Liberals use sponsored Snapchat filter to pull in younger voters

A new sponsored filter lens has popped up on the app more commonly used for sending self-destructing naked photos and puking rainbows, calling on millennials to share their support for the Liberal party with their friends.

In the platform's first political "lens ad", an animated, white-gloved hand slots a ballot paper with the word 'Liberal' into an Australian ballot box while a banner reading  "a plan that works" unfurls over your head.

The filter was clearly marked as an ad.

The filter appeared on Friday morning, just after a media blackout on political ads on televisions and radio came into effect at midnight.

The advertising ban does not affect internet campaigning but Dr Andrew Hughes, marketing professor with the Australian National University, said the emergence of political advertising on platforms like Snapchat proved the current blackout laws were "redundant".

"It's stupid. It's archaic and a sign that campaign finance and advertising laws need to be changed and updated," Dr Hughes said.

"This just shows that the advertising isn't over yet. We'll be seeing ads possibly up until as late as 5pm on social media so it's a new frontier."

Screenshots of the ad flooded social media on Friday morning. 

Some were quick to point out the informality of the ballot. 

Others helped to fix the ballot paper.

It's not the first time politicians have dabbled with Snapchat to pull in the youth vote.

A political action committee supporting Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign released an anti-Donald Trump location filter for those Snapchatting near the Republican presidential debate in Las Vegas last December.

Australian Labor also deployed a "Save Medicare" geofilter where Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull launched his campaign.

While it's hard to gauge whether the fancy filter will have any effect on voters at the ballot box, Dr Andrew Hughes said political ads done right on social media can actually be an effective way of building a relationship with voters.

"In the past Snapchat was seen as the domain of teenagers who were sending pictures of themselves to each other late at night but now it's crossing into mainstream acceptance," Dr Hughes said.

"I think that's the really great thing about social media when it comes to politics. It gets people a lot more engaged, a lot more interactive and you have a sense of ownership that your vote actually matters."

Regardless of the impact at the polling booth, it seems the app already has people asking all of the important questions.