Brat But It's a Political Campaign
When I think of pop culture and politics, the first thing that comes to mind is a post on X, ‘kamala IS brat.’ In the summer of 2024, Kamala Harris entered the U.S. presidential race against Donald Trump. Only hours later, musician Charli XCX made the aforementioned post and garnered Harris’ campaign accounts a mass surge of followers. What followed was a remarkable rebrand that heavily appealed to a young demographic of voters.
That same summer was dubbed ‘brat summer,’ as Charli’s newest album with a vibrant green cover, Brat, had taken over many corners of the internet. The hyperpop album had clearly found success, as it debuted at number three on Billboard’s top 200 and resulted in millions of streams. Its raw lyrics and playful beats represent the cool, unapologetic girl everyone has ever wanted to be. Brat had Gen Z in a chokehold of self expression. While Charli has since come out clarifying that the post was not an endorsement, the next moves Harris’ team took displayed brilliant political advertising.
Kamala Harris and her team immediately leaned into the trend, with the lime color splashed all over her platforms. The campaign’s Instagram and X accounts began resposting memes, and its X profile banner mimicked the album cover. Rather than simply dismissing the post, they fully committed to the bit. This ended up sparking even more memes and ultimately generated attention towards Harris’ campaign.
Sources:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqqlgq7k374o
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DBo_kl6_XbcY7jOnhWXdyDzc0tCNNOyWw3mdaQYyJhk/edit?tab=t.0
I love this post. I think it does a good job emphasizing the importance of pop culture when it comes to attracting young voters. One example I can think of from the same presidential campaign is Megan Thee Stallion's performance at Kamala Harris' rally and mixed reaction that was followed. Some loved it, others said it was too provocative, distracting, disrespectful etc. Generally, I have noticed that many actors and singers show their support to a candidate during elections and the impact can be documented depending on how big the pop star is. I never really understood how this worked and why so many young people based their decisions on other people though. I can't imagine choosing who to vote for depending on celebrities' opinions. One of the more recent examples of pop star getting involved in politics is Nicki Minaj and her public support to Erika Kirk and Donald Trump. This incident was also full of mixed opinions from public and it was definitely surprising to me, but examples of celebrities influencing public opinion in politics are many and their impact should be further studied in my opinion.
ReplyDelete