The Harris campaign is leveraging viral memes, but will references to Gen Z social media resonate with older voters?
Vice President Harris’ campaign used the “coconut tree” and “brat” memes that went viral last week and captured the attention of Gen Z, but the unconventional campaign tactics were unfamiliar to older voters, many of whom were wondering what “brat” even meant.
Sergio Jose Gutierrez, CEO of Espora, a digital political adviser to campaigns around the world, told Fox News Digital that a “meme” can be defined as a concept, behavior, style or piece of media that spreads from person to person within a culture with the purpose of conveying a particular phenomenon, theme or meaning.
According to him, a meme can take the form of an image, video, phrase or other type of content that is shared rapidly and can be adapted by individuals online in a humorous or satirical way to fit a political or social moment.
Joe Rogan warns Kamala Harris will win because people are ‘bowed to the bull’ more than ever before
Vice President Kamala Harris has not held a press conference in 10 days since becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Gutierrez said one of the reasons memes are so popular is because humor is an effective means of conveying political messages and helps create and reinforce shared meanings in popular culture.
“In other words, these symbols make complex issues easier for everyone to understand and more relatable to young people,” he said.
Eric Dahan, Founder Mighty JoyThe company, which helps commerce-focused brands turn their social communities into sales, explained that memes are a unique format that allows for clever combinations of information to create “super easy headlines.”
Hours after President Biden gave up on his own reelection bid and endorsed Harris, pop phenomenon Charli XCX tweeted, “Kamala is a brat.” Campaign X Account The company capitalized on the “Brat” phenomenon by changing the account’s cover photo to the lime color used on Charli XCX’s album cover and replacing the word “Brat” with “Kamala HQ.”
“It’s a tool, and like any tool, she’s using it to her advantage, but it will continue to work against her,” Dahan said. “She uses it to laugh at a lot of the things she’s been made fun of.” [and] Although she passes it off as just a personality trait, she seems to have built her brand around it, particularly through brat culture in general.”
But Dahan warned that many Gen Z Americans find Harris’ political meme campaign “highly embarrassing” and could make her seem “less serious.” Plus, many older Americans are scratching their heads about what the word “brat” means in reference to the US president.
“That’s someone who is unconstrained, irresponsible, badly behaved, uses drugs, is a bit annoying, breaks societal norms, says stupid things, is promiscuous in terms of thought and expression,” Dahan said. “Do you want that kind of brand in someone leading a country when problems are mounting? From a brand-building perspective, I don’t think it’s wise.”
Dahan’s definition is similar to that explained by Charlie XCX himself. TikTok Videos About the “brat” album.
10 days: Kamala Harris hasn’t held a press conference since emerging as the presumptive Democratic nominee
In the days since Harris announced her candidacy, a video of Harris in 2023 has gone viral again. In the video, Harris recounts an episode in which her mother asks her, “Do you think you fell from a coconut tree?” to which she adds, “You exist in everything you live and everything that came before you.” The coconut meme was born out of the “brat” phenomenon.
Kamala Harris / Charlie XCX
“From a social media perspective, the topic right now is her, not Trump,” Dahan said. “So there’s something to be said about that. But I think this has a very good chance of hurting her, and I don’t think a brat deserves to be president. I don’t think that’s what we want, and I think there are a lot of very difficult questions, especially for her to answer.”
Dahan also said the idea that “meme culture” dominates politics speaks to the limited attention span of a society fuelled by social media.
“Social [media] “Memes are a feedback loop that rewards engagement, designed to hack your brain into paying attention, and they do that by showing you what’s most interesting, which is usually not long-winded or nuanced information,” Dahan said. “Usually it’s more daring, raunchy, loud, and usually more boring, empty information,” he added. “The embrace of meme culture is interesting to me because — and we’re not talking about politics, and I’m not a political expert — it’s able to capture attention without focusing on substantive information that might be harder or more controversial.”
But Gutierrez argues that memes are a powerful political tool that can help raise candidates’ profile.
“Obviously, these are certain future risks that have to be considered, but the emotions that memes evoke are not planned and cannot be planned,” he added. “Once they enter the digital ecosystem, the way they are received will evoke different emotions in voters. At the end of the day, what Kamala Harris is trying to do is speak to and persuade voters in a focused way. It doesn’t have to be rational, so it’s working for her.”
Kamala Harris / Charlie XCX (Getty Images)
Former CNN host Don Lemon celebrates being free from his “corporate masters” and being able to publicly support Kamala Harris
However, Gutierrez said Trump remains the most “meme-able” figure in American politics.
“Who is the greatest meme agent in the United States?” Gutierrez asked. “It’s not Kamala Harris, it’s Donald Trump, who continues to dominate meme culture with his high engagement in viral content.”
“He doesn’t care if people say bad things about him as long as his message gets to his target audience,” he added. “He just inspires them and becomes a human tool, or a human carrier, for them to spread his message. Just being controversial and provocative is enough for him, and he’s really good at it.”
Dahan said no matter how popular the Harris memes become, at some point the vice president will have to face issues in the Biden administration.
“Does this less serious, more light-hearted tone really work given all the problems we face?” he asked. “We’re engaged in two major wars on the global stage, we have inflation, an economic slowdown, immigration issues, and that’s what people are talking about.”
“Is that what we want when we have so many problems?” he asked.
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