A unique partnership is setting up special features on the social network to encourage young adults to go to the polls on April 10 and 24. On the program: use of augmented reality, filters and influencers.
Before the “voted !”the “snapped!”. It is an unusual partnership that the government announced this Thursday in a press release. Three days before the first round of the presidential election, he joins the social network Snapchat to “incite young people” to vote in the presidential election, the first round of which takes place this Sunday. The strategies deployed? Use of augmented reality via the famous filters of the app, influencers or, even, setting up a countdown.
Concretely, creators with strong audiences will “passing messages” to the 24.2 million monthly active users of the social network in France to encourage “younger generations” to go to the polls and understand the stakes of the vote. In addition to the implementation of a “filter” dedicated to the power of attorney which links to the government site, Snapchat will put its other functionalities such as “bitmojis” (small 3D characters, supposed to be in the image of the user) to colors of France.
A countdown, an automatic reminder message and an augmented reality ballot box will also be deployed for the second round of the presidential election on April 24.
This use of the network famous for its terrible “Cartoon face” filter, transforming the face of its users into a dog’s head, comes at a time when polls are warning about the level of abstention in the ballot, and in particular among the youngest voters. .
According to a barometer published this Wednesday by the Ifop Fiducial polling institute for LCI, Paris Match and Sud Radio, the latter would be particularly high among 18-24 year olds. 46% of them would not vote this Sunday, against 29% for the population as a whole.
Before the government, Jean-Luc Mélenchon has already, this Monday, mobilized on the app as well as on Instagram thanks to the establishment of a “Vote” filter. The concept ? A hologram of the LFI candidate (again) appears on the screens of Internet users to encourage the undecided to vote. “On April 10 we vote, it’s the presidential election, we vote! You have to vote”, he hammers. And, in addition, encourage people to vote for him: “In this country, it’s the presidential monarchy, if you want that to change, you have to vote, if you vote it means that you take care of the affairs that concern you. If you don’t vote, it’s the others who decide for you the affairs that concern you.
Snapchat is far from the only social network to be invested by candidates to push young people to slip their little envelope into the ballot box. As reported ReleaseMarine Le Pen chose Instagram to show her best side, Zemmour and her supporters abound with tweets and Jean Lassalle is a hit on TikTok.
On the government side, we therefore describe a partnership “in complete rupture with traditional institutional codes”. But also a choice however “assumed and claimed in line with the modernization of government communication that we are carrying out to reach the new generation that is ultra-connected but often far from voting”said Michael Nathan, director of the government information service.
And Snapchat to add: “Our goal is to invest our entire platform with awareness campaigns and educational tools to inspire a generation that grew up on mobile devices to engage”said Sarah Bouchahoua, the company’s France public affairs manager. Snapchat, on the verge of taking over from civic education courses?