Kamala Harris has raised eyebrows with her latest campaign ad that focuses on the love lives of black men.
The digital ads, which run on Snapchat and Instagram, use dating game-style videos to convince young people to vote.
The ad shows a man approaching a group of women with balloons in hand, who question him about his earnings, height and whether he works out.
After receiving apparently favorable answers, someone asks if he has a “plan to vote.”
“Um, I didn’t plan on that,” the man replies before the women all pop their balloons.
Kamala Harris has raised eyebrows with her latest campaign ad that focuses on the love lives of black men
The digital ads appear on Snapchat and Instagram and use dating game-style videos to convince young people to vote
A caption on the screen reads: ‘Don’t let yourself explode. Vote’ with the message that the ad was paid for by Harris for president.’
The clip has been shown at universities, including Arizona State.
However, it was mocked online and caused some confusion after it emerged that 65 percent of spend on the ads was aimed at women, Meta data shows.
‘Wow. I don’t know what to say. Screams desperately,” someone wrote on X.
“This is what a failing campaign looks like,” another added.
“It’s hard to describe how cringy Kamala is, but I’ll do my best,” one person said. “What man would see this and be persuaded to vote for Kamala Harris?”
“It smells like desperation,” a fourth person wrote.
Harris is struggling to gain support among male voters, a recent New York Times report revealed, as she is 11 points underwater among total male voters.
Harris’ support among young men lags behind Trump’s, with support among Hispanic and black men also lower than expected
Many online criticized the ads, which only encourage people to vote, as ‘desperate’
The ad shows women holding balloons and talking to a potential suitor about his salary, height and gym habits before popping their balloons when they find out he has no intention of voting
In fact, she performs relatively poorly among black and Hispanic men, who might have been expected to overwhelmingly support her.
The situation prompted former President Barack Obama to accuse black male voters who refuse to support Kamala Harris of sexism.
The former president was at a campaign office in Pittsburgh to thank volunteers but instead gave them a lecture and said he wanted to “speak some truths.”
Obama said he was responding to reports because there was less enthusiasm for Harris than for his own candidacy, and that some black men were considering sitting out the election.
