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The youth vote is traditionally very difficult to get\u2014voters aged 18-24 have some of the lowest turnout rates<\/a> of all age groups. Vice President Kamala Harris\u2019 campaign might be changing that.\u00a0<\/p>\n Since Harris\u2019 announcement Sunday that she will be running for president after President Biden stepped down from the race, her campaign has decided to pull out the stops to attract Gen Z. They\u2019ve transformed her campaign\u2019s X (formerly Twitter) page into a Gen Z fly trap, decorated with easter eggs that younger voters will recognize, but will go over the heads of older voters.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2018BRAT summer\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n For one, her X banner\u2014the large, vertical photo at the top of the page\u2014is a simple \u201ckamala hq\u201d against a neon-green background. That directly references the cover of British pop star Charli XCX\u2019s June album, \u201cBRAT,\u201d which evokes the messy, carefree, revelry of a young woman\u2019s summer. Since the album took off, memes centered around \u201cbrat summer\u201d have taken over the internet, peaking at new heights once Charli XCX herself declared<\/a>, on Sunday, that\u00a0 \u201ckamala IS brat.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The post\u2014which, as of press time, has 51 million views\u2014generated a firestorm among young voters, who debated whether to support Harris\u2019 progressive background or reject her based on her law enforcement history (\u201cno, Kamala IS cop,\u201d a disgruntled person replied).<\/p>\n David Hogg, a Gen Z gun control activist who survived the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, wrote<\/a> on X that \u201cThe amount [Charli\u2019s] single tweet may have just done for youth vote is not insignificant.\u201d He later updated his followers, confirming<\/a> that \u201cNancy Pelosi has been informed of the meaning of Brat.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Edits of Harris dancing, speaking, and laughing to Charli XCX\u2019s music have exploded over TikTok since she announced her candidacy, leading younger voters to declare their allegiance to her: \u201cshe is the moment, come on now,\u201d one commentator posted<\/a> on the \u201ckamalahq\u201d TikTok account. Another simply said: \u201cshe\u2019s going to win.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Coconut trees<\/strong><\/p>\n Candidates have, in the past, tried to access Gen Z voters with memes\u2014often to no avail. Gen Z and millennials are still cringing at the memory of Hillary Clinton\u2019s infamous \u201cPokemon go to the polls\u201d line from 2016, referencing the viral mobile game. Even in this cycle, Biden\u2019s promotion of his campaign-created meme, Dark Brandon, was largely panned<\/a> as cringe and even pandering to the youth vote.\u00a0<\/p>\n What makes this time different? Part of it is that Harris\u2019 campaign has utilized a comedic tool long popular<\/a> with Gen Z: self-deprecation.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rather than sticking to what makes her look good, Harris took a risk and launched on to a viral meme <\/a>that made fun of her. In the now-infamous \u201ccoconut speech\u201d from last May, Harris spoke about thinking communally, rather than individually, before sharing an anecdote from her mother.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cShe would give us a hard time sometimes, and she would say to us, \u2018I don\u2019t know what\u2019s wrong with you young people. You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?\u2019\u201d Harris laughed. \u201cYou exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.\u201d<\/p>\n Many people critiqued the speech and made jokes about Harris, saying she sounded \u201cdrunk<\/a>\u201d or \u201cweird<\/a>.\u201d And, after she announced her candidacy on Sunday, the term \u201ccoconut tree\u201d shot into relevancy, leaving her vulnerable to a fresh round of attacks.\u00a0<\/p>\n Instead, Harris took on the fight, naming the \u201ckamalahq\u201d bio \u201cproviding context,\u201d a reference to the meme. Her supporters\u2014nicknamed the \u201ckHive\u201d after Beyonce\u2019s fan group, the \u201cBeyHive\u201d\u2014followed suit, declaring themselves coconut tree supporters.\u00a0<\/p>\n Colorado Gov. Jared Polis tweeted<\/a> a coconut, a palm tree, and an American flag emoji on Sunday to declare his support. Anderson Clayton, chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party, posted<\/a> enthusiastically, \u201cWe all fell out of the coconut tree today into a gym full of Democrats!!!!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who was considered one of Harris\u2019 rivals for the nomination after Biden stepped down\u2014and who could become her running mate\u2014showed his support to Harris on Monday by asking<\/a>, \u201cYou think I just fell out of a coconut tree?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n So, will all of the meme-ry work to bring in Gen Z? Eric Dahan, the CEO and co-founder of Open Influence, a influencer marketing company, told Fortune<\/em> that memes could work as a \u201cleading weapon in politics.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWith Americans getting a significant portion of their news from social media, memes present the perfect delivery mechanism for bite-sized packets of information and spin,\u201d\u00a0 Dahan said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think [Kamala Harris] is the only one that makes sense. She will get the votes Biden couldn\u2019t,\u201d Will, a Gen Z construction worker from Portland, told<\/a> The Guardian. \u201c<\/em>The Democrats need a bold move and I think she\u2019s just what we need.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n