Getting people to vote hasn’t gotten so much exposure since Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his candidacy for governor of California on “The Tonight Show.” Celebrities lunch in their “Vote” T-shirts or are photographed on their way to work out in shorts with “Vote” stamped across the back.
Voting is cool.
From tanks to T’s, skirts to sweats, neckties to necklaces and everything in between and under (yup, there’s underwear ), fashion promoting voting is everywhere right now.
We’re not talking about T-shirts from the Bush or Kerry campaigns. The message here is a reminder to hit the polls Nov. 2 and “vote for something,” as one T-shirt says.
“If you’re wearing vote clothing, you’re really committed to [voting],” says Ruth Rubinstein, a sociologist who teaches a course called Clothing and Society at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. “If you’re committed, maybe others will be committed to it too.”
This attire is aimed at the 58 percent of the 26.8 million adults between 18 and 24 years old who, according to a Harvard’s Institute of Politics’ report, did not vote in the 2000 presidential election.
“Hot-button topics inspire fashion,” says John DeVore, associate editor at Maxim magazine, adding that voting has clearly become a fashion statement of the moment. “And it bespeaks to how politics is pop culture.”
“The last election really showed people that every vote does count,” says Tina Wells, a managing partner with the youth marketing group Blue Fusion. “Voting is something people just can’t ignore, and when you’re wearing that message, there’s no ignoring it.”
At MTV’s Video Music Awards in August, P. Diddy wore a “Vote or Die” shirt.
“If you’re a fashion designer or a hip-hop artist, why not encourage people to vote?” says Pete Snyder, a former political pollster and CEO of New Media Strategies, an online marketing company based in Arlington, Va.
Courteney Cox has been rumored to wear “vote” underwear, and Halle Berry has been seen wearing a “Rock the Vote” T-shirt.
“Any ink that gets people to realize their vote counts is helpful,” Snyder says.
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Edited by Cara DiPasquale (cdipasquale@tribune.com) and Kris Karnopp (kkarnopp@tribune.com)
