Keywords
meme
election
youth
political communication
How to Cite
Abstract
The surge in digitization popularized social media-driven elections in the 2024 general elections. This paper explores how national political parties – Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Indian National Congress (INC) – are utilizing memes to connect with multicultural youth voters. Building upon Agenda-Setting Theory of McCombs and Shaw (1972), Framing of Entman (2010) and Uses and Gratifications of Katz, Blumler and Gurevitch (1973), this paper employs Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis, this study identifies thematic underpinnings in memetic campaigns to examine what differentiates ordinary memes from political ones. The thematic analysis of BJP and INC memes reveal that the majority of the content was designed for youth voters. The juxtaposition of multimedia graphics, strategic content delivery, platform choice, post timings, multilingual components, and thematic relevance to youth issues were ingrained in both parties’ memes. This paper identifies how the political parties have increasingly channeled memes in their online discourses to influence youngsters across geographies. As digital democracies struggle against accusations of selective empathy and sidelining minorities, this study establishes that careful digital planning can foster inclusion of voices of the marginalized.
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