Topics
Latest
AI
Amazon
Image Credits:Jason Koerner / Getty Images
Apps
Biotech & Health
Climate
Image Credits:Jason Koerner / Getty Images
Cloud Computing
Commerce
Crypto
Enterprise
EVs
Fintech
Fundraising
gismo
stake
Government & Policy
computer hardware
Layoffs
Media & Entertainment
Meta
Microsoft
Privacy
Robotics
surety
societal
Space
Startups
TikTok
Transportation
speculation
More from TechCrunch
Events
Startup Battlefield
StrictlyVC
Podcasts
video
Partner Content
TechCrunch Brand Studio
Crunchboard
Contact Us
President Joe Biden ’s reelection safari has finally set up shop onTikTok .
Despitecontroversy in Congressover the app , TikTok is an indispensable tool for presidential candidates to hit young voters , expert say .
“ I was n’t surprised at all to see that the campaign launched a TikTok account , because it would genuinely have been such a wastefulness to go through this cycle , and a lost chance , to not be on that platform , ” said Annie Wu Henry , a digital communication strategist who has care social media for several political run .
“ I inescapably assumed it was going to happen ; it was just a matter of metre when , ” she enjoin TechCrunch . “ Did I recall that would be in the middle of the Super Bowl ? No . ”
In the midriff of the big game , the new explanation post its first TikTok , which have Biden himself joking about an wild right - wing conspiracy theory that he set the NFL ( . . . because Taylor Swift , who endorsed Biden in 2020 , is dating the Kansas City Chiefs ’ Travis Kelce , and the tv camera operator show her in the crowd a band ) .
“ Deviously plotting to rig the season so the Chiefs would make the Super Bowl , or are the Chiefs just being a good football game team ? ” an off - covert staffer asks Biden in his TikTok debut .
“ I ’d get in trouble if I severalize you , ” Biden replies , and an figure of the “ Dark Brandon ” meme appear on screen .
Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
lol hey guy wire
♬ Fox nfl radical – Notrandompostsguy
The TikTok simultaneously pokes fun at multiple right - wing conspiracy theories . away from the trick about rigging the Super Bowl , Biden ’s campaign has leaned hard on the Dark Brandon meme , which is an outgrowth of Donald Trump supporters ’ “ Dark MAGA ” trend . The estimate of “ Dark MAGA ” originates from thewidelydebunkedconspiracytheory that Biden steal the 2020 election from Trump — they reckon an raging , trouble Trump seeking retaliation as he runs for United States President again in 2024 . Visually , the vaporwave - style memes depict Trump with glowing red eyes , and sometimes they show Trump Tower as a dark blackened fortress .
Dark Brandon borrows from that aesthetic and conflate it with another in - joke among Trump supporters : the chant “ Let ’s Go Brandon . ” That meme originated when a broadcaster mistook chant of “ F — Joe Biden ” to be “ Let ’s Go Brandon , ” and now Trump supporter utilize the phrase as tachygraphy to express their disgust for the current chairman . Trump ’s followers have also used the incident to fire theirbaseless claimsabout government ascendance of the media , alleging that the NBC spreader intentionally misconstrued the chant to conceal critique of Biden .
The payoff of the Dark Brandon meme — which depict Biden with glow red-faced middle , fighting to fix the economic system or something — requires so much background cognition that it ’s surprising the Biden political campaign has incline so hard into it . But in some mode , it seems to be work . When Biden foretell his reelection cause in April , his team startedsellingofficial Dark Brandon merch , which accounted for54 % of entire computer memory revenueas of August .
Though Dark Brandon stem from meme that disparage the president , Biden ’s communications team seems to be reappropriating the aesthetic to limn the chair in a better light .
“ When we see Joe Biden fighting on behalf of the American the great unwashed — really , really fighting , not just stand up for them — that ’s the most energetic and the most representative version of Joe Biden , ” say Marianna Pecora , communication director of Gen Z protagonism groupVoters of Tomorrow . “ I think that the Dark Brandon persona kind of embodies that . ”
Just like we cast it up.pic.twitter.com/9NBvc5nVZE
— Joe Biden ( @JoeBiden)February 12 , 2024
meme can be a utilitarian peter for connect with elector online , but when time poorly , the effort to be voguish can backfire . Biden ’s campaign posted yetanother Dark Brandon memeon XTC after the Chiefs gain the Super Bowl , saying that the game play out “ just like we drew it up . ” But Biden ’s stave posted the meme around the same prison term that the Israeli militaryraidedthe metropolis of Rafah , whereover a million Palestinian peoplefled under Israeli order of magnitude . Young voters in particular have beencriticalof Biden ’s ongoing sustenance of the Israeli armed services , which fueled more choler about the bad timing of the meme .
“ The campaign and the giving medication mesh separately , so I can say with just about full foregone conclusion that [ the timing ] was an unhappy coincidence , ” Pecora secern TechCrunch .
But some voters may not be willing to give politicians this welfare of the doubt .
“ I do think that we can and should infuse relevant , voguish and fun moment into how we are communicating , especially on digital political program , ” Henry recite TechCrunch . “ But while we ’re doing that , we need to keep on to be strategic and designed and mindful , even if it ’s a meme . ”
What ’s going on with the TikTok prohibition ?
The mugshot that launch a thousand meme
