Modern social media, like the young people that dominate it, can be unserious, unprofessional and unhinged. Yet, because of its all-encompassing reach in modern culture, the 2024 election has seen both presidential candidates venture out past their meticulously crafted PR statements and official news appearances. 

Instead, both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have set out into the vast, untamed world of social media and its algorithms to attempt to win over young voters. However, despite their many attempts, it remains uncertain whether their ventures into youth culture will help either of them secure the presidency on election day.

Ava Stubee, a second-year sociology major and a member of the political science club, has noticed the candidates’ presence on social media.

“I think at this point, it’s almost hard to not have some sort of that media exposed to you,” Stubee said.

An important part of any presidential campaign is marketing an image and message to the voter base. While this is traditionally done through rallies, convention appearances and TV and print advertisements, presidential candidates are quick to adapt to new innovations in media to try to get any edge over their opponents. 

Now, that means finding a way to achieve virality on algorithm-based social media platforms. Much of this is done through scrollable short-form media on platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels, which heavily favor the attention-grabbing and sensationalized content that garners the most views.

Rather than using traditional advertising sources to get a message in front of voters, these efforts of building a social-media presence try to naturally harness existing trends and personalities. By relying on tailored algorithms to get them views and visibility, they can skirt around the usual stigma and annoyance surrounding advertising. Additionally, it allows them the chance to benefit from the loyalty that viewers hold to a particular subculture or individual. 

The most viral of Harris’ efforts has to do with a tie into the extremely popular “brat summer” trend that spawned around singer Charli xcx’s hit album “BRAT.” Following Biden stepping down and endorsing Harris, Charli xcx tweeted out “kamala IS brat”. The next day, when Biden’s campaign accounts rebranded to @KamalaHQ, they unveiled a brand-new brat themed bright green banner and profile picture, which garnered millions of views and reactions from fans.

The new banner referenced the album’s cover artwork, which features the word “brat” in lowercase Arial font over a bold shade of bright green. The unique and shocking iconography of the album, working in tandem with its commercial success and resonant themes about womanhood and identity made the album a huge success, especially with Gen Z women. 

Many found “brat” relatable and inspiring because of its rejection of traditional feminine ideals of perfection, empowering women to still be strong and independent while allowing them to have fun, make mistakes and be authentic. With Harris potentially being the first female president, the endorsement and adoption of brat aesthetics also thematically connected the campaign with the themes of the album and the feelings of its fans.

Stubee believes that hopping on trends can be helpful to political campaigns, especially those hoping to reel in younger voters.

“It is a really quick and easy way to gain attention and bring in younger voters who might not be as politically involved, but then might see a political figure as trendy or relatable, in a way that makes them more encouraged to be part of the election.”

While also targeting Gen Z voters, Trump opted to go after a different part of the group, using creators with a connection to the “manosphere,” which is a community of men who shun feminism and blame it for what they see as a corrupted society, to attempt to grow support with young men. 

Many of his viral moments stemmed from a livestream he did with Adin Ross, a popular streamer that started by playing video games but in recent years has shifted and aligned himself with ideologically conservative manosphere content creators, notably, Andrew Tate.

In the livestream, which reached a peak of half a million viewers, Trump and Ross discussed various topics, including Trump giving commentary and making remarks about Harris. Ross also asked Trump to give him one-word descriptions of a wide array of figures, including Kim Jong-Un, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Nelk Boys, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Kanye West. 

At the end of the stream, Ross gifted the former president a Tesla Cybertruck with “Make America Great Again” decals and pictures of Trump pumping his fist after his failed assassination attempt on both doors, along with a Rolex watch.

The collaboration targets much of Ross’ young, conservative male audience, many of whom started to watch him during his alignment with the manosphere. Much of the manosphere’s content criticizes society for straying from traditional gender norms. The content also gives men advice in shaping themselves into a traditional, hyper-masculine ideal that they say will bring them happiness and success. In appearing on Ross’ stream, the Trump campaign hopes that these men will also align themselves with and support the Republican platform.

