Bernie Sanders - "I am once again asking..."

During the 2020 presidential election, Bernie Sanders was a democratic presidential candidate. Often, throughout that campaign period, an add featuring Bernie Sanders could be found online on different social media platforms. Initially, it was posted by Sanders himself on his own social media profiles . In the ad, Sanders can be seen asking viewers to "once again" donate to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on his behalf since Sanders refused to take money from super PACs . Super PACs are committees that receive unlimited funds from individuals or corporations for the purpose of funding "independent political expenditures" .

The first iteration of the meme was posted to Reddit by user 3RunRickyRun4 under the /r/libertarianmeme subreddit. The manner in which the image of the meme is displayed, a recognizable character or figure accompanied by a caption that relays some kind of catchphrase or easy to remember message, can be identified as an "image macro" .

## Recognizable Features

Some recognizable features that we can identify in this meme, which are typically represented across its various iterations are Bernie wearing his giant fluffy winter coat, the words "I am once again..." and/or "I am once again asking...", and a background that indicates it is wintertime at the time that the picture/clip was taken of him. The caption that appears on the screen is typically molded around the message that any individual or group is trying to communicate.

Speaking of Bernie's fluffy coat, it became a staple of memes involving Bernie following "I am once again asking...". The most notable of the memes that followed this one and sparked interest in the politician's coat, was Bernie at the inauguration of Joe Biden . Intrigue in the coat became so great that the once discontinued style was made available to the public again and then immediately sold out .

Additionally, while most of the memes that call back to this add of Bernie's do feature the original image of Bernie in his puffy jacket during winter, more niche iterations just feature the original caption of image "I am once again asking for your financial support". The changes to the appearance of the image displayed by the meme could range from not including Bernie at all, to an alteration of his features or editing a different image overtop Bernie's head.

## Cultural Context

During 2020, the United States was just emerging from Trump's presidency that had started during 2016. Not only did the 2016 election make a huge impact on the United States and its citizens, but it created an increased awareness of issues related to politics and election given the unexpected results  . At the start of the 2020 election, many, if not all, of the presidential candidates that were in the running heavily leaned on the need for voters to do their part. The day following the meme's emergence on the internet, Donald Trump's first impeachment trial had commenced and thus more possible political content emerged as a result .

Aside from the political upheaval that was occurring at the time the meme was created, 2020 was also the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Internet usage of this meme along with numerous others began to spike as numbers of those infected with COVID-19 began to rise and people were starting to be asked to quarantine themselves in their homes .

## Audience

This meme could potentially reach a myriad of different audiences online. The reason for this is because the caption, along with certain aspects of the image, could be revised to reflect messages different groups are able to identify with.

##### General Audience

* College Students
* Working Class young and older adults
* high school students
* Middle class U.S. citizens
* Bernie Sanders supporters
* Moderate Voters

## Circulation

* Reddit
	+ r/libertarianmeme (subreddit)
* Instagram
* Twitter
* Facebook
	+ Muster Point Memes Facebook Group
	+ Being Libertarian Facebook Group
* Youtube
* Tumblr
* 4chan
* Pinterest

## Ethical Implication

Considering the divided nature of most United States presidential elections, the ethical implications of the meme have more to do with misrepresentation of the politician and his message as well as altering the context or tone of the original meme. Misrepresentation of Sander's election campaign could have led to U.S. citizen's not taking him or his request seriously. Given Bernie's ideology surrounding super PACs, his request for support from his supporters and potential supporters was serious. Also, while Bernie considered himself to be a democratic socialist, a good amount of the people who reposted his meme identified as libertarian. This is notable since it was reported that a good amount of Bernie's supporters voted Republican in the election after Bernie lost the Primaries to Hillary in 2016 . Finally, as with any meme that goes viral on the internet, this meme could be used for more nefarious means against different communities of people or individuals.

## Impact

The greater social impact of Bernie meme made Bernie a more visible and relatable presidential candidate to certain groups of people. These groups of people included college students, blue collar workers, parents, children, etc. The meme is malleable and could be situated from multiple different perspectives and positionalities. The most important aspect of the meme is that its message should be relatable and understandable to a wide variety of people. Given the political and social climate at the time this meme emerged, it offered people online a humorous method to express their frustrations with everything going on during 2020. Additionally, this meme could have aided in the spread of awareness about Sanders as a presidential candidate to younger, voting age citizens. Bernie Sanders is, through the utilization of this meme, made to be more relatable to the public. Similar to, but not as reliant as formal media coverage, the wide spreadability of this meme helped to make Bernie a more prominent figure to the public.

## References

1. ↑ [1] https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/i-am-once-again-asking-for-your-financial-support
2. ↑ [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fexsxz8nLVw
3. ↑  [3] https://www.fec.gov/help-candidates-and-committees/filing-pac-reports/registering-super-pac/
4. ↑ [4] https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/i-am-once-again-asking-for-your-financial-support
5. ↑ [5] https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/image-macros
6. ↑ [6] https://www.esquire.com/style/mens-fashion/a35256378/bernie-sanders-biden-harris-inauguration-burton-jacket-2021/
7. ↑ [7] https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2021/01/bernie-sanders-viral-inauguration-coat-origin-story
8. ↑ [8] https://www.cnn.com/election/2016/results
9. ↑ [9] https://www.proquest.com/pdnwallstreetjournal/pagelevelimagepdf/2374124235/pagelevelImagePDF/517025EE29ED4FC3PQ/1?t:lb=t&accountid=11578
10. ↑ [10] https://www.wbur.org/news/2021/03/10/covid-pandemic-memes-internet-moments
11. ↑ [11] https://www.facebook.com/MusterPointMemes/posts/2636678879759584
12. ↑ [12] https://www.facebook.com/beinglibertarian/photos/a.256552551217454/1302246033314762/
13. ↑ [13] https://www.npr.org/2017/08/24/545812242/1-in-10-sanders-primary-voters-ended-up-supporting-trump-survey-finds