There are the obvious ones -- characters such as the very camp Snap, Crackle and Pop, scary clown Ronald McDonald, the constantly resurrected Louie the Fly (exactly how good is Mortein if he keeps coming back?) and the Milky Bar Kid (that's showing my age). And then there are the not-quite-so-obvious ones, like Effie the annoying "Greek goddess", the ageless Amy from insurer AAMI, and Rampaging Roy Slaven and H.G. Nelson. I am, of course, referring to fictional characters who appear in the media and take on a life of their own. Today, I received an email from "Deborah" (she appears to have no surname) who is promising me the chance to win a million Qantas Frequent Flyer points if I buy certain Nestle products from Woolworths. Is she a real person or did somebody in an advertising agency somewhere just decide that "Deborah" was the kind of name that would inspire confidence and encourage me to open up my wallet? My point is that every day, in many ways, we are all being slightly deceived. Most of the time, we know what's going on, we play along with the game and no harm is done. But sometimes, it's a bit more subtle. For example, the TV satirist Stephen Colbert plays an exaggerated version of himself on television -- a character that gives him permission to say and do things that the real Stephen Colbert may not actually believe or ever do. Yet, a certain proportion of his audience think he's the real deal. The worrying thing is that many of our politicians are beginning to do the same thing. They are no longer real people, but the products of image-makers and spin doctors. They assume a different identity, and say and do things they don't actually believe in -- driven, of course, by dogma on one hand and polling on the other -- simply for the sake of re-election. When Kevin Rudd appears on a football broadcast, or Anna Bligh is on MasterChef, we have a right to ask: are they simply playing characters designed to portray them in a positive light or are they, to use one of Mr Rudd's favourite sayings, being fair dinkum? Because, if reality and fiction start to blur too much, we have reason to be very afraid.