In addition to each of their standout moments, the candidates have been trying other mediums to reach voters. Both went on various podcasts tailored to young people, with Harris going on Call Her Daddy, a sex advice and comedy podcast, with Trump going on a multitude of podcasts run by personalities that cater to young men. These include Andrew Schulz and Theo Von, comedians who went viral by posting short clips on TikTok, along with Barstool Sports and the Nelk Boys, both creators who can be described as fraternity-oriented.

Most recently, it was also confirmed that Trump will appear on Joe Rogan’s podcast Oct. 25. Rogan’s podcast has a massive audience with 14 million followers on Spotify.

With the election posed to be an extremely tight race, both candidates have different ambitions for what a successful social media marketing campaign could bring them. Visiting Assistant Teaching Professor of Political Science Thomas Mann emphasized the dedicated, stable, yet stagnant nature of the Republican voter base, and the danger of not expanding his base.

“Trump just had the problem that he seems to hit a pretty tough [voting] ceiling around 46 to 48%. That could win him a general election if he wins in the right spots, but it does leave room for his opponents to get 51%,” Mann said.

On the other hand, Mann emphasized how the Harris campaign had an opportunity to fight for every group that feels left behind by Trump, but is not totally dedicated to the Democratic party either. 

“It’s kind of like making hot dogs, [the Harris campaign] can just kind of sweep everyone who’s left on the ground and make a sausage link out of it, and hope that product is enough to do to deliver an election day,” Mann said in an analogy for the Harris’ outreach strategy.

However, the reality of the election and the goals of the campaign are two very separate things. Despite the millions of views and millions of dollars invested, it is still unclear how effective these strategies will be. 

Some predictions, like election expert and Associate Teaching Professor of Political Science Patrick Schoettmer’s, are a little short of optimistic.

“I do not think it will be effective. I think we will see a low turnout among Gen Z,” Schoettmer said. “Partly, they just have a lot more going on in their lives than older people, so there’s a lot more options and activities competing with voting. It’s just a lower priority.”

In addition, some caution against buying so heavily into the enthusiastic efforts of the campaigns’ constructed images and promises. 

Associate Clinical Professor of Marketing Joseph Barnes emphasized some of the dangers of campaign marketing, especially in a modern social media context. AI contributes to disinformation, which can be a huge problem, especially in short form content, where fact-checking is rare. Additionally, he stressed that young voters who buy into the candidates may be disillusioned once their candidate comes into office.

“We want to believe in the vision of either one of the candidates, but we also recognize that they’re limited in what they can do the way things are gridlocked in Washington, D.C.,” Barnes said.

Regular voters have also responded to problems with much of the outreach. For example, Trump and Ross received criticism for the Cybertruck and Rolex that were gifted, pointing them out as campaign contributions that exceeded the legal $3,300 limit.

On the other side of the aisle, there is worry that Harris bought into the memes and endorsements without thinking of their implications on her image. 

Luke Maden, a second-year computer science major, shared that, while a nice sentiment, “Kamala is brat” did not influence his vote.

“Kamala and brat, that’s funny, but also, she’s an ex-prosecutor [and] I don’t really know what affinity she has with an album with more cocaine references than I could count,” Maden said.

It is not all doom and gloom, though. Schoettmer emphasized that even if these campaigns aren’t directly leading to votes now, they are part of the campaigns building trust with young people for the long term. 

“Focusing on Gen Z is not just about winning for today, but winning tomorrow as well,” Schoettmer said.

Voters won’t know much about whether the unconventional strategies that the candidates embraced this year were successful until Nov. 5. The one thing people can do, however, is vote. 

“Go vote! Flex that muscle,” Mann said. “It’s not difficult, and people fought and died for that right.”

More information on how to register to vote can be found at Vote.gov.