With a new age comes a new form of marketing, and though candidates before Vice President Kamala Harris have made a prominent online presence for themselves, none pushed the boundaries like Harris, as she continues to toe the line between professionalism and mainstream appeal. A notable portion of the campaign revolves around trends and memes, presenting her relatability by taking advantage of viral trends to garner views. Its success makes it abundantly clear that our culture wants an icon more than a leader, and rather than maintaining basic professionalism, Harris plays into these ploys with trendy and overly colloquial social media accounts, downplaying political elections’ significance by making them appear more like an online feud between two immature candidates, rather than the impending national decision it truly is.
Following Charli XCX’s mention of Harris in an Instagram post in relation to her cultural phenomena, “Brat,” Harris was quick to rebrand her Instagram account to “Kamala HQ” with the same green background as the album, back in late July.
In addition, after weeks of the same video of Harris with her infamous “coconut tree” moment, a clip from a speech given at a White House ceremony in 2023, circulating and plaguing nearly every social media platform, Harris reclaimed the clip and added it to her campaign.
To the date, a large and disappointing portion of “Kamala HQ” is filled with gags about former president Trump, that have little to no relevance to either of the candidates policies, or anything regarding the nation and its affairs.
Nearly 80 million dollars of Harris’s campaign has gone into Facebook and Instagram ads, with an astonishing 36,000 ads circulating the sites, and similar trends are noted with YouTube and Google. Trump spent just over ten percent of Harris’s amount according to the financial times, pointing to a clear difference in strategies and targets.
The Kamala HQ page has edits of the Vice President to popular songs like “Femininomenon,” a hit by the pop star Chappell Roan, and often operates more like an informal fan account of Harris rather than a sophisticated branch of her political campaign. The account often makes fun of Trump’s pronunciation of words, physical appearance, and takes moments of the former president out of necessary context to make him appear lost and at times demeaning. Kamala HQ edits clips to fit an agenda and to further villainize her opponent rather than prioritizing the full truth.
Recent events sparked interest in Harris’s strategy, as the Vice President starred on “Call Her Daddy,” a comedy podcast with a spotlight on the female experience, reaching topics from relationships to human rights, where Harris gave context to her political marketing strategy.
“One of the best ways to communicate with people is to be real, and to talk about the things that people really care about,” Harris told podcast host Alex Cooper.
While Harris piqued the interest of her target market, with plenty of comments claiming they can’t get enough of her self-proclaimed humanistic approach, there’s a foundational level of conscientiousness that should be maintained regardless of strategy.
That being said, many might deem the transition from a traditional marketing campaign to a more humorous and light-hearted one as necessary, considering it humanizes candidates. In addition, most of Gen Z’s main news source is social media, as noted in a Statista report, and voter registration amongst POC youth has notably risen since Harris’s takeover. Within the 48 hours of the Biden to Harris transition, 40,000 new voters entered the pool, more than any increase previously, according to Vote.org. However, voting on the basis of amusement over official policies is a step backwards, and will establish leadership that doesn’t represent the desires of the majority.
With social media eternally captivating the attention of the youth, it seems like presidential candidates are forced to adapt to new marketing strategies to capture this voting demographic’s attention. Traditional sources are now perceived as boring, and in order to stand a chance at winning the younger demographic’s votes, candidates are left needing to deviate. Since about 70% of Gen Z and Millenials lean left, it becomes a high priority for Harris to solidify these democratic votes and for Trump to attempt to sway them.
However, by joining the bandwagon and producing funny content for the sake of engagement, rather than with the intention to educate, American youth is only further enabled, failing to address the striking media addiction dilemma across the country.
Though captions like “it’s giving,” and “she’s cooking” might cause a few chuckles, they serve to provide no substance for the political race, and ultimately misrepresent what politics stand for.
With trending audios, jabs at the other side, and an abandoned sense of decorum at the center of our government, little room is left for the meaningful dialogue and discourse our nation desperately needs. Political leaders must reinstitute civility and respect, as democracy deserves to be more than just a punchline.
