My 2024 summer playlist was dominated by Charli xcx’s “brat” album. A “brat summer” filled with late nights, wild encounters and overall fun was on just about everyone’s wish list.
You could imagine my surprise when Vice President and presidential candidate Kamala Harris decided to embrace brat culture. In an attempt to garner the youth vote, the Harris campaign has undergone a Generation Z-oriented transition in its online marketing strategy.
It began with a July 21 X post from the “Apple” singer that reads, “Kamala IS brat.”
Soon after, the Harris HQ X account revamped its header to adopt the “brat” aesthetic with a brat green background and minimalist black text that reads “harris hq.”
At the time, I found it an odd move to associate Harris with an album that romanticized being a “party girl” in a political climate that already sought to label Harris as the unserious candidate. However, the gamble seems to have paid off with the 18-to-29 crowd, aka potential Gen Z voters.
In a matter of days, my social media feeds were flooded with memes combining Harris’ infamous “coconut tree” quote with music from xcx’s “brat,” which generated a new wave of political engagement from young people who labeled themselves as “coconut pilled.”
While I can’t say I took the coconut pill, for a brief moment, I found myself setting aside my issues with Harris as I enjoyed the content being pushed to me.
Once the novelty wore off, I found that the “brat-ification” of Harris and the “coconut-pilling” of youth voters seemed to be an effective online strategy. I saw many of my peers, who previously had no interest in politics, suddenly posting Kamala edits and talking about how voting is “so brat.”
Whether this support is superficial and ironic or genuinely endorses Harris, the impact will be revealed at the polls. An increase in youth voter turnout across the country could potentially launch Harris to a 2024 win.
Over 40 million members of Gen Z will be eligible to vote in the November election and 45% of the Gen Z electorate are people of color, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. Harris could even have a shot at turning Texas blue if voter turnout increases.
Adam Carlson, senior vice president and head of Research of Fishbone Advisors, posted data on his X header that shows Texas moving consistently left at about 16.2 points since 2000, with the largest demographic in Texas being Hispanics under 25, according to Texas 2036. Texas 2036 is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy research and advocacy organization.
It will take more than a few clips of Harris dancing to “360” to get me to vote for her. As far as I’m concerned, Harris is just a more approachable version of her opponent, who also wants to fund the border wall and Israel.
A CIRCLE poll found that 49% of people ages 18 to 29 believe there is a genocide occurring in Palestine, with 28% supporting an immediate cease-fire. With these issues being hot topics among my generation, Democrats need to stop trying to be relatable to young voters and actually listen to us.
