I knew you were trouble when you became the 61st Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.
Speaker John Boehner's official website published a listicle Friday entitled "12 Taylor Swift GIFs for you." The list uses Taylor Swift GIFs to criticize President Obama's community college tuition plan, in which the federal government would cover three quarters of the tuition for community college students across America. States that participate in the program would cover the remaining cost.
The move was an attempt to appeal to the Internet-consuming youths of America. Whether or not it works probably depends on which side of the political spectrum a given millennial lands on.
Boehner isn't the first politician to appeal to younger voters with GIFs. Buzzfeed's GIF-heavy community section has been repeatedly used by the pro-life group Personhood USA, as well as the conservative think tank known as the Heritage Foundation.
The use of GIFs in millennial-centric advertising is ruthlessly mocked on the 20,000-strong FellowKids subreddit.
We are never ever ever gonna laugh at Boehner http://t.co/mrcB2mic0Y(Sorry.)— Paige Lavender (@paigelav) January 16, 2015
John Boehner's staff might be reading too much @BuzzFeed... http://t.co/eYHqCZ3mEH— Amy Whyte (@amykwhyte) January 16, 2015
The official Twitter account of the Democratic party, not to be outdone, had a Swift GIF response of their own for the Speaker.
.@SpeakerBoehner pic.twitter.com/GdreJQsref— The Democrats (@TheDemocrats) January 16, 2015
President Obama, whose approval rating among 18 to 29 year olds sits at 54% according to Gallup, is going to have to shake this one off.
