How fleeting memes, not memorable marketing, came to dominate the UK general election

The ‘Labour Isn’t Working’ campaign by Saatchi and Saatchi from 1979 is widely considered to be one of the most influential political campaigns in UK history. The Blair evil eye ad from 1997 was another standout campaign, along with the equally creepy ‘Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid’ poster from the 2001 election, which depicted Conservative leader William Hauge with Margrate Thatcher’s iconic hair.

But trying to cast the mind back to more recent elections its hard to recall which ads made an impression. The Brexit referendum was perhaps the last time, with the Brexit bus etched into our minds.

Perhaps the most talked about ad of this election wasn’t even created by a party, but instead was a mock up from the mind of Ben Golik at Uncommon and depicted Sunak running away from the D-Day commemoration.

The first TikTok election

The 2024 elections have seen some surreal political comms as parties and politicians took to TikTok to engage the electorate. Being dubbed the ‘first TikTok election,’ the public has witnessed Labour candidate Dawn Butler doing a rendition of 21 Seconds to Go and Suella Baverman dancing to Let Me Think About It.

@dawnbutlerbrent URGENT We’ve got 21 days before they’ve got to go Vote for Labour. Vote for me #DawnButler your MP for Brent East on Thursday 4th July. #generalelection #election #labour #ukpolitics #london #brent #song ♬ original sound - Dawn Butler MP

Jack Maycock, who is associate strategy director at Shape History, told The Drum this week: “Politicians are embracing memes – sometimes successfully, sometimes embarrassingly. Meme culture allows them to connect in a more edgy, humorous and authentic way than traditional, scripted corporate videos.”

But are people engaging with it? According to Hootsuite data from May 22 to July 1, the Conservatives have posted 29 TikToks, generating 247.300 impressions, compared with Labour, which has posted 96 times on the platform, racking up an impressive 2.3m impressions. On X, the Tories posted 296 times, amassing 399.800 impressions, while Labour posted 503 times, getting 1.4m engagements.

Conservatives

The Tories have been meme-tastic on X. Most posts have been centered on Labour raising taxes. These videos have ranged from suggesting a Labour government with raised taxes would be akin to an apocalypse to a video of Starmer and his shadow cabinet dancing in the Commons to a song about taxes.

Labour’s plan for your future: tax, tax, tax. pic.twitter.com/8OVNVp4hac

— Conservatives (@Conservatives) June 26, 2024

Having posted significantly less on TikTok than other parties, the Tory account is mostly promotional to Sunak. It has a spattering of Labour attacks but is significantly less silly than Labour’s TikTok content.

The Tories received widespread criticism over a video it posted on X on World Refugee Day showing a red carpet being rolled out on a beach in Dover.

Don't wake up to this on 5th July. pic.twitter.com/SQ4m71dqyZ

— Conservatives (@Conservatives) June 20, 2024

It wasn’t the only ad that landed them in trouble this election. When the Conservatives were hit with election betting allegations, the party deleted its ad showing a roulette wheel signaling that a vote for Labour was a gamble between more tax or no debut.

Labour

Labour has tried to turn one of its attack ads into a defining election image. The image of Sunak in bed with the copy ‘Don’t wake up to 5 more years of the Tories’ has been widely shared, parodied, blown up on a billboard and even made into pillows and handed out to journalists.

@uklabour change will only happen if you vote for it. #generalelection #change #ukpolitics #toriesout ♬ original sound - UKLabour

Labour used X less for attack ads or memes; the platform has largely been used to promote Starmer and the party manifestos. TikTok has been where Labour has posted most of its meme content, with videos often reactions to posts from the Conservatives account or bizarrely AI generated cat and dog videos.

According to Hootsuite data, The Labour Party’s TikTok account has 2.9m engagements and 25m views, which amounts to more than all the other political parties combined.

@uklabour don’t let this be you on friday #generalelection #ukelection #ukpolitics #toriesout ♬ original sound - UKLabour

Labour did put out a full two-minute advert on YouTube that used fake vox pop footage and news broadcasts to depict how bad life would be if the Conservatives won five more years.

The Liberal Democrats

The Lib Dem campaign has been truly unique and has largely consisted of its leader, Ed Davey, doing random challenges, games and extreme sports – essentially a Takeshi’s Castle-inspired election that kicked off with him falling into a lake on a paddle board. In essence, Davey spent his campaign meme-ing himself.

A lot of people are on the cusp of doing something they’ve never done before - taking a leap of faith and voting Liberal Democrat... so I decided to do something I’ve never done before too. pic.twitter.com/qW8Q8k1dCg

— Ed Davey (@EdwardJDavey) July 1, 2024

But between the bungee jumps and water slides, the Lib Dems shared perhaps the most impactful piece of political advertising through a three-minute video that told the story of Davey as a carer to his sick mum and his disabled son.

Nigel Farage and Reform

While the two main parties are battling it out online, it is Nigel Farage who is dominating on social engagement. On TikTok, Farage has over 800,000 followers, compared with Labour’s 200,000 and the Conservatives’ 67,000. On Facebook, Farage has amassed 2.1m content appreciations, which is over 700% more than Sunak (254,000) and Starmer (289,800), and 39bn views on X, according to Hootsuite.

Britain Needs Reform. pic.twitter.com/JlnsGLxXE3

— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) June 30, 2024

Interestingly, Farage and Reform haven’t engaged in as much meme content or used as many attack-style ads as the two main parties, the majority of posts promoting Farage’s personality.

Tomorrow, we will find out how these very different social media approaches landed with the public. Only time will tell if this meme-culture will become a bigger feature of Westminster political communications.