The Tories’ latest stunt to win over young voters has backfired spectacularly

Split screen of the Tory Love Island bottle and the winning couple
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On 30 July, the Conservative Party got creative in its ongoing struggle to win over young voters:

It backfired spectacularly.

Mugged off

The Conservative Party jumped on the furore among young people over ITV2‘s Love Island final. Its Instagram account offered voters the chance to win their own version of the iconic Love Island bottle, adorned with messages like:

Read on...

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Don’t let Corbyn mug you off.

The Tory powers-that-be deleted the post an hour after it went up. This was ample time for the stunt to generate a massive backlash.

The real gifts

One young Labour supporter made the point that cruel Tory policy is this government’s real ‘gift’ to young people:

Over 123,00 children are growing up in temporary accommodation in England. A water bottle certainly isn’t going to fix that.

Others seemed to agree:

And many think Labour’s offer to young voters is far more attractive than a new water bottle:

Copyright infringement?

People also accused the Conservatives of committing copyright infringement:

The Guardian reported:

Following media inquiries about potential trademark infringement the Conservatives removed all references to Love Island from the competition.

This prompted some to wonder what was said behind the scenes:

Meanwhile, others simply found it hilarious:

Pointless grafting

60% of voters under 25 voted Labour in the 2017 election. This wasn’t because of gimmicky giveaways; it was because the Labour manifesto addressed young people’s concerns.

The latest Tory stunt screams of a party out of ideas about how to win over the youth vote. To be fair, it’s a tough ask for them. No amount of grafting can gloss over the fact that the Conservatives represent an economic system that’s actively working against younger people.

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Featured image via NewsNOW/YouTube and LoveIsland/YouTube

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