The Green Party have used the design of Charli XCX’s Brat album artwork to encourage the public to vote for them in the forthcoming UK general election.
In a post shared to X/Twitter on Thursday (20 June), the party shared an image with a green background and “vote green” written in black Arial font.
Identical to Charli’s album cover aside from the title, the Green Party captioned the picture “14 days to go” in countdown to the election on Thursday 4 July.
People on X/Twitter were quick to comment on the Green Party’s unusual campaigning strategy.
“The way I got this instantly,” said one follower, while another declared: “Liked and followed.”
“‘When I go to the booth I wanna hear those club classics,’ joked one person, who riffed on the lyrics to the third second song on Brat, “Club Classics”.
Since Charli released Brat at the start of June, thousands of social media users have been putting their own message onto the Brat design on social media.
However, some users who are unfamiliar with Charli’s latest record criticised the minimalist graphic, asking the Green Party: “Are you serious. Can you not find a capable designer who will work for you?”
Multiple parties have also attempted to appeal to younger voters online by posting videos to TikTok, which is currently used by over nine million people in the UK.
Social media has been touted as a key battleground in general elections for many years, but having launched in the UK in August 2018, TikTok was only in its infancy during the last poll at the end of 2019.
Political advertising is banned on TikTok, though both parties will be hoping content reaches the right audiences through the app’s complex user algorithms.
Labour launched its account on the app three days before the Conservatives, posting an 11-second video on Thursday evening of Sir Keir Starmer declaring: “Change. That is what this election is about.”
Since then, the feed has been a mixture of clips from the party’s campaign trail, brief explainers and, most successfully, memes mocking the Tories and the Prime Minister.
A post with over two million views and more than 316,000 likes, captioned “Rishi Sunak announcing national service”, sees Lord Farquaad, the diminutive chief antagonist of the 2001 film Shrek, announce: “Some of you may die, but it’s a sacrifice I am willing to make.”
