Kamala Harris’ Brat summer branding has won my Gen Z heart

Unless you've confined yourself to living under a rock (and at this point, who can blame you?) you've likely seen that President Joe Biden has dropped out of the US election. In his place comes Vice President Kamala Harris who's debuted her new logo for Kamala HQ – the "official rapid response page" for her presidential campaign.

In the election race, politicians are much more than people – they're brands that represent their parties. To entice younger votes, Kamala's new campaign is off to a playful start, embracing Charli XCX's Brat marketing to get Gen Z on her side. With Miss XCX herself voicing support for Kamala, it looks like brat summer could be in for a presidential twist.

The new Kamala HQ logo is simple yet effective, with bold 3D text in a clean but contemporary style. What drew the attention of younger voters was the fresh banner, replacing the old "Malarkey is over" design of Biden HQ's official X page. Sporting the now iconic green shade synonymous with the Brat album and blurry lowercase text reading "kamala HQ", the updated look nails the nonchalant anti-design of Gen Z's album of the summer.

In response, the queen of brat summer Charli XCX proclaimed in a tweet "Kamala IS brat", sparking a wave of support from her fans for the Democrat front-runner. Countless brat-style edits of Kamala started circulating online, with one X user claiming "Kamala Harris 2024 is on the brat summer schedule."

In some respects, Kamala's entrance into the presidential race wasn't a surprise after issues around Biden's health raised concerns among voters (demonstrated most strikingly in New York Magazine's recent disturbing cover). There's been an eclectic response to Kamala's uprising, but the brat edits are certainly the most fun (and chaotic) show of support I've seen so far. On the other end of the spectrum, Time Magazine's iconic Kamala Harris x Joe Biden cover shows a more serious side, highlighting the historical importance of Kamala stepping into the spotlight.