployed only in the past two months.

Last week alone, the page amassed more than 13,000 new likes, overtaking the Bureau of Meteorology on the leaderboard of Australian government organisations.

More exciting to Gordon is the rise in the number of comments and shares: NSW Police now has the highest engagement of any Australian government organisation on Facebook, he says, with no small amount of pride. The invitation to “tag a mate who loves pineapple 🍍 on their pizza 🍕” drew the best part of 7,000 comments and nearly 3,000 shares.

It’s no secret direct appeals and humour are effective at raising responses on social media, and memes of the sort now being posted by NSW Police are not especially unusual, even among government organisations. “Dank memes” were the currency of last year’s federal election campaign for political parties and lobby groups alike.

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But they seem somehow more incongruous coming from Australia’s oldest and largest police organisation, with the stated aim of “preventing, detecting and investigating crime” and “maintaining social order”.

Gordon points out NSW is not the first police force, in Australia or the world, to “delve into the humour”, and says there is “healthy competition” between jurisdictions – singling out Queensland – for social media wins.

The admittedly slight strain of opposition to NSW Police’s new online brand has centred on whether it is appropriate for the police to have a public presence akin to that of, say, Denny’s – a US fast-food restaurant now better known for its outsider social media presence than its pancakes.

Writer Alex McKinnon shared the “tag a mate who loves pineapple” post on his own Facebook page with the comment: “Would prefer for NSW Police Force to target systemic bias in their own ranks, excessive use of force and over-policing of minorities but that probably wouldn’t be as ~~~shareable~~~”.

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Gordon denies the force’s Facebook presence is making light of the serious business of policing. He admits “there have been examples” of posts being misjudged (he hints at a social campaign by the New York police department that backfired spectacularly in 2014) but not by NSW (“though obviously I’m not going to be rushing to tell you”).

“We understand that tone, we understand that there’s a fine line, and you always have to be a little cautious,” he says. “I think we’ve got the balance about right. ... Nothing’s been regarded as crossing the line and people are usually pretty quick to tell us.

“We also have to accept that some people don’t agree with the police force’s approach to certain things. People on one side of the equation might be cheering it on, and others might be less than happy.”

Regardless of appropriateness, at face value there is certainly a very thin blue line between policing and preferences for pineapple on pizza.

Some people might say ‘why aren’t you out catching crooks instead of being funny’ Strath Gordon

“People don’t associate the memes with what we’re trying to achieve,” Gordon agrees.

raen 🌹 (@pIuto) did the nsw police page really just say nek minnit that meme is from like 2011 omg i can't believe this https://t.co/wmTwHHnS2p

But they serve a dual purpose, he says, the first being that they show “the police force do have a sense of humour”. The second is strategic: high levels of engagement on some posts train Facebook’s notoriously opaque algorithm to prioritise all of them.

Gordon says the force’s surveys of its Facebook followers suggest they see it as a trusted source of information and want to see more from it on social media, not less.

“And we know that if your engagement falls away, the chances of your followers receiving your posts reduces significantly.”

The force’s page has many more posts about developing incidents, as well as warnings and appeals for help, than the selection that appear on followers’ timelines probably indicates. The response raised by jokes about Adele and Justin Bieber paves the way for its other more conventional posts, Gordon says.

“The purpose of the meme is to enhance communication – they’re a means to an end, they’re not an end in themselves ... I understand that in the social media context, some people might say ‘why aren’t you out catching crooks instead of being funny’.

“But in fact it’s a very deliberate strategy, it’s a very legitimate thing for us to be doing.”

The memes have also helped the police connect with a new demographic. “We know, just anecdotally, that young people are enjoying that stuff because they’re not really expecting it to come from the cops,” Gordon says.

It is certainly difficult to imagine discussion of the Atlanta rap trio Migos and the “rain drop/drop top” meme they inspired at the police HQ in Parramatta. As with any display of digital literacy by an unexpected source (viz Hillary Clinton dabbing on Ellen), discussion of the force’s new strategy has been framed in terms of who is to blame.

ashleightui (@ashleightui) NSW police force doin too much pic.twitter.com/2AeHTXmfFh

The force’s social media team consists of two people, Gordon says, and “most of those amusing memes are dreamed up by one of them”.

Dejan Stojadinovic, 26, demurs at this description, saying it’s a “team effort”. He has worked at NSW Police for about four years and now holds the title of digital media officer.

He says he draws inspiration for viral trends to “appropriate ... and tie [into] our corporate messaging” from his own Facebook timeline, and the response has been “overwhelmingly positive”.

“I think on a personal level I’m pretty obsessed with everything popular culture, and I always keep a close eye, even in my own time, on meme pages and blogs.”



His current favourite is “How Italians Do Things?” – documented only three days ago by the ever-expanding website KnowYourMeme. (By Monday, it had appeared on the NSW Police page, raising more than 2,600 likes in an hour.)

“I don’t really get why it’s so popular, but I actually find that one quite funny,” Stojadinovic says. “But you know – every day I see one that makes me chuckle a little bit.”