In the current digital age where social media rules over marketing, do political campaigns have to try to go “viral”?

Even before social media was a thing, newspapers would create political cartoons either supporting or slandering the campaigns of certain politicians. These cartoons would use bold symbols or imagery to make certain political or social statements that could be accessible to the general public. By creating these strong visuals, they were able to communicate with larger audiences, perhaps even reaching populations who had lower literacy rates.

1948 cartoon—Truman studies posters predicting a Dewey landslide while Dewey backer scoffs, “What’s the use of going through with the election?”

“President Harry S. Truman, the Democratic Presidential nominee in the election of 1948, was widely forecast to lose by a large margin to Republican nominee Thomas E. Dewey”

In the most recent 2024 presidential election, Kamala Harris’s PR team utilized the viral sensation of Charli XCX’s album “brat” in their marketing, generating enough buzz to get an endorsement from the artist herself. One major trend associated with the album was to imitate the bright lime green album cover by replacing the word “brat” on it with other words. In Kamala’s team’s case, they placed “kamala hq” on the background and used the image as their X banner. By hopping onto these trends, the team’s goal was to connect to younger left-leaning audiences, using a pop sensation to strengthen supporters and create more buzz around the campaign.

The Twitter/X banner for Kamala Harris’s campaign using a bright lime green background with “kamala hq” written on it in the same style as Charli XCX’s “brat” album cover.

These tactics to place politics within cultural contexts don’t just apply to the US. In South Korea, news channels actively compete for viewers and top ratings during elections by creating increasingly elaborate CGI graphics to maintain audience engagement. This year's election night had broadcasting channels depicting presidential candidates in bizarre situations, from plunging toilets and spin cycling to competing in the Squid Games.

Korean TV election-night graphic from SBS Live showing two caricatured male candidates as CGI avatars—left figure dives triumphantly with 52.4% in large purple numbers, right figure pedals a stationary bike with 41.4% in red.

These visuals typically serve as real-time scoreboards, presenting which candidate is in the lead by showing one triumphing over the other in activities like a boxing match or tug-of-war. This also encourages younger audiences to watch the news coverage on the TV instead of staying updated from just their phone.

A photo of a desktop monitor showing a Korean election-night CGI scene: two teams in blue and red pull a tug-of-war rope on a gym floor.

However, what are the dangers of making a viral sensation of such an important night? This year’s election was an especially important decision for citizens, as the previous president Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law in an attempt to stay in power longer. The Washington Post detailed the concerns of a few scholars —

Hun Shik Kim, a journalism professor at the University of Colorado said in an email:

“After the election, viewers may remember the dramatic animations and spectacle presented by the TV channel rather than the complex election issues underlying the news coverage…entertainment is gradually overtaking the substance of national politics”.