#CosplayersForBernie: The Mike Bloomberg Campaign Tried to Pay for my “Support”
Last night, at 5:21pm EST, I was contacted via email by someone affiliated with the Mike Bloomberg presidential campaign. They wanted to pay me to create a video “to share [my] concerns on topics such as gun violence or climate change and why Mike is the best candidate for the position”, so that they could use it to help drum up support for Bloomberg. Screenshots of the email are found below.
https://twitter.com/TheDeLaDoll/status/1233156572341264386?s=20
I’d like to point out a few things that struck me as amusing, and also why this email bothered me.
- I’m a content creator. The primary focus of my Instagram profile is cosplay. There is currently an organic (meaning it was started with sincerity, and not because someone offered to pay for it) movement among some of my fellow cosplayers who, like me, happen to support democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. I don’t think it’s a coincidence at all that the Bloomberg campaign is reaching out specifically to cosplayers while #CosplayersforBernie is trending.
- They mentioned having “the ability to match competitive influencer rates”, and that they were also offering a $50 bonus if I could deliver them some freshly made, pro-Mike custom content by 7pm EST. That is 1 hour and 39 minutes to write and produce completed content. That is not much time at all.
- The idea that I’d jump through hoops for $50 and some vague “competitive influencer rate” is insulting.
- The idea that my support can be bought is insulting.
- The idea that someone on the Bloomberg team is shopping around on Instagram for hot cosplay waifus to try and purchase what Bernie has organically is…actually quite hilarious.
At 10:49pm EST, after having posted about this ordeal on Twitter, I received a follow up email (despite having expressed my clear lack of interest in having anything to do with a pay-to-play bootleg version of the #CosplayersForBernie tag). This email consisted partially of copy/pasted portions of the original email, as well as clarification regarding who can participate in the #MikeBuysWaifus campaign, and a note that stating that the money isn’t to buy anyone’s support, per se, just their content. Riiight.
I think it’s pretty telling that the billionaire candidate’s team would try to buy support content to mimic the real, unpurchased, sincere, and enthusiastic support that another candidate is receiving, especially from someone in the cosplay community. What a time to be alive. #BernieSanders2020 #CosplayersforBernie #MikeBuysWaifus
~DeLa Doll
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DeLa Doll is a culture writer, cosplayer, and artist based in Florida. She has been writing professionally since 2016, with some of her work being featured on sites like HuffPo and /Film. She is an advocate for meaningful diversity and representation in media, a gamer, a mom, and an avid user of DIY hair dye.
