The 2025 Australian federal election has flooded our Instagram and TikTok feeds with short-form content that some may describe as ‘dumb and unappealing’ and others as ‘funny shit’.
Political parties and their social media departments have jumped on what’s in the internet zeitgeist; Minecraft movie parody, Italian brain rot (low quality or effort material), and the eternal meme potential of the Star Wars prequel trilogy are but a few avenues Labor, the Liberals, and a multitude of other parties have used in their communication strategies.
But are they effective?
University of Canberra professor Jordan McSwiney says it is “hard to say” how effective this form of political communication is with any certainty, but he does have an idea on why they do it.
“There isn’t really any data (that I am aware of) to give a clear picture one way or the other at this point,” McSwiney says.
“For memes at least, some research I did with my colleague … indicates that the rationale is mostly about engaging existing party members and supporters though light-hearted/entertaining content.
“I think that the parties/candidates hope such content reaches and converts/activates younger voters to support them.
“But it’s very difficult to know exactly who they are actually reaching with this content (i.e., is it actually younger voters?), and what exactly the effects (if any) are.”
In lieu of the numbers, UniSA’s journalism student-run news platform On The Record reached out to our audience (43.5 per cent of which is below 24 years of age) for their thoughts.
“I find them dumb and unappealing,” one respondent says.
“I just imagine 40-year-old men behind the computer thinking ‘how can we reach younger audiences?’
“They’re meant to be professional, right? So why doesn’t this feel professional?”
One respondent says this type of content is a vain attempt at convincing youth audiences with humour and rhetoric above actual policy.
“They’re an annoying attempt to connect with the youth through a medium they understand,” she says.
“It’s just immature and demonstrates that these political parties are pandering because they can’t rely on their own promises.”
Another simply opines: “These brain rot ads will be the death of me.”
McSwiney says utilising humour allows political parties to further reach their audiences better and in a manner they prefer.
“It is appropriate for them to try and reach audiences where they are at,” McSwiney says.
“If potential audiences are best engaged via humorous social media content, there isn’t anything wrong with that IMO.”
It’s not all negative towards these ads, however, with one respondent noting the benefits its had on their political engagement.
“I fucken’ love them. I send them to everyone,” the respondent says.
“It made me be interested in politics for once — it made my uninterested-in-politics brother interested in politics for once.”
Another respondent says that while she is usually interested in politics, the ‘funny’ stuff is more eye-catching to her — and indicative of a willingness to meet young people where they are.
“Omg I saw Labor made one w/ Italian brain rot recently,”
“I will say the funny shit does engage me more.
“And … when political parties use online humour and Gen Z / Zillenial humour to promote their campaigns it does show they’ve done their research … and made the effort to stay in touch with the generation who are the future of this country.”
When it comes to which parties are ‘doing better’ with their youth communication strategy, McSwiney says it is up to the viewer — but there is a clear winner with authenticity.
“[It’s] difficult to say — especially given I’m 30+ so this content really isn’t targeted for me.
“In research we did on the use of memes during the 2022 election, we argued that the memetic content produced by the Greens was more ‘authentic’ compared to the Liberals or Labor, whose memes were more reminiscent of corporate ‘meme jacking’,” he says.
“But whether that’s the same as ‘better’ youth comms is probably a matter of taste.”
