Tessa Ndjonkou knew things were awry when she saw politicians making thirst traps for themselves. She examines why they seem so desperate to appeal to the youth.
Politicians, they’re just like us! Aren’t they? Yeah, no.
Between sprawling estates and unkept promises, it is at times hard to believe that they truly want what’s best for the good of the people. As social media has impacted or permeated nearly every aspect of life - so, too do political bodies and public people need to keep up to maintain their relevance to younger voters. Cue Gen-Z communications advisors and PR teams who undoubtedly spend most of their time in the office scrolling through your Tik Tok “For You Pages” and “X” feeds just to get a sense of what makes someone “cool” by today’s standards.
Gone are the days of uptight politicians never breaking their careful curated image of elegance and poise. These new times have paved the way for the adoption of a more pervasive aesthetic by world leaders across the globe: “Sprezzatura” or studied carelessness. That’s how I would qualify Rishi Sunak’s samba-clad nonchalance or Leo Varadkar’s generous invitation to feast our eyes on the most unappetizing meal prep known to man.
Gone are the days of uptight politicians never breaking their careful curated image of elegance and poise. These new times have paved the way for the adoption of a more pervasive aesthetic by world leaders across the globe: “Sprezzatura” or studied carelessness.
In France, we’ve had our fair share of “cool” ministers breaking the invisible wall that separates them from young voters. The first one that comes to mind is President Emmanuel Macron’s first Minister for Transport, Jean-Baptiste Djebarri’s thunderous entry onto the Tik Tok scene. I say thunderous simply because he was really good at it. One might even argue, too good. Although his verified account, @jdbjebb, has been inactive since 2022, he still boasts over 36 million likes and 1 million followers. Shades on in his profile picture and with a bio that reads “Tik Tok Minster”, he hit us where we were weak. His profile pokes fun at his ministry, his gargantuan workload and even some of his political opponents such as far-right candidate Marine Le Pen and leftist leader Jean-Luc Mélanchon. Once he announced his departure from the role, his comment section was filled with comments such as: “Oh no! Sir, come back!” and “I’ll miss him to be honest.”
His understanding of trends, memes and lingo that had barely permeated the zeitgeist thrilled me and my peers against our better judgment. Because here’s the thing, we know exactly what’s going on. We know a prospective candidate or politician who is low in the polls is on a last ditch attempt to loyalize a voter base even if that means completely changing their past political ethos. But through the smokescreen of generational humor, it seems like we just can’t help but be endeared by the effort put into at least trying to adopt our rapidly changing semiotics.
We know a prospective candidate or politician who is low in the polls is on a last ditch attempt to loyalize a voter base even if that means completely changing their past political ethos. But through the smokescreen of generational humor, it seems like we just can’t help but be endeared by the effort put into at least trying to adopt our rapidly changing semiotics.
Take our newly appointed Taoiseach, Simon Harris and his iconic “To anybody who thinks this part lacks energy [...] you ain’t seen nothing yet”. The phrase that started as a rare, perhaps unintentional break in his poise became an actual bit that he himself reprised during the Fine Gael Party conference held at The University of Galway earlier this month. Shortly after he was announced as the Fine Gael party leader, “You ain’t seen nothing yet” by Canadian rocker band Bachman-Turner Overdrive blared from the speaker to punctuate not just appointment but perhaps the future, contrasted tone of his tenure. District Magazine, a leading arts and culture magazine based in Dublin has already immortalized his digital footprint - introducing him to a voterbase he would have otherwise been isolated from.
Since he appeared Samba-clad during an interview and fashionista’s across the world almost strung him up by his laces, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made a verbose apology.
The same cannot be said about French President Emmanuel Macron, the youngest president of the fifth republic. His personal photographer since 2016, Soazig de la Moissonière has been as of 2022, election year, honing in on his relatability. Most notably, during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the picture of him in a hoodie, with tousled hair and a three o’clock shadow brought something never-before-seen to the Presidential Palace. Carefully shattering the curated image past presidents had tried so hard to maintain, Macron leaned into his age and his reputation as a political wonderkind and attempted to appeal to a voter base that had rallied towards the leftist candidate, Jean-Luc Mélanchon. While it cannot be said that this somewhat anachronistic image is what won him the vote, it can be said that it did much to enforce the idea of his “relatability”. Emmanuel Macron was re-elected as President on April 24th 2022, and the rest is history …