With 37 candidates competing for eight seats on Kelowna City Council, some candidates are taking unconventional approaches to getting noticed.
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candidates → compete → approaches
Brady Rogers is one of them, using humour to stand out.
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Rogers → use → humour
“Do I enjoy politics?
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I → enjoy → politics
Do I know what I’m doing?
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I → know → what
Also no,” is what his introduction states on his campaign website.
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introduction → state → website
The 33-year old business owner has also been taking to social media with self-deprecating comments, such as, “I barely want to do this.”
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I → take → this
But he says the messaging is intentional and not an indication that he doesn’t take the job seriously.
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he → say → job
“I’m being a little bit tongue-in-cheek when I say I’m unqualified,” Rogers said.
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Rogers → say → ?
“I’ve never been a politician, but I certainly have experience that I think is very relevant and helpful.”
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I → have → experience
The campaign has been getting a lot of attention
Rogers said one of his posts was picked up by a U.S. social media account, with a significant following.
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one → get → following
“It’s been crazy,” he said.
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he → say → ?
“It resonated locally quite a bit, but then somebody in the U.S. picked it up on Instagram, and now it’s all over.”
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it → resonate → Instagram
Teresa May is also taking a different approach to the campaign.
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May → take → campaign
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The longtime Kelowna resident posted a video of herself wake-surfing on Okanagan Lake while wearing a suit jacket and high heels.
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herself → get → jacket
“I want to look still professional enough to look like a city councillor and at the same time, it was to be sort of outside the box,” May said.
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May → want → box
She hopes her campaign encourages more people to come out and vote.
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campaign → hop → people
“With only 30 per cent of the population out voting the last time, that’s not good enough,” May said.
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May → vote → population
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premiers → fix → separation
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government → brush → benefit
Across the bridge in West Kelowna, Garrett Millsap is taking a more furry approach.
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Millsap → take → approach
His campaign signs feature his 10-year-old Beagle, Cooper, alongside the message “re-elect my human.”
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signs → feature → human
Millsap jokes that Cooper may actually be getting more attention than he is.
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he → joke → attention
“I’m hoping they’re not confusing me with Cooper,” Millsap said.
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Millsap → hop → Cooper
“He’s a little bit better looking, a little more handsome than me.”
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He → ’ → me
For Millsap, the humour is meant to make political campaigning more approachable.
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campaigning → mean → Millsap
“I want to engage people, let them see something different, give them a chuckle, and hopefully it engages them to vote,” he said.
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he → want → them
Christopher Schneider, a sociology professor at Brandon University and former UBC Okanagan sociology professor, says these types of campaigns fit into a broader shift in how people present themselves online.
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people → say → themselves
He describes it as the “mediated self,” a concept associated with influencer culture and the performance of identity through media.
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He → describe → media
Schneider said social media has created an increasingly crowded environment where people compete for attention.
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people → say → attention
Candidates, he said, are effectively creating personal brands—and unconventional behaviour can help them stand out, but he warns there is also a downside.
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he → say → brands
“There’s always a danger in a democratic society like Canada, where you have people who might be casting ballots for just names on a ballot sheet and not having a full idea or understanding of what that person is campaigning on,” Schneider said.
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Schneider → ’ → what
Municipal elections in B.C. are scheduled for Oct. 17.
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elections → schedule → Oct.
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