Social politics: The best memes to come out of the general election

Social politics: The best memes to come out of this election

Transcript

00:00What you saying, Ed?

00:02I'm saying hi.

00:03In the beginning, people dubbed this as the TikTok election.

00:07Parties hired young people to spread the word and harness the power of social media

00:12to win your vote.

00:14Political parties have pumped time and money into dominating your social feeds

00:19with self-made memes.

00:21And they've succeeded, but maybe not always in the way they intended.

00:25So who did memes best this election?

00:28Let's talk to Archie Mitchell, The Independent's political correspondent.

00:31Okay, well it started off with a real gimme to everyone

00:34by him standing outside Downing Street in the rain.

00:36So totally got off on the wrong foot there and was basically asking to be memed.

00:39There was a really bizarre moment where Suella Brabham had released a TikTok of herself

00:43campaigning in her constituency, surrounded by people wearing I Heart Suella t-shirts.

00:48And it was a bit of a weird moment in the newsroom because the first thing we had to figure out

00:51before covering it as a very weird TikTok was, is it actually real?

00:55And that's sort of how weird it was.

00:59I definitely think it has made young people think more about the election,

01:04talk more about the election.

01:05I think that's generally a positive, and if it doesn't make them vote now,

01:08it might at least prep them for next time.

01:10I think Rishi Sunak won the meme wars, but not intentionally and not in a beneficial way.

01:15I just think every single policy they came out with was basically asking to be memed.

01:19Like the National Service announcement, him leaving D-Day early,

01:22talking about not having a Sky TV as a kid.

01:24I think he definitely won the meme wars, but not for himself.

01:28I think he won the meme wars, but not for himself.