Ella Account Executive 31 July, 2024 • 5 mins Are you too late to Brat Summer? Brat summer has been firmly established as the ‘cultural moment du jour’ for well over a month. However, with Kamala Harris’s campaign page on X recently adopting the brat iconography, the meme of the summer has reached impressive new heights. Social Media Trends
What's the trend? The background to ‘brat summer’ is British singer Charli xcx’s new album, Brat, which came out in early June. Charli’s iconic ‘anti-marketing-marketing’ approach (see: hideous green with pixelated font), paired with the fact that the album is just really, really good, gave it an almost instantly iconic status. Celebrities, brands, political parties, and NGOs have all made references to ‘brat summer’ in an attempt to capitalise on its success – to a scale that has arguably been unmatched by previous social media trends. More recently, as part of a wider explosion of semi-ironic Kamala Harris memes, there have been multiple mashups of Brat songs with Kamala’s most ‘memeable’ moments – which Kamala’s campaign page have used to their advantage. Having a US Presidential candidate’s team participate in the trend gives you an indication of the scale of this moment.
Our thoughts To reference brat summer as an organisation is to walk a fine line. Try too hard, and it comes off as an insincere attempt to profit from gen-z/millennial culture. Get it right, and you look trendy, fun, and relevant (as usual, the RSPB have pulled through). Whatever you decide – you may need to act pretty fast, before the political co-option of Charli xcx potentially kills brat summer…
“The album’s combination of intense, ego-driven debauchery with moments of deep insecurity and anxiety is particularly appealing to gen-z – so often caught in the middle of desires for youthful pleasure vs. social and environmental crises. In the words of Charli herself, to have a brat summer is to be a messy, party girl (though obviously, gender is irrelevant).” Ella Ticktin-Smith Account Executive
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