69.2 million: the number of qualified voters in the United States between the ages of 18 and 34, according to an article by USA Today. Out of these 69.2 million, 60% said they’d consider voting for a third-party candidate. So what does this mean for Hillary Clinton? Let’s just say, she’s got some work to do.
I would like to focus on the rhetoric that the Clinton campaign has been using to appeal to the
millennial generation, specifically the t-shirts that Hillary’s campaign came out with in the hopes of gaining more support from the younger generation. These new yellow t-shirt’s feature the phrase “Yaaas, Hillary!” and a picture of her face from probably thirty years ago.
This strategy doesn’t make sense coming from a 68-year-old woman who most likely doesn’t even know where or how “yaaas” started. (It was Lady GaGa by the way). Also, using a photo of herself from 30-40 years ago on the shirt sends a false message to her millennial audience. We all know that Hillary is not a young, hip candidate that relates to our generation’s culture, so why pretend? It comes across as insincere and quite frankly, phony.
Realistically, Hillary is a grandmother and her disingenuous attempts to gain support via snapchat, GIF’s, Bitmoji’s…etc. are getting her nowhere. We don’t want the POTUS to pretend to know funny slang or be BFF’s with popular young celebrities. We want a POTUS that will help our futures and make us feel confident in the policies that she is planning to implement.
In an article by In These Times, Kate Aronoff writes, “For the most progressive and diverse generation in history, Trump represents virtually everything our generation is against. Clinton represents everything that hasn’t worked for us.” Hillary needs to step up and show our generation how she is going to help us get out of debt post college, how she is going to redistribute wealth, how she is going to make healthcare affordable and effective…etc. It can’t just be all talk that appeals to every age.
If Hillary does not start going out of her way to show millenials that she is going to make policies specifically for the betterment of our futures, then she is going to lose a lot of millennial votes to either Gary Johnson or Jill Stein. This generation wants to know that we aren’t just pawns in her campaign, but people that she genuinely cares for.
I’m not sure how effective the shirts will be, especially because millennials probably would rather buy other things besides a cheesy T-shirt. I think you are right that she needs to be more specific in her rhetoric to address problems that millennials face, like finding a job and healthcare. It won’t be a snapchat or instagram that will convince millennials to vote for her. She needs to reach out to them in the next debate to make them feel that they will not be neglected, and should come up with some cooler T-shirt ideas.
I don’t believe the marketing strategy that they are trying to implement is a terrible one. Creating something that someone can wear around and act as a “walking billboard” is a tool to help spread general awareness of the candidate. However, I do agree the shirt could use a cooler design or slogan, with the current one being borderline “cheesy.” A sincere and optimistic message on the shirt would garner more positive attention, as well as create a stronger narrative for the candidate (ex: Obama’s “Hope” and “Change” shirts).