US election 2020: Celebs are posting sexy shoots to encourage voting
From thirst traps to racy selfies, the US presidential election is a non-stop celeb-fest from encouraging voter turnout to serious campaigning.
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From bikini-clad selfies to near-naked shoots, celebrities are going to extreme lengths to encourage Americans to vote.
It’s a political spin on the “thirst trap” – a term commonly used to describe sexy, scantly-clad Instagram posts designed to attract attention.
Kylie Jenner, Bella Hadid, Hailey Bieber and Sofia Richie are among a string of social media stars who have posted provocative selfies aimed at boosting voter turnout ahead of the November 3 election.
While some of the images are borderline explicit, the message often isn’t explicitly endorsing either candidate, Donald Trump or Joe Biden, for President. Instead, they are driving young people to enrol to vote and cast a ballot.
But how much influence are these celebrities really having? Political experts have warned it’s a lot less than the stars would imagine.
Damien Kingsbury, Professor of International Politics at Deakin University, said that although there was little data on the impact of celebrity endorsements, his view was that they mattered “only at the very margins”.
“It's probably more a feel-good factor for the celebrities themselves rather than having any significant impact on the election itself,” he told News Corp.
In 2016, Hillary Clinton’s campaign was endorsed by marquee names such as LeBron James and Beyonce, while only washed-up D-listers like Scott Baio and Antonio Sabato Jr backed Trump.
After Trump’s win, conservative commentators had a jamboree with this fact, suggesting Clinton’s celebrity pals were part of the elite the American public were repudiating by voting for Trump. (Although it should be remembered Clinton won the popular vote.)
“There is a strong sense among disengaged working class Americans that the celebrities are part of this elite that they feel disassociated from and which has long since ceased to represent their interests,” Prof Kingsbury said.
Celebrities have a “status in the US that it doesn’t enjoy in most other places”, he said. “They’re almost a faux royalty.”
‘PEOPLE ARE TAKING SIDES’
Hollywood has historically skewed liberal – recent awards shows like the Oscars have been a veritable Trump pile-on – but interestingly, Trump is enjoying a bit more celebrity love in 2020, with the likes of Conor McGregor and 50 Cent offering supportive statements, joining his other backers such as Jon Voight, James Woods and Kid Rock.
Prof Kingsbury said this small shift reflected the increasing polarisation of American politics.
“People are taking sides more clearly this time around than they did four years ago … and hence Donald Trump is receiving some support from people who have bought his populist style,” he said.
Associate Professor Elaine Thompson, formerly of the School of Politics at the University of NSW, said Australians tended to have a more sceptical response to celebrities – part of the tall poppy syndrome – but Americans had a “Crown the victor” approach.
Celebrity endorsements were “not going to convert anybody on the opposite side or convince anybody in the middle who didn’t know which way to jump,” she said.
“They matter most to the group that have already made up their minds. They reinforce their view of the world.”
Where celebrities might make a difference, Assoc Prof Thompson said, was in contests where voters’ positions were less fixed and more fluid, such as Congressional races and state legislatures.
The 2020 campaign has seen a number of celebrities make political statements for the first time, but experts said some of these contributions were more valuable than others.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle appeared in a video urging voters to “reject hate speech, misinformation and online negativity” – perceived by many as a swipe against Donald Trump and earning them yet another rebuke from Piers Morgan.
Assoc Prof Thompson said she had “never seen royals behave in this way” but it was overall “probably neutral in terms of its impact”.
The educated black women to whom Meghan Markle appealed “were probably going to turn out to vote in any case,” she said.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s support of Joe Biden could be much more influential.
“It’s not about the celebrities themselves, it’s about their followers,” said Melbourne University marketing lecturer Dr Brent Coker. “The Rock’s follower’s are highly valuable, because they would be that younger demographic, who have traditionally been challenging to get out to vote.”
The fact that Johnson had not previously backed a political candidate gave his endorsement added interest, Dr Coker said.
POLITICAL THIRST TRAPS
Posing in a strapless floral bikini, Kylie Jenner asked her 199 million followers, “Are you registered to vote? Click the link in my bio and let’s make a plan to vote together”.
The link she posted with it, directing her audience to the official voter enrolment site, was credited with a 1500 per cent surge in traffic to vote.org, and resulted in an 80 per cent increase in registrations.
That meant about 48,000 American citizens registered to vote by clicking on the link Jenner posted in her Instagram profile.
“Following Kylie Jenner’s Instagram post, the surge in interactions with Vote.org’s registration verification tool speaks to an energy among young Americans who want to make sure their voices are heard this election,” vote.org chief executive Andrea Hailey said in a statement to The Hill.
Wearing a high-cut bikini, Hadid made a political statement urging her 34.7 million Instagram audience, “Don’t forget to vote … it’s time”.
Zoe Kravitz posed topless to spruik the voter registration message and Taylor Swift went so far as to publicly endorse Biden on the cover of W magazine.
A frequent fixture in the Instagram voting movement has been Hailey Bieber, who sported a T-shirt emblazoned with the slogan, “Voting is hot”. “The coolest, hottest, most attractive thing you can do is VOTE,” Bieber captioned her selfie.
In a separate shoot, she posed with an “I voted” sticker on her cheek, while in another selfie the model wore a black face mask with the word “vote” written on it.
“We are getting closer and closer to Election Day so make sure you either get your early vote in or that you’re ready to vote in person (with a mask),” she captioned the image, to her nearly 30 million Instagram followers.
In one of the more risque examples of celebrity voting thirst traps, Diplo – one of the world’s top-earning DJs worth $US26 million ($A36.5 million) – posed fully naked, captioning the image: “Don’t forget to register to vote”.
A fully-clothed Kim Kardashian West told her followers: “Please VOTE! You have the power to change your future!”
Kardashian West – who is married to presidential candidate, rapper Kanye West – has not publicly endorsed her husband’s campaign for the White House.
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Originally published as US election 2020: Celebs are posting sexy shoots to encourage voting