'brat' means 'a bad but cool girl'
'Coconut tree' also popular as a meme
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, who has emerged as a leading Democratic candidate in the presidential election, is captivating young voters through 'memes'?short internet content that goes viral.
According to major foreign media on the 25th (local time), just four days after Harris was prominently mentioned as the Democratic presidential candidate, content featuring Vice President Harris has exploded on platforms like TikTok and X (formerly Twitter). In the past 30 days, the use of the hashtag '#kamalaharris' on TikTok has increased by 455%.
The most popular meme is 'brat.' British singer-songwriter Charlie XCX declared support by posting on her social media that "Kamala IS brat" after Biden announced he would not seek re-election. While the dictionary meaning of 'brat' is 'a badly behaved child,' Generation Z uses it on TikTok and other platforms as the opposite of a 'goody-goody,' referring to someone who is cool despite being a bit rebellious. It conveys an image of a bad but cool woman, boldness, and honesty.
The Harris campaign jumped on the 'brat' trend by changing the background image of their X account to the lime color of Charlie XCX’s album cover titled 'Brat.'
'Coconut tree' is also counted among popular memes. In May last year, while Vice President Harris was giving a speech at the White House on Hispanic educational equity, she quoted her mother saying, "Do you think you suddenly fell from a coconut tree? You exist in the context where you live and that existed before you." This means that all aspects of life are connected. Although it was criticized among Republican supporters at the time, it has recently gained popularity and is trending again among Generation Z.
Foreign media evaluated, "Part of Vice President Harris’s appeal lies in her relative youth and her historic status as the first African-Asian American female presidential candidate from a major party. She is also leveraging Generation Z’s online humor."
The Democratic Party analyzes that positive memes represent a new enthusiastic wave among young generations toward the party. However, President Biden, who is older, is seen as having failed to generate such enthusiastic momentum.
Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright said, "Young voters will be one of the arteries necessary to keep the campaign alive and healthy. We are seeing energy, interest, and participation that we have never seen before."
The popularity that started online is also translating into actual support. According to the voter registration nonprofit Vote.org, 40,000 new registrations were recorded within 48 hours after President Biden announced his withdrawal, with 83% of them aged 18 to 34.
Generation Z political group 'Voters of Tomorrow' reported that more branch memberships were received in the two months since Vice President Harris started her campaign than in the previous combined period, and they raised a record $125,000 at a fundraising event on the 21st.
However, interest on social media still appears to be led by former President Donald Trump. Although Trump has posted only five videos on TikTok so far, their views range from 3 million to 164 million, far exceeding the Democratic average of 330,000 views per post.
Some warn that relying too heavily on memes as a strategy is risky. Zeb Sanderson, director of the NYU Social Media and Politics Center, told Bloomberg News, "Young people tend to create memes, and it is important not to forget that older generations are more likely to vote on average."
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