Influencers paid $160k to promote NZ election
Every election New Zealand’s low youth voter turnout makes headlines and political scientists mull over how to get more young people to cast their ballots.
This year the Electoral Commission turned to social media influencers to reach the youth, and tell them to vote.
Figures released under the Official Information
Act show the commission has paid 12 Kiwi social media stars a combined $159,471 to create and share dozens of pieces of non-partisan content about voting on their TikTok, SnapChat, Instagram and Facebook pages.
Those paid by the commission include cancer survivor and model Jess Quinn, who boasts 178,000 followers on Instagram, and Wellington man Louis Davis, whose TikTok video of students hosting an ‘‘isolation party’’ at Massey University’s halls of residence went viral during the coronavirus lockdown.
Overall, the commission spent $3 million on advertising targeting 18 to 29 year olds.
Commission spokeswoman Suzanne Knight refused to provide a breakdown on the cost per influencer, citing commercial sensitivity, but said the influencers’ fees were calculated based on how much content they created and their social media reach.
Jess Wotherspoon, a TikTok influencer with 45,000 followers, made six videos for the campaign.
The 24-year-old said a few years ago, she would not have been the kind of person to vote.
‘‘Politics wasn’t my thing. I wasn’t a big fan of it and my family was not hugely big on it,’’ she said. ‘‘I didn’t really get any information other than from family and friends.’’
But after finishing school, she realised it was important to have a say.
‘‘Getting into work, you see what you’re almost in for and you can see how businesses and the economy are impacted. People don’t realise it is their future and being relatively close to people of that age who are first-time voters and communicating to them, relating to them and sending a good message ... that gets them to make that first step.’’
The campaign could be considered a success – Electoral Commission data released yesterday showed youth turnout increased massively between the 2017 and 2020 elections.
This year 60.9 per cent of estimated eligible voters aged 18-24 voted, up from 50.1 per cent at the 2017 election and 48 per cent in 2014. The vote also increased for those aged between 25-29, rising from 54.1 per cent in 2017 to 62.6 per cent in 2020.