[cuboidGoat]

The two ideas aren't mutually exclusive. There is then the audience that knows it is all bollocks from the start, many of whom treat it as a massive in-joke that they can take part in, rather than an actual attempt at lying, which wouldn't be the case if the lying was any good.

[romwell]

Very much this; in other words - the officials are trolling the world, with their electorate in on it.