Candidates should have “exceptional creativity” in delivering political content to voters, the job description says
Joe Biden’s presidential campaign is aiming to hire a person to promote his image by harnessing the power of memes, according to a job listing. Both the Biden campaign and that of his archrival, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, have relied on memes to boost their electoral chances ahead of the November vote.
The job ad was first posted on LinkedIn earlier this month and duplicated on the Biden campaign’s website, but only came into the media spotlight this week. The job, officially titled ‘Partner Manager, Content and Meme Pages’, is a full-time position with a salary range of $65,000 to $85,000 a year, and is based in Wilmington, Delaware.
Meme lord hopefuls will have to “initiate and manage day-to-day operations in engaging the Internet’s top content,” the job description says, adding that the ideal candidate must be “passionate about bringing political content to voters where they already are on the Internet.”
Candidates must have two to four years of experience in the video, media, or entertainment industry, deep expertise of the digital media landscape, the ability to identify internet trends, and possess “exceptional creativity.”’
The Biden campaign has already made avid use of memes, with one example being the figure of the so-called “Dark Brandon” character – a slick and sinister alter ego of the 81-year-old president who shoots laser beams out of his eyes. The meme originated with the right-wing political slogan “Let’s Go Brandon” – a euphemism for “F**k Joe Biden.” The latter went viral after an NBC reporter misrepresented an offensive chant by an anti-Biden crowd at a motorsports event in 2021.
The Biden team has also set up a TikTok page featuring ‘Dark Brandon’ in its profile, even though the president signed a bill that could effectively ban the network in the US unless its owner, the Chinese company ByteDance, sells it to someone else.
The Trump campaign has also tapped into the potential of memes ahead of the November election, selling mugs and other merchandise with his mugshot. The historic image, in which Trump viciously stares into the camera, was taken after the ex-president voluntarily surrendered to authorities following his indictment on election racketeering charges in August 2023.
