Brat summer is all about partying, being free, and the cool girl aesthetic. Charli xcx’s sixth studio album “BRAT” was released on June 7, 2024. It peaked at number three on the Billboard 200. “BRAT” was an acclaimed pop release, but it has become more than that. “BRAT” has become a cultural phenomenon, starting with the “brat summer” concept. According to today.com, “brat summer” is all about having a “cool girl summer.” It is about embracing chaos and accepting flaws. The album’s cover features a distinctive neon green background, with “brat” spelled out in a black, low-resolution font. A combination of the “brat summer” concept and the iconic “brat green” led to an online explosion. “BRAT” burst into the mainstream, quickly becoming a popular fashion aesthetic on TikTok.
The album cover paved the way for endless memes on multiple social media platforms. The marketability of the brat aesthetic was glaringly obvious, and practically every brand picked up on it.
Jewelry brand Pura Vida launched a brat campaign, making an Instagram post of the “BRAT” album cover that donned the phrase “pv is brat.” The post was accompanied by a collection of green bracelets. Ritz Crackers photoshopped the brat green and brat font saying “ritz” onto a cracker box and uploaded the photo to their social media pages.
According to The Drum, a popular plant-based brand, field roast, began a brat-themed bratwurst marketing campaign. They uploaded
pictures of their bratwursts photoshopped onto the brat green background. They even put up a billboard in Toronto with the eye-catching green and the phrase “brat-wurst.”
High-end brands have used brat to connect to younger audiences as well. The New York fashion label, Kate Spade, posted a “brat green starter pack” to TikTok. This consisted of suggesting Kate Spade products that fall under the brat green color category. Practically every large company has latched onto the brat summer aesthetic as a marketing tool. Brat has extended further than just brand marketing. Brat has become a popular tool for politicians to connect to young people.
Connecting to younger audiences is a constant and persistent struggle for politicians. It has proved throughout time to be strenuous to get the youth to care about something that they feel no connection towards. Practically everybody under 20 years old knows what brat summer is, or has at least heard of the album. It has united young people in a way that is typically unseen, providing the perfect opening for politicians to connect in a way that is typically a tiresome effort. Invoking the use of Brat and Brat marketing connects to an extremely wide audience rather than having to endure many specific, targeted efforts toward youths.
When Kamala Harris was announced as the Democratic presidential candidate, the internet immediately leaned into this being part of brat summer. Running with the possibility of being the first female president, Harris fell into the established brat summer aesthetic. As her public image embodies fun, independence, and a bit of chaos, the internet decided that Harris should be the new face of the brat movement. The Harris presidential campaign saw their opportunity to make a quick connection with Generation Z, and they took it.
According to The Guardian, the Harris campaign quickly changed their official X page backdrop to brat green. The Harris campaign’s official TikTok account also posted a video using Charli xcx’s “365” in the background.
The brat movement is not only being used politically in the United States. The official Green Party of England and Wales Instagram account made a post using that bright green background that said: “Brats vote green.” Politicians have historically used celebrities to appeal to younger audiences, but the efforts tend to fall short. For example, in 2016 presidential candidate Hilary Clinton infamously said “Pokémon go to the polls.” This statement was met with a country-wide cringe from all young adults. Clinton understood that Pokémon Go was popular among young people, and yet she still miscalculated how to use the popular game to relate to people. Brat is unique in that all politicians and brands seem to understand how to use it; they are all in on the joke with the younger generations.
The brat summer aesthetic has revolutionized modern marketing towards the younger generations. It is a phenomenon that politicians, brands, and artists will attempt to recreate in the coming years. The cool, party-girl aesthetic has shown that current culture and technologies can connect to the younger generations like never before. A blurry font and neon green background paved the way for a new outlook on marketing for companies and politicians alike.