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It turns out the camo hat was just the tip of the iceberg. Scroll further into Harris-Walz’s merch store, and it’s clear that Vice President Kamala Harris’s team’s understanding of internet culture and discourse goes deep.
Most of the pieces are a riff on the Harris-related memes circulating online. Other offerings include a ‘Throwback Doug’ tank in reference to the internet’s obsession with photos of Harris’s husband Doug Emhoff in his 20s, and a ‘Childless Cat Lady Club’ mug, a satirical take on opponent Donald Trump’s running mate JD Vance’s disparaging comments about women who choose not to have children.
It marks a shift in strategy for political merch, wherein politicians embrace memes and use them as fundraising tools. If people are enjoying sharing the content, why not offer them a way to do so on their bodies — and, by default, donate to the campaign?
“We’re in unprecedented times. The Harris-Walz campaign is using culture to fuel both awareness and affinity — quickly,” says Sara Arnell, brand strategist and adjunct professor at New York’s Parsons School of Design. “It’s a path forward that immediately fuses content and context to drive relevancy. Political merch, if nothing else, must be relevant to key constituents.”
The memes are, in part, a reaction to the joy and hope brought about by Harris’s nomination since replacing President Joe Biden in the electoral race, Raven Smith wrote in July for Vogue. Elizabeth Holmes, journalist and author of So Many Thoughts Substack, ascribes this same sentiment to the reception gained by the merch. “[The election] was going into the depths of despair. Then, suddenly, it was this whole injection of energy and excitement — and appeal to a much younger voter.”
If last week’s viral drop is anything to go by, it works. After the first 3,000 editions of the $40 Realtree camo hat sold out within 30 minutes (right after Minnesota governor Tim Walz was announced as Harris’s 2024 running mate), the Harris-Walz campaign — and American supplier Unionwear — got to work, selling over 25,000 hats on the first day. As of 8 August, the campaign had produced just over 47,000 Harris-Walz camo hats totaling $1,878,524, the campaign told Teen Vogue.
It’s filling a long-nascent gap, says Holmes. “For so long, Republicans have had this very clear, visual symbol. That [Make America Great Again] hat is so recognisable,” she says. “It’s a way for the electorate to participate in the election with campaign merch, and for so long, Republicans had a lock on that.”
Now, the Democrats are giving them a run for their money by leaning into pop culture in a way political campaigns haven’t in the past. “More than an understanding, the campaign seems to have a knowing of what is hot and what is not,” says Thomaï Serdari, NYU professor of marketing and director of its luxury and retail MBA.
Gen Z loves merch
Gen Z is visually minded, making merch a natural response, Holmes says. “First it was the Brat green, then the coconut tree meme, now the camo hat. It’s a very fun wink,” she says.
This merch hits the spot because it taps the cultural touchpoints Gen Z constituents are engaging with and bringing into discourse with Harris and Walz. Charli XCX declared that “Kamala IS Brat” before the campaign team changed Harris’s Twitter to Brat green, while savvy photoshoppers edited Walz’s head onto pop sensation Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess album before the camo hat (that looked a lot like Roan’s own merch) dropped. (Though the Harris-Walz campaign has said the hat is a nod to Walz’s love of camo caps.)
Arnell notes that the campaign also gets the speed with which it needs to move to stay in tune with a social media-savvy generation. “The messaging is moving at the speed of culture and it shows how connected and aware the campaign is. Tapping into the trends and the tastemakers who are galvanising Gen Z is smart,” she says. “And what’s great is that they are not getting stuck in one theme or message. They hit the note and move on to the next. They’re fluid and flexible — which is critical to capturing and keeping audiences engaged and involved.”
Pluz, Gen Z has been trained to dress and show support in this way, Holmes says. “These are the people who are dressing for Taylor Swift, they’re dressing for Beyoncé, they’re dressing to go see Barbie. This is a group of people who are primed to show their support with fashion.” Recognising this, the campaign takes a page out of fashion’s playbook. In recent years, young brands have leaned into internet and meme culture as a strategy to capture younger shoppers. “A very well-known luxury fashion house rode the train to meme-ification for about a decade with remarkable results,” Serdari points out.
Since the launch of the hats, journalists and commentators alike have debated how strong an indicator a sell-out piece of merch is of votes. Holmes says if you’re willing to spend money on an item and wear it, you’re probably inclined to show up to the polls.
Opening the conversation
By playing so heavily into internet culture, does the campaign risk venturing too far into meme-ification, isolating out-of-the-loop voters in the process? Unlikely, says Arnell, who points out that memes can actually open up the conversation between voters.
“Memes often contain truths, and the way they present messages through brisk language and design is what makes them so sharable and powerful. They can help drive self-expression and connection in easy, low-pressure ways,” Arnell says. “Done right, a meme is a low-barrier entry into what could be a heated or uncomfortable conversation for some.”
It’s also an indicator that the Harris-Walz campaign is listening to its constituents. By making merch that acknowledges and plays on the online discourse around the candidates, the campaign shows not only that the Democratic reps are listening, but that they’re embracing it. In this, they resonate with the public.
In this context, the Harris-Walz campaign has time on its side — meaning, there’s not a lot of it. This works in their favour, Serdari says. “Had this campaign started two years ago, maybe meme-ification could have turned sour. For the short-spurred race to November elections, the campaign’s merch makes the candidates showcase that they are one with the people,” she says. “They see you, they feel you, they know what makes you laugh and they are comfortable showing it.”
Beyond the campaign camp
Lots of similar camo hats are already appearing on sites like Etsy and Ebay. It raises the question: who does — and who should — profit off of a viral campaign moment? Hat manufacturer Unionwear, for one, is already doing big business. And, judging by the million-plus raised in the first day of hat sales, the Harris-Walz campaign is raising big money from merch, too.
There’s no harm in smaller businesses like Etsy sellers getting in on the action, Arnell says. It’s another form of positive engagement. “The merch spin-offs are a bit like memes — ways for creators to connect with audiences, express creativity and a point of view,” she says. “If they can make some money from it as well, that’s a win-win.”
It’s also a way for creators to engage with campaign moments that the Harris-Walz campaign may not offer a tee or mug for. When Charli XCX declared “Kamala IS Brat” and when Harris HQ changed its X header to Brat graphics, individual sellers were quick to make their own Kamala-Brat tees and put them up for sale.
As for bigger brands, Arnell says they should jump on the bandwagon only if it makes sense for the brand. She points to The North Face’s 2017 ‘Walls Are Meant For Climbing’ campaign, as an example. “It came out when Trump was talking about building the wall,” she says. “It was brilliantly resonant with what was being discussed in the media, while aligning with The North Face’s brand values.”
Serdari is more cautious. “Brands should not hop on the trend,” she says. “Leave politics to the politicians, leave election messages alone and go back to the brand’s essence to figure out how it, too, can resonate with culture. But not on someone else’s coat-tails.”
That said, Holmes believes there are lessons to be learnt for more established brands in how fast the Harris-Walz campaign and smaller creators alike took viral moments and made them into merch. “If brands can somehow capture that essence rather than come out with very obvious merch,” she says, consumers might buy in.
Again, Holmes turns back to recent years’ big merch moments: “It’s because of Taylor and Barbie and Beyoncé and all the ways in which we’ve practised. Now, we’re going to apply this to politics.”
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