Billboard Message in Response to Rishi Sunak D-Day Disaster Goes Viral

Over the weekend, a politically charged message on a billboard mock-up has gone viral. 

Find the original post here.

The powerful message simply reads "He left them on the beaches. Lest we forget, come July 4." Accompanied by a visual of a silhouette of a male figure in a suit running away. 

This mirrors - the current Prime Minister of the UK - Rishi Sunak's actions on 7th June when he was heavily criticised for skipping the 80th anniversary D-Day ceremony in Normandy to travel back to the UK to record a TV interview - 24 other world leaders stayed to attend the ceremony. 

The provocative message was created by Ben Golik, creative partner at Uncommon Creative Studio. Ben said on making the viral visual, "It seemed to me somewhat ironic - no, tragic - that Rishi Sunak ran away from a commemoration for people who'd run towards the same beaches in heroic terror 80 years earlier. For a chat with the telly.

It's an event so core to British identity, this take on Churchill's immortal words sprang to mind, and as quickly as they resonated with me - it seems they've had the same impact on many others.

Maybe it's that contrast of national pride and national disappointment that's meant it's hit so hard, and travelled so far. The picture is a mock up. But the message is real."

The image has been shared thousands of times across X, Facebook, Reddit, Instagram and LinkedIn - gathering millions of views (it's almost impossible to quantify its impact) - with the likes of politically charged British TV personality Carol Vorderman sharing the image with a reply "He did". And others claiming: “if this isn’t an official @UKLabour poster it fucking well should be."

TV Critic and broadcaster Toby Earle shared the image with a reply, "'if this is real, it's a campaign killer."

Others claim that "this should be on every billboard in the country" and "UK Labour should buy this and have it everywhere by the end of the week".