The “Kamala is a brat” TikTok trend, along with other meme videos about Kamala Harris, is likely a disguised effort by the Harris campaign and its supporters to appeal to younger voters, several Gen Z online content creators told The Caller.
Shortly after Harris became the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, old videos of her speeches quickly circulated online, often in memes designed to make her look cool or humorous. Democrats argued the videos were evidence of a natural anticipation of Harris, but some content creators claim they were paid to post about her, while others say it looks more like a cover-up than a grassroots effort.
Comedian Steve McGrew Email shared The sign-up webpage offers participants cash rewards for posting positive videos about Harris. The requirements include “encouraging your fans to share, like, or follow Kamala’s videos, posting one or more memes, and posting content on TikTok, Instagram, or both,” according to a screenshot of an email from a company called LaunchViral, and mentioning the Harris campaign in a hashtag. The sign-up webpage also offers a $150 cash bonus incentive.
“We are excited to offer the opportunity to collaborate with the Kamala Harris 2024 Presidential Campaign,” the promotional email reads. Link The message in the email has since been disabled following online backlash.
They are trying to make me a paid shill for Kamala. They! But let this be a lesson to you… they are paying people to pretend to support Kamala. pic.twitter.com/kokPoAHvyK
— REMASCULATE Podcast with Steve Mudflap McGrew (@REMASCULATE) July 28, 2024
Some content creators told the Caller that videos like Harris’ light-hearted poking fun at the coconut tree anecdote and the “Kamala’s a brat” video, a reference to British pop singer Charli XCX’s new album “Brat,” are just another way Democrats are manipulating social media trends to drum up support for their candidate.
Every day leading up to the election I’m going to post a video of Kamala Harris and her stupid opinions.
This is her famous “Coconut Tree” speech from 2023. pic.twitter.com/Ur32WLtB64
— Sarah Fields (@SarahisCensored) July 28, 2024
Democrats are “doing all this dystopian stuff” to influence the election, he said. Chrissy Clark, a Gen Z conservative commentator who previously worked at The Daily Caller. Clark said the Democratic National Committee has a “dark network of influencers” behind these viral videos, and that their influence will only grow.
According to Clark, the promotion of online trends is necessary to build Kamala’s image and rebrand her as “cool and relatable.” These memes are an attempt to drown out other creators who say they won’t vote for her simply because “she’s a woman or because she’s black,” Clark told The Daily Caller.
According to social media influencers, these meme videos are going viral because the younger generation is reacting to them thinking, “She’s easy to tease.” Savannah Fuehr.
“She’s not doing a good job representing the people,” Feuer told the Daily Caller. “Generation Z wants a leader who will push for policies that will get Americans out of this financial crisis,” he added. Younger generations watch these videos and laugh, but that’s not enough to convince them to “actually vote for her,” Feuer said. (Related article: Poll shows more than three-fifths of Americans believe Kamala Harris covered up Biden’s health problems)
Gen Z’s voting ranks have grown significantly since the last presidential election, with roughly 41 million people on track to be eligible to vote in 2024. Taft’s CircleTikTok, a platform primarily used by Gen Z, is now full of videos of Kamala Harris laughing, dancing and joking.
In addition to potentially paid online content, the Harris campaign has also incorporated meme videos into its campaign strategy, embracing the “Kamala is a Brat” trend and changing its campaign’s X cover photo to match the lime green style of Brat album covers.
The trend has created a feedback loop, with mainstream media portraying the spike in posts as a spontaneous sign of support for Harris: “She’s gone from being embarrassing to being cool,” one CNN commentator said. Van Jones said. “An entire generation has taken all kinds of content and remixed it into amazing TikTok videos.” (Related: Department of Justice says Chinese Communist Party-linked TikTok collected data on U.S. users’ political views)
The DNC has previously paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to media companies representing young TikTok influencers, The Daily Caller previously reported. According to reports, Chris Mowry and fellow influencer Harry Sisson built large followings by making pro-Biden videos on Twitter and TikTok while working with talent management company Palette, which the Democratic National Committee paid $210,000 to run during the 2022 election.
Morley spoke about Gen Z’s influence on politics through their influence on social media: CNNIn June, he was seen wearing a “Biden campaign employee” lanyard after the CNN-hosted presidential debate that ultimately cost Biden his reelection.
I spoke with one pro-Biden TikTok user.
Apparently he didn’t like the format of the debate and attacked the moderator. LOL. pic.twitter.com/jbn9QGCrSu
— Brent Scher (@BrentScher) June 28, 2024
As Kamala’s presidential campaign gets underway, Clark argued, HQ will most likely leverage the extensive network “that the DNC uses to pay left-wing creatives.”
