On Sept. 20, Vice President Kamala Harris spoke to a crowd of 8000 eager Atlanta residents.
“Donald Trump, on the other hand, has been talking a big game about securing our border,” notes the current 2024 Presidential candidate. There’s a palpable excited energy in the air. “But he does not walk the walk,” she continued. And here’s the kicker: “Or as my friend Quavo would say, he does not walk it like he talks it.” The crowd erupts in applause. To be clear: Quavo is not a politician. In fact, he’s not one of Harris’ “friends” at all. Quavo is a hip-hop and rap artist, and he just happens to be huge with the Gen Z crowd.
This is the perfect example of the widely-discussed angle Harris has been utilizing for her presidential campaign as she rapidly takes the reins from President Joe Biden. Harris will have campaigned for a total of 107 days by the election on November 5, which means once she became the Democratic nominee, she had to act fast. Abnormally fast. Her social media team took it on with stride and the very specific target of Gen Z, also known as the 12 to 27 year-olds that grew up in this era of dense internet meme-ability. Harris’ campaign social media ads range from a video of Trump positioned next to Subway Surfers gameplay, references to Harris’ iconic “coconut tree” speech, and – most notably – an alignment with the visuals of Charli xcx’s new album, “BRAT.” Ironically, the album frequently mentions cocaine, which proves interesting for a democratic presidential candidate, but nevertheless this campaigning took the internet by storm, as social media users marveled at the audacity to try and capture the essence of a viral TikTok into a presidential campaign.
Right wing media proved more confused than disapproving: “Loosely defined, a “brat” at least in the eyes of GenZers is someone who is kinda messy, likes to party, and sometimes says dumb things,” Conservative radio host Tomi Lahren noted. “Interesting choice for Kamala’s campaign to celebrate her as that.”
She’s spot on with the definition of “BRAT,” but I firmly believe there’s a hidden brilliance in the “hip” methodology of a Gen Z oriented campaign.
It’s hard to get Gen Z excited about something. Our attention spans average out at about 8 seconds, according to Microsoft. We’re not truly invested in much of anything. But a candidate for our country’s president using chronically online memeology? That’s new. That’s interesting. That’s, quite literally, brat!
Yes, it’s a great strategy, but it does have me slightly worried for the future of voters. If teens are conditioned to vote based on the “cooler” candidate, what does that do to our next generation of voters? Kamala’s actual policies and positions on essential topics should be the main reason she’s getting filled in on your ballot – not if she’s “BRAT” enough.
