2016-06-05
Vanamali Hermans & Michael Trembath
There has been a notable shift this year against 'playing it safe' on social media. And it has been the use of memes that have provided young voters with an accessible way to get involved in the federal election campaign.
It is hard to communicate what memes are, as they have changed significantly over time. Memes typically consist of a funny image and accompanying text. They're often a play on pop culture, incorporate puns, and we specifically use them with political overtones. Most importantly though, they're a reprieve from the very serious voice most political pages use.
Top AYG memes of recent times
1. That A E C sthetic
2. To uninstall this government
3. Let the states do it.
4. Just give 'em one of these
5. Continuity and change
6. That time when the Greens' slogan was how to win Zelda
7. Installing the NBN
8. When you're Green according to VoteCompass
9. Trick shot
Memes are a way to communicate to a different audience, and are generally much more accessible.
The AMWU (Australian Manufacturing Workers Union) have cornered the absurdist anti-Turnbull meme market while members of Labor Left reimagine memes which have recently trended with images of Bill Shorten or Anthony Albanese. The Australian Young Greens are striking more of a middle ground, producing something humorous yet still sincerely communicating a policy, or campaign.
We're now hitting reaches regularly on posts between 50k-100k. This is not common to the smaller social media campaigns run by youth wings, and is therefore something to be celebrated. We should also see this as very important - we know that our main voter base is young, and probably more likely to appreciate our comedic work. We don't want to suggest that it is purely because of our memes that we have completely shifted youth discourse. That not only would be untrue, but would also be insulting to our sound communications strategy. What can be said though is that as the youth wing of the party, we have more flexibility in being able to be more colloquial and satirical online than the official page. And it cuts through. We have policy that can often be complex and rooted in science and evidence. This can often shut out potential members of our movement. And humour and ridiculous photoshop jobs are just one way to make our messaging more accessible.
But there are other benefits to producing memes than just reaching new people. There has been an obvious shift in culture within the Australian Young Greens to campaigning. Digital campaigning is something that can have an incredibly quick turn around, and unite members from around the country.
Quite simply, it grounds us, and gives us something to all work towards.
An issue has arisen on the campaign trail in Katherine, a funny line was thought of in Sydney, and a meme is generated in Adelaide - all within the space of a few hours.
And we do this every day.
We must mention though that this culture started because of a more 'on the ground' campaign. Through co-ordination from our tireless campaign organisers, Vanamali and Pat, we have over time created a more streamlined approach to campaigning. Take this year's O-week, where we had materials co-ordinated across the country, liaised with MPs offices, and created our own materials too - special note to our 'highlighting sexism' environmentally friendly highlighters!
We were motivated, and working daily - from designing materials to organising postal bags, to sending photos of stalls.
We built momentum, networks and most importantly, trust.
Digital campaigning is a different beast.
It allows us to collaborate every single day, and try and communicate Greens policy in a different way. We can be ironic and obtuse, but ultimately funny and in good spirit. We reach people disinterested in politics but interested in morals. We have a funny line come from Brisbane, then collaborate with a ridiculously talented photoshopper in Adelaide.
Take for example the 'enrol to vote' digital campaign we ran. Young Greens submitted ideas from around the country, a handful of people with a knack with Photoshop turned them into shareable images and suddenly our 'page likes' surged by 1000 over a few days. It was a simple message and action, but was communicated in a more sharable way than your average Australian Electoral Commission post (which is constrained by protocol).
Earlier this month, the AEC reported its highest ever number of enrolments this election, propelled by on the ground work at university campuses across the country, local pubs and nightclubs, and most importantly, online. We'd like to think that this increase was partly due to digital campaigns run by organisations like the AMWU, AYCC and the AYG. It is important young campaigners are taking over the reigns of a medium they love and have become familiar with. Accessible memes are breaking a political discourse dominated by traditional forms of media and opening it up to new audiences.
What to take from this, and the rise of the accessible meme are a few things. That collaboration is a powerful tool. That it is important to consider if your language is inaccessible. That striking a balance between respectfully sharing a message and using a more irreverent voice can work. And that doing this successfully can be very difficult - you should just leave it to the Australian Young Greens, and share our memes.