Can the Harris-Walz Ticket’s Good Vibes, Memes and Merch Revive Consumer Confidence?
“Thank you, Madam Vice President, for the trust you put in me, but maybe more so thank you for bringing back the joy,” said newly anointed prospective Veep, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, on Tuesday evening.
In an election cycle that has been fraught with emotions ranging from unease to downright dread, the word “joy” rang out across a crowded hall of spectators in Philadelphia like a sacred incantation in a foreign language.
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The tides have clearly shifted in recent weeks, with President Biden exiting the race and Vice President Kamala Harris picking up the mantle, generating a spark that has been notably absent from the Democrats’ campaign for the highest office.
The former schoolteacher also brought to the stage a sense of optimism and abandon that the American electorate hasn’t seen for months. As he delivered his address at Temple University backed by a beaming presidential nominee, he evinced a down-to-earth Midwest earnestness and a colloquial way of speaking that, for 19 minutes, may have made voters forget the campaign promises they were being sold.
Walz spoke of kitchen table bills, being “one of the best shots in Congress,” his family’s struggle with infertility and prayers answered with the help of IVF. These stories called to light his own progressive record on fighting for reproductive rights, enacting “common sense” gun violence legislation, and lowering taxes for the middle class and struggling Minnesotans.
But rehashing the party platform came second to delivering the good vibes. Walz invoked some version of the word “joy” three times during his speech, calling Harris a “compassionate, careful, joyous leader,” as he made his debut as her running mate.
News outlets, politicos and the public latched onto the would-be VP’s word choice as the most notable takeaway of the night. “‘Bringing back the joy’: Walz’s first day keeps Democrats’ buzz going,” proclaimed a Washington Post headline Wednesday morning. “Happy warriors Harris and Walz propose an antidote to Trump’s American carnage,” wrote CNN.
“I will never FORGET tonight! This is what it is supposed to feel like in this country! As @Tim_Walz said, @KamalaHarris has brought joy back!” Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (D-Tex.) proclaimed on X.
“We’re bringing JOY back into politics! This is all about centering education, working people, real freedom and love,” tweeted Congressman Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.)
“Tim Walz is the ultimate happy warrior. Injecting joy into the message presents a stark contrast to the dark, angry rhetoric of the other side,” Kansas Governor Laura Kelly told Sourcing Journal. “The immediate, overwhelmingly enthusiastic public response makes it clear that Americans were waiting for the Harris-Walz team.”
New, fresh, younger
“What’s really remarkable in the last three weeks is the complete transformation of the race from a dynamic that was about strength versus weakness—and which candidate was not the oldest—into a campaign that is now about the future versus the past,” Washington, D.C.-based law firm Akin’s senior counsel, Josh Teitelbaum, told Sourcing Journal.
“There is a powerful sense that excitement and belief in the future is a unifying theme that can bring people together and bring them in,” Suffolk University political science and legal studies professor Rachael Cobb said on Boston public radio station WGBH Wednesday.
Prior to Harris’ entrance into the race, voters had “two candidates that were really not exciting the American public,” she said. “And with this shift, they can really shift to sort of a youthful, future-looking, hopeful view that we really haven’t had in American politics for quite some time.”
But will the Democrats’ about-face translate to renewed consumer confidence?
Following President Joe Biden’s lackluster debate performance just over a month ago, Democrat consumer sentiment fell to its lowest levels in over a year (82.5 in early July, down from 90.8 in June, according to data from the University of Michigan’s sentiment Index). Their outlook on the economy and their personal finances also took a hit, falling to 79.6 in July from 92.6 the month prior.
June data from Kearney showed that the U.S. saw the largest increase in consumer stress quarter over quarter of any country on earth, and geopolitics and government topped shoppers’ list of stressors. They reported feeling resigned to protracted uncertainty surrounding these issues, leading to a “perceived powerlessness” over their own lives. Nearly half of the consumers surveyed said they felt pessimistic about the country’s political future.
“Consumers care about the world around them and they process a variety of forms of stress from a variety of sources,” Kearney lead Katie Thomas, the report’s writer, said at the time. “These stressors range from the macroeconomic to ‘kitchen table’ economics and participation in the electoral process to seeing government as a largely unmovable entity.”
But weeks after the data was collected, the government’s rigid immutability gave way to historical upset. After 3.5 years in office and more than 50 on The Hill, Biden walked away from a chance at a second term on July 21, turning over the reins to someone “new,” “fresh,” and “yes, younger.”
