AWKWARD efforts by both the Remain and Leave campaigns to get younger voters interested in the referendum came in for a fair bit of stick yesterday
The Leave.EU campaign promised a Live Aid-style concert featuring 1990s boyband 5ive, Britain’s Got Talent host Alesha Dixon, other 1990s boyband East 17 and Nigel Farage.
BpopLive, to be held in Birmingham next month was, organisers said, going to be the biggest political rally in modern British history.
Andy Wigmore, head of communications at Leave.EU, said: “We are delighted to be endorsing this event, which we believe will be a fantastic finale to the referendum campaign.”
Unfortunately, it all started unravelling pretty soon after it was announced.
5ive’s management said the band had “no political allegiances or opinions” and that they hadn’t realised it was a political rally. “When Rich and Scott agreed to play the event they understood that it was a pop concert funded by one of the Brexit organisations and not a political rally,” 5ive’s management said.
Alesha Dixon’s manager had similar concerns.
At the time of writing, East 17 and Nigel Farage were still confirmed.
Meanwhile, Remain launched a new series of videos and adverts for the “easyjet generation”.
“The campaign talks to young people as young people, cutting jargon and cliché and replacing them with irreverence and the odd joke,” said campaign designer Scott Townsin.
The way to talk to young people, the Remain campaign decided, was to drop the letter g.
“Workin Earnin Makin Votin,” says one advert. “Chillin Meetin Tourin Votin,” says another.
Unveiled on Buzzfeed, one commenter declared: “This is embarrassing. It’s sort of like Dad Dancing at a macro-economic level.”
Brexit would free up £8bn – but lead to more austerity, says think-tank
Wee Ginger Dug: We are all screwed, whatever the outcome of EU vote
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here