What Kamala Harris can learn from brands about marketing to Gen Z

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Kamala Harris has the memes.

And surely that’s good news for the vice president: It’s widely believed that Vice President Harris will need a strong turnout from Gen Z voters to defeat Donald Trump in the 2024 election, and even more widely believed that meme culture is a proxy for youth sentiment. So while some politicians and pundits may be confused by, for example, British pop singer Charlie XCX declaring “kamala IS brat,” the bottom line is that it’s positive. And Harris’s team is leaning in—for example, subbing in a chartreuse aesthetic on the @KamalaHQ page on X (formerly Twitter) that references Charlie XCX’s branding around her Brat album.

@flextillerson kamala harris edit to 360 by charli xcx. brat presidency #kamalaharris #kamala #biden #harris2024 #charli #charlixcx #brat #360 ♬ original sound – aly

@flextillerson kamala harris edit to 360 by charli xcx. brat presidency #kamalaharris #kamala #biden #harris2024 #charli #charlixcx #brat #360 ♬ original sound – aly

kamala harris edit to 360 by charli xcx. brat presidency #kamalaharris #kamala #biden #harris2024 #charli #charlixcx #brat #360

But the campaign might not want to lean too far. There’s a fine line between appreciating grass-roots expression and the enthusiasm it represents, and clumsily co-opting that expression. Or bungling it altogether. Brands have had to learn and relearn this lesson throughout the Internet era, from McDonald’s unfortunate misuse of the slang term, “I’d hit it,” to Pepsi’s misguided depiction of Kendall Jenner as a soother of civil discontent to Subway Canada asking social media users to choose their “bread bae” to the more recent oversaturation of mainstream brands from Applebee’s to Domino’s striking weirdly attitude-heavy tones on social media. And so on.

If you’re clearly trying too hard, the audience you meant to flatter may say it was fun while it lasted, and move on.

eh it was fun while it lasted pic.twitter.com/cGFVjyazcJ— alex krokus (@alexkrokus) July 31, 2023

eh it was fun while it lasted pic.twitter.com/cGFVjyazcJ

This isn’t really new. While Gen Z is no doubt skeptical of traditional marketing that targets them, and seeks authenticity, the same has been true of every youth cohort for half a century or longer. And plenty of marketers have learned the value of a less-is-more approach; Pabst Blue Ribbon, for example, was a pioneer of the low-key approach when it became trendy in the early 2000s, and instead of making ads featuring hipsters, it found ways to support its fans rather than exploit them. In doing so, it avoided the “How do you do, fellow kids?” moment that dooms so many erstwhile youth brands, which have the cringe of a Boomer referencing “skibidi toilet.”

Right now, it’s hard to imagine how meme culture could be more useful to the Harris brand than it has been in the short time since her candidacy for the presidency was formally announced. The vice president already had a solid online profile from her first bid for the office in 2020, and the so-called KHive has returned in force. In addition to the countless “brat”-related riffs, Harris fans have provided the highly useful service of repackaging the exact same Harris gaffes and oddities that her Republican foes are trying to use to undermine her seriousness as a candidate. “Do you think you just fell out of a coconut tree?” may sound like word salad, but it’s now the basis of a meme tributary that makes Harris seem fun, quirky, and human. Trump’s attempted-smear nickname “Laffin’ Kamala” almost sounds like a compliment.

This apparent meme superiority had been the subject of analysis from many media outlets (including this one). “I will aspire to be brat,” Jake Tapper deadpanned at the end of a CNN roundtable segment that had morphed into a meme explainer. The Extremely Online crowd may eye-roll at such discourse, but it leaves the impression with the rest of us that the Harris brand is relevant and youthful.

@cnn CNN’s Jake Tapper, Jamie Gangel, David Chalian, and Kaitlan Collins discuss Vice President Kamala Harris’ embracing of “brat,” a meme and online aesthetic inspired by British pop star Charli XCX’s hit album of the same name. #cnn #news #kamalaharris #brat ♬ original sound – CNN

@cnn CNN’s Jake Tapper, Jamie Gangel, David Chalian, and Kaitlan Collins discuss Vice President Kamala Harris’ embracing of “brat,” a meme and online aesthetic inspired by British pop star Charli XCX’s hit album of the same name. #cnn #news #kamalaharris #brat ♬ original sound – CNN

CNN’s Jake Tapper, Jamie Gangel, David Chalian, and Kaitlan Collins discuss Vice President Kamala Harris’ embracing of “brat,” a meme and online aesthetic inspired by British pop star Charli XCX’s hit album of the same name. #cnn #news #kamalaharris #brat

Still, that can be a fragile state. And sometimes the best thing to do with meme-land enthusiasm is . . . leave it alone. Before his last debate against Trump, President Joe Biden made what seemed to be a knowing reference to the Dark Brandon meme (which imagines him as a laser-eyed superhero), joking that contrary to Republican rumors, his secret energy-sauce was just water. This backfired when he went on to perform more as if he’d guzzled Nyquil. The meme mention is now obviously a footnote; but even before the evening went sideways for Biden, it struck a contrived and cringe-y note.

So far, the Harris campaign has been muted in its direct reaction to the jubilant expression bubbling up from meme-land. To be sure, its TikTok and Instagram accounts seem busy and engaged, but the campaign seems more focused on amplifying the KHive, as opposed to pandering or imitating. It can take discipline for a brand, including a political brand, to resist trying to seem like a peer. But sometimes, the smartest response is just to get out of the way—and in the case of the Harris campaign, focus on converting online enthusiasm into registration, participation, and turnout. Kamala may have the memes, but it will take more than that to get the votes.