The effect of the transition to the Harris-Walz ticket on overall consumer sentiment is largely yet to be seen, but there’s some indication that “fresh” is a positive for shoppers.
The Conference Board—which collected data last month through July 22, the day after Biden threw his support behind Harris for the presidency—reported that consumer confidence “ticked up” to 100.3 in July from a downwardly revised 97.8 in June. On a six-month moving average basis, confidence remained the highest among consumers under 35.
Memes, merch and viral moments
It’s no wonder, then, that young Americans whose self-assurance and hope for the future burns strongest are driving the Harris-Walz movement forward—and voting with their wallets in advance of the election.
There has been no shortage of viral moments, memes and sound-bytes during the short-lived campaign, and they’ve been quickly commercialized.
Following Tuesday’s announcement, Walz took to X, posting a photo of himself in a camo hat with the names “Harris Walz” emblazoned in orange—a seeming nod to his hunting hobby. The style sold out in the campaign’s merchandise shop almost instantly, with many online noting the hat’s aesthetic similarity to one sold by singer Chappell Roan. The Missouri native’s album, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,” has become one of the soundtracks of the summer.
“For all the midwest princesses out there—you asked, we answered,” wrote Democratic National Committee director of strategic planning for mobilization Hester Leyser. The campaign told Teen Vogue Wednesday that the 3,000 hats available were sold within 30 minutes of the drop, and nearly $1 million worth have been purchased, including pre-orders. A dupe made by Etsy seller OneNationThreads also sold 129 pieces in 24 hours.
The meme-to-merch moment is the most recent of many in recent weeks—and large volumes of these products come from independent sellers on web marketplaces like Etsy, Amazon and eBay.
Three out of the top four best-selling men’s novelty T-shirts on Amazon were Harris-related as of Wednesday. The top-selling style, a shirt that reads “ , la” is a play on the pronunciation of the VP’s name.
Last month, Charli XCX proclaimed “kamala IS brat,” leading the campaign to adopt Brat Summer’s signature lime green into its marketing and more than 1,000 Etsy vendors to list items like T-shirts, bumper stickers, hats and dog bandanas bearing the slogan.
Walz’ now popular refrain that the Republican ticket is “weird,” which he repeated on Tuesday evening, has yielded similar results. Coeur d’Alene, Idaho-based Etsy seller VirdantVibes has been selling “These Guys Are Weird” T-shirts to fund Democratic initiatives.
“I can say, I’ve tried to raise money this way for other causes, but it’s never amounted to much. But the ‘These Guys are Weird’ merch is selling,” the store’s owner, Chelsea, said.
“I think ‘weird’ has captured something in the zeitgeist, people are tired of being afraid,” she added, noting that there’s something “wholesome” about the quip that moves away from the “outrage machine” politics has become. “Personally, watching an interview with Tim Walz when he first said it, this jolly plain spoken guy—was refreshing. In the culture war of it all, Lets Go Brandon… seems angry, tacky, and mean. Calling bullies weirdos to their face seems like a slightly higher road.”
Meanwhile, a widely circulated video of Harris at a 2023 White House event delivering a supposed truism from her mother—”You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?”—has led to an explosion of coconut-related merch.
A graphic tee from Etsy seller MarkGlasgowGoods bearing the slogan next to a cartoon coconut has been purchased over 1,000 times. Seller Mark Glasgow told Sourcing Journal that the number was significant for his independently owned store.
Asked why he believes the memes and merch have resonated so much with shoppers this election cycle, he said, “I think it’s in part because Kamala Harris is such a positive force, which is so unusual in today’s political landscape—it feels sincere and joyful rather than a calculated marketing campaign.”
Of course, the lighthearted social commentary—and the garb that comes with it—may not be enough to sway the election or pull the economy out of the doldrums.
“The intervening news between two weeks ago and today is a very scary jobs report and a very volatile market, and I think that economic data probably matters more to consumer spending than the political vibe shift,” according to Akin’s Teitelbaum.
But there’s a clear, new “sense of hopefulness among partisans for Kamala Harris that the Democratic ticket could go into this campaign with their best players on the field,” and it’s manifesting in several significant cultural bellwethers.
“That dynamic is showing up in the enthusiasm, it’s showing up in the polls, it’s showing up in the fundraising, and in consumers willing to open up their pocketbooks to support the campaign,” he said. “And it’s generated a lot of excitement and hope about what the next three months could be.”