Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s campaign has released two new ads that will air on TV during Sunday evening’s MTV Video Music Awards aimed at increasing turnout of young voters and voters of color.
“Everybody Votes,” a 30-second spot, focuses on turning young people out to vote and highlights issues typically of interest to a younger voting demographic, like climate change and racial justice.
The ad uses video footage of Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris, at San Francisco’s Pride parade in 2019 wearing a blinged-out rainbow denim jacket. It features an original music track by producer Kosine. “If you want to see some change, the action starts with me,” the narrator sings.
The second ad, called “Adrianna,” features Adrianna Williams, a 21-year-old senior at Duke University and co-chair of Black Students for Biden. She speaks about the importance of protesting but hinges real change on electing Biden, encouraging people to get out and vote.
“Everybody Votes” was scheduled to air during the Video Music Awards at 8:58 p.m. ET, and “Adrianna” is expected to air at 9:34 p.m. ET, according to a statement from the campaign.
In addition to the two ads, the campaign has launched a new hashtag this week, #TheNewAdministration, which it will gear toward young people in its paid media programming going forward.
The hashtag will evoke content that draws a contrast with the Trump administration, a campaign aide told CNN, in addition to content that is “forward-looking” in how a Biden-Harris administration would approach issues young voters care about.
For example, the campaign utilized the hashtag in static ads for a “takeover” of the pop culture site, Complex, that launched on Friday.
The advertising blitz comes as the Biden campaign looks to ride the momentum of the Democratic National Convention into the final months of the presidential election.
Biden’s campaign, the Democratic National Committee and their joint fundraising committees raised $70 million over the party’s four-day event, Biden’s campaign told CNN earlier this month.
Still, President Donald Trump’s campaign has been a fundraising juggernaut – raising more than $1.1 billion in the past two years – and typically had outpaced Biden and other Democrats in the amount of money available to them.
However, Biden’s campaign – through reduced spending and a series of strong fundraising months in which the former vice president and the Democratic National Committee out-raised Trump and the Republican National Convention – managed to close the gap ahead of the general election debates.