You can’t get away from social media in the political debate, just as you can’t get away from social media full-stop. Ever since Barack Obama’s victory was branded the Facebook election, people have looked at online movements and wondered what impact they have at the polling station.
But something different is happening with Jeremy Corbyn. While the Conservatives posted relentless YouTube attack videos and bought up Snapchat advertising slots, some mostly young Labour supporters were spreading the love for Corbyn using the argot and themes relevant to them. Milifandom had nothing on Corbyn’s online appeal. Here are a few examples of Corbyn memes that flew in the election campaign. Could they have swept people all the way to the polls?
The Absolute Boy
A video by the leftwing commentator Aaron Bastani was one of the most widely shared uses of this name for Corbyn. It’s unclear where it originated (Absolute Boy is an anime series, but I doubt it’s that), but it shows the youth demographic adopting Corbyn as one of their own and in their own vernacular.
Where did this end? With “Get on board with the absolute boy” badges and an Instagram post of Lena Dunham holding one.
There’s also a sense of benevolent laddism in this take. Whether it’s accidentally high-fiving the breast of Emily Thornberry, or his brilliant response to a supporter who asked (after Theresa May’s wheat field) what the naughtiest thing he had ever done was, Corbyn has been held up as a cheeky fella in response to May’s stiff vicar’s daughter. One of the lads, innit.
Me: What's the naughtiest thing you've ever done
— Sadaqat (@sadcat786) June 7, 2017
Corbyn: Thats far too naughty to talk about #VoteCorbyn pic.twitter.com/sUNyIbcSh3
Corbyn or May?
This particular meme never fails to deliver. Inspired by the Bernie or Hillary? meme last summer, it pits the two leaders’ outlooks against each other. May v Corbyn then spread to El Gato (Corbyn’s cat) v Larry (the chief mouser at No 10).
Corbyn or May memes - a new opportunity? pic.twitter.com/ICkKyDocd5
— Meme Economy (@Meme_Economy) April 21, 2017
#LastMinuteCorbynSmears
As you may have noticed, the rightwing press has gone after Corbyn relentlessly (though whether it still has the influence of the past is up for debate). To counter this, #LastMinuteCorbynSmears trended on Twitter, because you have to fight back.
#Corbyn finds pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but doesn't declare it as earnings. #LastMinuteCorbynSmears pic.twitter.com/oAGnAtJEXP
— Quest4Truth (@JonJonesSnr) June 7, 2017
That "prize-winning" Corbyn marrow?
— Ros Jones (@rozjonez) June 7, 2017
STEROIDS.#LastMinuteCorbynSmears pic.twitter.com/FamhJjwKer
Jam and other niche interests
Corbyn has never been shy about his love of jam, or marrows, or allotments. He makes his own jam and he’s proud of it, even talking about it on The One Show. One of the best moments of Vice’s documentary on Corbyn was him outlining a plan to sign apples for fans. It’s even said he has sometimes been incommunicado because of his jam-making.
Corbyn’s other niche interests include manhole covers (yes, really), marrows and trains. My favourite headline of the campaign might have been: “Corbyn: yes, I collect manhole covers”. And what the hell is wrong with that?
Can confirm that the high point of working for Jeremy Corbyn was him drawing my name in the Secret Santa and giving me two jars of his jam.
— Matt Zarb-Cousin (@mattzarb) June 1, 2017
Pringles
I like to think it all started with this man’s amusing tweet about Jeremy Paxman’s interview style after the BBC debate:
me: i really like pringles
— jack scully (@JackMScully) May 29, 2017
[jeremy paxman crashes through the window]
JP: IN 2014 WHEN OFFERED A CRISP BY A FRIEND YOU REFUSED
The next day a Corbyn fan offered him a Pringle, which he promptly gulped down after holding it up to the crowd to cheers. The video of this moment has 23,000 likes and more than 8,000 shares.
corbyn ate a pringle tonight pic.twitter.com/MA5pnBJi0M
— melancholy egg yolk (@ggeordiebore) May 31, 2017
Interestingly, Pringles has yet to capitalise on this; usually companies on Twitter are keen to insert themselves into every narrative for maximum brand reach. Who knew that a Pelican-mouth-shaped crisp would feature so prominently? Why is this important? Because politicians never manage to eat normally (see: Miliband and bacon, May and chips), and Corbyn passed this test. Radio Times even called it the “turning point of the general election”.
Grime hero
It seems that #grime4Corbyn has had a genuine cut-through, especially with the young and non-white electorate, though turnout figures won’t be known for a week or so. Our reporter Iman Amrani went to the gig in London and found widespread enthusiasm and motivation from the crowd there. The social reach for #grime4corbyn was also huge, with that particular hashtag trending higher than Corbyn’s manifesto on its launch day. Implausibly, even Danny DeVito got in on it, with 27,000 retweets and counting.
