This is why well-intentioned election videos are sometimes so uncomfortable

In order to create some order in the election chaos, we have engaged an expert and a layperson for this campaign selection. Political scientist Auke Roos is the expert on this. From his profession he knows a lot about politics and elections, unlike floating voter Sem Adriaans. The student from Eindhoven has been living in rooms there for a few years now, but is still new to Brabant politics. What do they think of the playful strategies?

We start actively. Active! Cranendonck Active! The candidates of the Cranendonck city council party are, literally, eager to get started for the municipality and have come up with some cool music to go with it. The enthusiasm did not go unnoticed. The song has already been featured on RTL Nieuws and VI Today.

“This sounds like a bad carnival song. With my broken head I can hardly bear that now,” student Sem laughs. “But it does stick. So if that was the goal, mission accomplished.”

Song number two responds to the summer hit by Mart Hoogkamer. In the carnival spirit, Voor De Community calls on Oss: “come, go vote!”

At the CDA in Oirschot they do not sing themselves, but they introduce their candidates with the help of a song and their hobby. “I get some vicarious shame about this, but it does give a good idea of ​​who the candidates are,” says Sem. “It’s a bit of a soap intro, but with old, white men,” political scientist Roos continues.

And if you are still not driven to make a choice, the municipality will also put its best foot forward. For example in Helmond, where the ukulele is conjured up.

“Of course that comes across as a bit clumsy, but that is precisely why people start sharing and forwarding it,” Roos thinks. “And it’s kind of cute too.”

Well, it’s just a small sampling of the seas of content created in the run-up to the municipal elections. “It’s all a bit clumsy, but also a bit touching,” responds political scientist Auke Roos. “I understand very well that they do it and try it. And that it doesn’t come out so well is part of it.”

According to Roos, the clumsy caliber is due to the combination of “old men” with social media. “They’re not agile millennials in that regard. So that’s a bit stiff.” It is also a factor in the fact that there are not such large budgets in the Netherlands for municipal elections. “So then some parties have to shoot their campaign videos on Wednesday afternoon, with an iPhone.”

The political scientist paints a picture of the campaign consultations of the local parties. “Probably this seemed like a very good idea to everyone in the brainstorming session, but the execution turns out to be very bad,” he chuckles. “But it won’t have been intended that way at all.” That gives the videos a touching character, he thinks. “The Dutch like that.”

He does not think that it will actually ensure that more people will vote in the municipal council. That is not only due to the videos, but to the fact that voters are more interested in national themes. “That is also partly because we mainly follow national media and do not sit and watch Omroep Tilburg all day. Even if it crosses the threshold in your own door in local politics, it still feels to voters as if they are a national voice have more impact.”

In any case, our floating voter and student Sem (24) was not influenced by it. “Those kinds of videos make me less motivated than that I really want to vote,” he laughs. “It’s all just a little too much cringy† But if I really have to choose from those videos, I go for CDA Oirschot. Because it was the least bad.”