Need to artificially inflate perceived support? Mothers and Fathers Matter show how.

Trying to protest outside Leinster House and want to pretend you have far more numbers supporting you than you do? Well Mothers and Fathers Matter gave a fine display of how to do just that today.

First, arrange your protest on the same day as another protest. This will add ambiguity as to who is attending which protest thus artificially inflating your perceived attendance. Luckily for Mother and Fathers Matter there was a childcare workers’ protest on today.

Now, make sure you drag your children along, even if they can’t vote or comprehend what it is they are there for. Their mere presence will bolster your crowd.

The next step is the most vital: camera angle. You take one photo at the wrong angle and the game is up, you will show how meekly attended your protest is. To truly artificially inflate your perceived numbers then angle is imperative.

Try to get a group photo with the other protest in the background, make sure not to reveal the gap between your protest and theirs.

Next, get a couple of shots of young people with more people from the other protest in the background. This will serve a dual purpose of pretending your protest has more support than it does and showing you have that hip young vote (even if some of them are too young to vote, know what’s going on or to form their own opinion).

If you are lucky you will get a national broadcaster like RTE to play along. They can do this by not reporting on the numbers present and with a few well angled shots.

Excellent cameraman-ship on show. Impossible to tell there is only a couple of dozen here. Especially the bottom right image, very difficult to get us all in one shot without revealing there is nobody standing behind us. So the cameraman went low and to the side giving a lovely false impression of numbers. (Pity some didn’t keep their legs closed revealing the barren road the behind)

So there you have it. Why let the utter and total lack of popular support get in your way when with just a few neat tricks you can pretend your protest is well attended!