Inside Culture

Has politics become the scripted TV show we can’t escape?

News that Donald Trump was shot over the weekend sent shockwaves around the world – was the cultural response the most surprising of all?

As events on Sunday unfolded, the internet went into overdrive, with memes ranging from Trump as Van Gogh to scenes from White Lotus and even comparisons to the ABC TV series Scandal. “We are all children of Olivia Pope and Scandal cause everyone is seeing through this spectacle,” wrote one X user. Given the seriousness of the moment, these responses could be read as flippant, but the instinct towards entertainment reveals a deeper fracture in the status quo. From the memeification of politics to the ongoing sense of permacrisis, people are increasingly looking at the world through the lens of entertainment to cope with the feeling of uncertainty – and political distrust is often at the centre of it all. According to IPSOS, just 9% of the British public trust politicians to tell the truth. In the US, 56% of Americans did not answer or said ‘nothing’ when invited to identify the strength of the American political system in early 2024.

In an age of deep political apathy, how can brands engage people in politics when it all feels a bit unreal? Utilising entertainment as a conduit for education and mobilisation can cut through. From Joe Biden's campaign launching on TikTok to Gen Zers in Asia using Twitter to express their sociopolitical values, there's an opportunity for brands to use spaces and platforms that entertain their users while still providing resources and content that encourages participation and not disassociation. The Rest is Politics podcast does a great job of ditching sensationalised and polarised perspectives in favour of balanced and in-depth discussions. Gen Z and Gen Alpha’s behaviour suggests this is a new kind of political reality that’s here to stay, with a new generation of activists turning to video games to engage in social and political issues. Toontown, Habbo, and Roblox were among the platforms that hosted Black Lives Matter demonstrations, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons enabled activists in Hong Kong to criticise Chinese President Xi Jinping.

9%
of the British public trust politicians to tell the truthIPSOS (2023)
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