Vice President Kamala Harris selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate on Tuesday night, and soon after, they released a slate of new campaign merchandise.
To the untrained eye, the campaign’s new camouflage hat with the words “Harris-Walz” written on it, looks pretty regular.
But to some people on social media, it looked like a veiled reference to Chappell Roan, Gen Z pop sweetheart.
The “Harris-Walz” hat does bear a passing resemblance to the “Midwest Princess” camo hat that is part of Roan’s tour merchandise. The hat Roan released was a direct reference to her album title: “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.”
Roan rose to fame rapidly this year after the release of her April single “Good Luck, Babe!” Her 2023 songs “Femininomenon,” “Red Wine Supernova,” and “HOT TO GO!” have also blown up on social media and become TikTok-viral.
Roan drew in the largest crowd ever at the Lollapalooza music festival over the past weekend.
Roan reacted to the two hats being compared via a post on X on Tuesday night — reposting a composite image of the two hats and wondering aloud if the Harris-Walz campaign merch was “real.”
When asked if the camo hat was a reference to Roan, the Harris-Walz campaign told BI: “We released a camo hat because Tim Walz infamously often wears a camo hat.”
Experts BI spoke to were skeptical that the campaign meant the hat as a direct reference to Roan, noting that it may have had another target audience altogether.
“The camo baseball cap is commonly worn by hunters, and many others,” said Christian Grose, a political science and public policy professor at the University of Southern California (USC). “I used to live in Wisconsin a bit more than a decade ago, and such a cap was common back then.”
He added that the hat “may work on multiple levels to different audiences.”
“My guess is Gen Z voters who shop at Menards in Wisconsin may be the strongest audience,” Grose said. Menards is a home improvement retail company in Wisconsin.
“Hats may signal intentions or loyalty, but probably don’t win any votes,” said Jonathan Aronson, a professor of communication and international relations at USC.
Whether it was meant as a reference to Roan or not, the hat seems to be a fan favorite already, with some calling it the antithesis of former President Donald Trump’s red MAGA hat.
“This is gonna be our version of the red hat,” wrote one X user.
Another wrote: “Being able to wear a midwest princess harris/walz coded camo hat makes up for years of not being able to wear a red phillies hat for fear of inadvertent MAGA promotion.”
Some people said on X that they encountered “sold out” notices when trying to purchase the hat on the Harris-Walz campaign website.
The hat was still available for preorder at press time, according to checks by BI.
The Harris campaign’s got some social media game
Although unintentional, this appears to be Harris’ latest win at drawing in younger voters, something she has been focused on since the start of her presidential run in July.
After President Joe Biden endorsed her for the top ticket, she did a total revamp of her campaign’s social media accounts.
Her first post was a screenshot of Charli XCX’s post endorsing her with the statement “kamala IS brat.”
The Democratic nominee has also amassed multiple endorsements from celebrities in the Gen Z orbit.
She has gotten stamps of approval from Rodrigo, the rapper Cardi B. Megan Thee Stallion also performed at Harris’ Atlanta rally on July 31.
Media experts BI spoke to also noted that the Harris campaign has worked hard to leverage renewed energy and enthusiasm over the 2024 election.
“There is a wave of grassroots enthusiasm that feels like Obama 2008, but with the social media of 2024,” David Karpf, a professor of media and public affairs at George Washington University, told Business Insider in July.
“When you’ve got a good social media team that has arrived at a cultural moment and pent-up enthusiasm, they get to play with it.”
Representatives for Roan did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.
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