Election campaign in the age of reels

olitical fronts assiduously ferret around for misstatements, awkward moments, archival news clippings, and gaffes to trash opponents on social media. With political discourse incrementally shrinking to fit the size of mobile phone screens and the span of Instagram reels, opposing campaigns are tapping into the seemingly boundless reach of networks to connect with the younger demographic.

The social media handlers of rival fronts have realised that young voters have a short attention span. Opposing campaigns also use social media accounts to provide the young electorate with a daily platter full of laughs at the expense of their political rivals. For one, proLDF trollers sought to use Mohiniyattam exponent Kalamandalam Sathyabhama’s televised and arguably cringeinducing observations on the “vital role” of agreeable looks and fair complexion in classical arts to try defacing the BJP. They broadcast a questionable video showing the artist at a BJP function. The trollers starkly juxtaposed the clipping with her politically stormy remarks last week to put the BJP on the defence. BJP State president K. Surendran later said the artist was never a party member.

PSimilarly, Congress and BJP social media handlers amplified CPI(M) central committee member A.K. Balan’s arguably unguarded observation that the party risked losing its iconic hammer, sickle and star symbol and national status if it failed to get the requisite number of MPs and a sizeable share of votes. The trollers had set the “reel” to melancholic music to elicit laughs. The most trolled candidates are actors Suresh Gopi, M. Mukesh, and G. Krishnakumar. Their cinema roles and theatrical campaigning have fed the trolls and provided the electorate with a steady diet of laughs and criticism.