/ 5 November 2013

Is the DA’s #MyFirstTime about sex?

Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille.
Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille. (David Harrison, M&G)

How do you get the youth vote? Easy. You take your campaign to the streets. The Twitter streets. And you start a campaign with this: #MyFirstTime, just like the Democratic Alliance (DA) did on Monday.

Take a few minutes to ponder that.

Done? Good. It probably didn't take you too long to realise that the tag is begging for sexual innuendos. A fail on the DA's part? Maybe not. If you view the party's YouTube video, released in conjunction with the campaign, you will soon realise that that is exactly what it was going for.

But the DA does not actually want to know about your first sexual experience. It wants you to tell it about the first time you voted – in 140 characters, including the tag #MyFirstTime.

There were those who were responsible enough to sincerely use the party's hashtag and participate in the campaign effectively. They mention the vote, democracy and the upcoming election.

Such as this:

Or this:

Or this:

Smart marketing? Maybe. Twitter trend setting? Definitely. But Twitter is fickle, and it seems the finger has turned on the party because now, instead of the vote, tweeters have taken the opportunity to forget about elections and tweet about intercourse instead. Lost in translation?

Take a look at these retweets by the DA's twitter account:

But some say it's a really smart idea because, at the end of the day, it offers the youth a clever way to talk about voting. 

Others have highlighted their confusion about the whole campaign:

While the rest feel it's a cheap shot by the DA that offers an excuse for tweeters to indirectly participate in a conversation with the party by tweeting about their "first time" in a "clever" way.