Brooklyn, New York: Gen Z influencers spoke about abortion bans, diversity in fashion, and next month’s presidential election at United Talent Agency’s (UTA) ZCon conference last week.
According to M Booth research, brands run the risk of consumers assuming political positions when partnering with influencers, with 72% of Americans believing that brands that partner with political influencers will He said he believed he was aligned with the influencer’s views. But ZCon influencers feel a responsibility to create political content during the “most important election” of our lifetimes, said influencer Dejah Fox.
The two-day conference was led by UTA’s Next Gen marketing practice, which was launched in March as a result of UTA’s acquisition of Gen Z-focused firm Juv Consulting. ZCon collaborates with brands like Spotify, ELF Cosmetics, and GoFundMe to explore topics important to Gen Z, including the future of work and education, redefining beauty standards, and leveraging creator platforms to discuss social justice and political issues. A panel discussion was hosted.
Among the panelists was Kamala Harris’ youngest campaign staffer, Foxx. Amelie Zilber, social media activist. and March for Our Lives co-founder Cameron Kasky. They utilized the ZCon panel to discuss political influence strategies for the presidential election.
Fox, who has 142,000 TikTok followers, was a 19-year-old campaign aide to Harris during her first presidential campaign in 2019. In preparation for the 2024 election, Fox returned to her home state of Arizona to work with and interview grassroots activists. Politicians in battleground states.
“Working on the creative side with iconic brands like Prada and Mac Cosmetics has really allowed me to live a fulfilling life in New York City,” Fox told Campaign US. “But I took advantage of the opportunity to leverage my global platform to create content and to interview and promote local candidates, local races and organizers on the ground in Arizona.”
Since moving to Arizona, Foxx has interviewed door knockers about Prop. 139, a citizen ballot initiative to establish abortion protections in the Arizona Constitution, and has interviewed non-binary Arizona State Representative Lorena Austin, a woman of color. I interviewed him about the low salaries of members of Congress, which excludes race from entering the political arena.
@deja_foxx @Lorena Austin is real! #az #genz #millennial #ArizonaIskamaraCountry ♬ Original song – Deja Foxx
Like Fox, Zilber became involved in politics at a young age. At age 12, she created TwoMinuteTimes, a newsletter with top news stories for Gen Z. During the coronavirus pandemic, Zilber shifted his political content to video format, gaining 6.7 million followers on Tik Tok.
The ZCon panel with Zilber and March for Our Lives founder Kasky will discuss the importance of political conversations with influencers to help Gen Z self-empower and cope with difficult political moments. He explained that he uses social media as a tool.
“There’s a lot of cynicism in our generation,” Kasky said during the panel discussion. “But if we can take all of this gloom and make a contribution to making something a little bit better, at least we’ll have that.”
Zilber, who recently volunteered as a phone banker for the Harris campaign, added that Gen Z “uses play and brightness to get through a lot of darkness,” which is reflected in her content style. he added. She combines videos of her attending Dior fashion shows and makeup tutorials with instructional videos about climate change and mass shootings.
Ms. Zilber said that her content strategy also aligns with her true self. “Like many women, and as have been the case for centuries, I am multifaceted, even when it is shoved down my throat that we are not allowed to be.” Even if they come,” Zilber told Campaign US after the panel discussion.
Critics who don’t take political Gen Z influencers seriously “are going to find a reason not to,” Fox said, adding that alongside her online activities, she posts bikini photos and works as a model. He explained that there was some skepticism about doing so.
“I’m not interested in the political work that I do unless I can do it my way,” Fox said of her influential work. “You can be yourself, be feminine, be feminine and still do this job. If I lose those parts of myself, it’s not worth achieving what I have anyway.” It will disappear.”