As the Guardian’s film shows, this online buzz seems to have translated IRL (in real life). Grime fans also said the leader’s interview with the grime star JME, a coup for iD magazine, encouraged them to sign up to vote for the first time. Labour’s leader was also on the cover of NME and Kerrang! magazines and musicians outside of grime lending their support included Akala, Clean Bandit, Lily Allen, Kyla La Grange, MIA and Rag N Bone Man.
But it really is grime that has fuelled the grassroots engagement. As photoshops of Corbyn on Dizzee Rascal’s seminal Boy in da Corner album cover show.
NAH THATS NOT ME
— Andrew Jones (@andrewj2009) May 15, 2017
ACT LIKE A TORY THATS NOT ME
RAISE UNI FEES NAH THATS NOT ME
STARVE THE NHS NAH THATS NOT ME@JmeBBK #Grime4Corbyn pic.twitter.com/acZbAaPROp
Fashion king
Vogue published an entire piece on Corbyn’s style and how it mirrored the hip label of the moment, Vetements. The shell suits; the pop-socks and trainers; the functional wear. A big hit has also been the (fan-made) Nike and Corbyn mash-up T-shirt, echoing the NHS one that was popular a while ago (as seen on pop star Jessie Ware).
The Corbyn version was made by two friends in Bristol, and has sold out on their online shop. It has been seen widely on the streets as well as on celebrity and #influencer Instagram feeds. For some reason, May on the other hand, who is supposedly the fashion-obsessed politician, has taken to wearing the exact same outfit repeatedly. Why on earth she keeps wearing the outfit that links her in the collective conscious with that awkward Trump encounter is unknown (she wore it again on election night).
I have voted in my @jeremycorbyn shirt from #BristolStreetWear. I am proud to have the right to cross that box! #ge2017 #justdoit pic.twitter.com/K7y7Ee41Gb
— Nicci Speirs (@NicciSpeirs) June 8, 2017
Kids and animals
They say never work with kids and animals, but Corbyn definitely works with both, as plenty of photo opportunities and meet and greets showed. He’s similar in that sense to Obama and the Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, who have both benefited from their ease around babies and dogs, and the memes that lends itself to.
"So Charlie got the Chocolate factory, and he found out that they paid NO CORPORATION TAX" pic.twitter.com/EFpizJIChA
— TechnicallyRon (@TechnicallyRon) April 21, 2017
There's a Twitter Moments on the best images of #GE2017 & somehow this isn't included. pic.twitter.com/ofMB5d6a0K
— HannahJane Parkinson (@ladyhaja) June 7, 2017
Fighting mode Corbyn
There’s been a good narrative of subverting the image of Corbyn as a jam-loving, sweater-vest-wearing softie, by re-imagining him as scrapping for a fight, touching on the previous laddism. There’s a Twitter account, @AngryCorbyn, which collates these memes, and most images are lifted from that time a frustrated Corbyn was pulled away from the political press corps.
Forever my fav Corbyn meme pic.twitter.com/M7CEpmvimS
— Ahsan (@ahsannov) June 9, 2017
Smooth Corbyn
Given a huge boost by the skit Corbyn did for The Last Leg in which he appeared in a tuxedo and floor-length fur coat, the smooth Corbyn meme is the opposite of the scrappy Corbyn seen above. In particular, the gif of Corbyn turning to the camera, appearing to break the fourth wall, with a confident expression was huge. (Shades too of this Miliband turning to the camera to the sound of Careless Whisper meme).
Get you a man who can do both, etc etc pic.twitter.com/p7BxZ97BjX
— Mollie Goodfellow (@hansmollman) June 10, 2016
Footy Corbs
A lifelong Arsenal fan, who was at Wembley to watch the club’s FA Cup win, Corbyn has also said he would invite European leaders to a match as a form of friendly diplomacy. The cross-section of football fans and Corbyn supporters has been huge. This may be down to his support for grassroots football and his YouTube videos promoting his policies on football. The football chant of “Here we go, here we fucking go!” was frequently deployed as Labour’s surge began to happen in the polls, and when the results came in on election night (and it was one of the tweets sent from Corbyn’s account when it was hacked last year).
But in particular, an old video of Kevin Keegan, ranting that his club had to go to Middlesbrough and get a result, has found a new lease of life and folded into the narrative of Corbyn going to key marginals and Labour heartlands and getting results the press said wouldn’t happen.
Meme king Stan the Golden Boy went one step beyond and superimposed Corbyn on to the video of Keegan, resulting in the gold below. The last word to him, on how he thinks all of these Corbyn memes have played out. He told me:
I don’t think any particular, specific meme made any tangible impact, but I guess the collective weight of the sheer number of pro-Labour and Corbyn memes, and the fervour for them, was probably not insignificant in keeping people enthused where they might have otherwise accepted the prevalent line that Corbyn was entirely unelectable.
So there you are. Here we fucking go.
labour polling up to 30.5% pic.twitter.com/khItU7aldk
— Stan The Golden Boy (@tristandross) May 11, 2017
