The No campaign has focused on High School Musical memes and videos of gamers playing “Subway Surfers” to tackle the biggest problem: getting the message out to Generation Z.
According to recent polling from Redbridge and Newspoll, Australians aged 18 to 34 are the only group to consistently say they will vote ‘yes’ for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
But Fair Australia, one of two groups behind the No campaign, has found its sweet spot with Gen Z on TikTok, with videos racking up a whopping 10 million views since August 27 on the app favored by teens and young adults .
The No campaign posts up to five videos per day to reach the eight million Australians over 18 who use TikTok every day, with the 18-35 group making up 71 percent of the app’s users globally.
“While they (Yes) make expensive ads with celebrities, we communicate directly to voters where they are,” a senior No campaign source told Daily Mail Australia.
Fair Australia recently used a viral soundbite from The Summer I Turned Pretty. The iconic ‘Connie Baby’ trend has racked up 86.8 million views on TikTok worldwide
air Australia uses footage from High School Musical when the cast sings ‘Stick to the Status Quo’ – specifically the repeated lines ‘no’ in the song
Some of the campaign’s tactics would baffle older generations.
Several videos feature voiceovers discussing specific details of the voice on top of videos of people playing the video game Subway Surfers, a single-player mobile game that recently moved to TikTok.
It is now commonly used on the platform alongside unrelated voiceovers, in an attempt to get users to stop scrolling and watch the outcome of the game.
For the No campaign, the TikToks feature anti-Voice messages.
Another popular Fair Australia TikTok features a trending soundbite from the insanely popular streaming show The Summer I Turned Pretty, which reads: ‘This is one hundred percent your look, Connie baby’.
It shows Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and No campaigners wearing campaign items at several events recently.
The #conniebaby hashtag on TikTok has been viewed 86.8 million times worldwide after a scene from the Amazon Prime show went viral online.
Another video of Senator Price explaining her reasons for voting no has been viewed 103,000 times in 24 hours.
In another clip, Fair Australia uses footage from High School Musical, which many Gen Z users grew up with and feel a sense of nostalgia for.
One TikTok includes the song “Stick to the Status Quo,” where the chorus repeats the words “No, no, no” over and over.
“This content is particularly seen by younger Australians and hundreds of thousands of young women – a key demographic targeted by the corporate-backed ‘Yes’ campaign,” a source within the campaign said.
“It is clear that the truth about the divisions The Voice will cause for our country resonates with young Australians.”
And it seems the Yes23 campaign has taken note of what works best for the No camp in the app, launching its own version of the Subway Surfers videos.
The Subway Surfers video was posted by Fair Australia on July 25
Subway Surfers video posted from September 11 – Yes23
On Monday, Yes23 uploaded a video of Dean Parkin explaining the importance of the voice, combined with a video of a Subway Surfer game.
Yes23 posted just 22 videos to TikTok, compared to Fair Australia’s 152, attracting just 50,000 likes and 3,584 followers.
Fair Australia has 38,000 followers and 881,000 likes, with some individual videos reaching a million views.
But TikTok isn’t the only platform to reach voters
Older generations often rely on Facebook and Twitter as news sources, and Yes23 has used these platforms much more than TikTok.
The Yes23 Facebook page has 62,000 followers and 49,000 likes, compared to Fair Australia’s 35,000 followers and 18,000 likes.
According to campaign statistics, these platforms for the Yes camp reach millions of people every week.
In another clip, Fair Australia used footage from High School Musical, which many Gen Z users grew up with and feel a sense of nostalgia for
And the campaign’s efforts on more traditional media channels are increasingly translating to spaces like TikTok, where supporters of the “Yes” vote are taking it upon themselves to create their own content.
A spokesperson for Yes23 said campaigners from Daily Mail Australia will look to reach voters “in a variety of ways between now and October 14”.
“We reach millions of Australians every week on social media platforms. On the ground, our 35,000 volunteers are active every day, at train stations and shopping centres, knocking on doors and holding community forums.
“For those who haven’t yet made up their minds, we encourage people to find their local Yes group, get informed and be part of what will be a unifying moment for Australians.”