Can Brat memes propel Kamala to a victory in November? In this week’s episode, we dig into the groundswell of online enthusiasm surrounding Kamala Harris’ campaign announcement — and how a viral endorsement from Charli xcx, who cheekily dubbed the vice president “Brat,” unexpectedly transformed this year’s presidential race into an exercise in meme warfare. This week, we’re joined by cyberethnographer and designer Ruby Justice Thelot, along with culture writer and boyfriend-of-the-pod Drew Millard, who have both written thought-provoking articles on all this — Ruby on his Substack, and Drew on his new internet culture blog Media Events.

We discuss the history of font memes in music (and the role of the Charlie’s vomit-green Brat marketing campaign within in it), the strange incongruence between Kamala’s public image and Brat’s distinctly messy brand of femme empowerment, and why conflating the meme-ification of a candidate with actual voter sentiment shows a misunderstanding of how memes actually work (and how Gen Z relate to them).

Join us on Substack as we uncover the economic and technological forces percolating beneath the surface of contemporary culture.

Follow Drew on X, and pay a dollar to read his font meme piece on Media Events

Follow Ruby on IG, and subscribe to being-on-line

Recommended Reading

“On ‘Brat’ and the phenomenon of font memes” by Drew Millard

“Can memes win an election?” by Ruby Justice Thelot (available on IG here)

“The crisis of legibility” by Ruby Justice Thelot

Can jokes bring down governments? by Metahaven

The image: A guide to pseudo events in America by Daniel J. Boorstin

The new typography by Jan Tschichold

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How the 2024 election became brat

The Culture Journalist

How the 2024 election became brat