By Rebecca Riley
On Oct. 2, the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) removed a video meant to encourage students to vote in the upcoming federal election from their social media pages.
The video, “I’m Gunna Vote,” was a parody of the popular 2009 song “I’m on a Boat” by the Lonely Island. The video featured three student rappers with a group of students dancing in the background.
“I’m gonna vote, I’m gonna vote, everybody look at me ’cause I’m voting at a poll,” repeats the chorus, “I’m gonna vote, I’m gonna vote, take a good hard look at the motherfuckin’ vote.”
One of the lead rappers goes on to sing, “Take a picture trick, I’m gonna vote, bitch.”
The video was uploaded on Sept. 28 and had reached over 45,000 views at the time it was removed.
The video sparked controversy among students and the media. Vice called it “the most embarrassing music video in Canadian history,” while the Ottawa Citizen deemed it “confusing.”
Maddie Adams, CUSA’s Vice-President of Student Issues, admits that they should have given the video an explicit content warning and shown it to a test audience before releasing it online.
However, Adams noted that she believes the video achieved its aim.
“If a portion of the thousands of people we reached got a laugh, took our message as a call to action, and at least considered participating in the democratic process, we have accomplished part of our goal,” she told the Leveller. “The feedback we’ve received suggests exactly that.”
CUSA has also partnered with the Graduate Students’ Association, the Carleton University Academic Staff Association, and the Canadian Federation of Students to encourage students to vote.
According to Alannah James, the GSA’s Vice-President Academic, this partnership has included hosting numerous events, such as electoral debate viewing parties at Mike’s Place and a candidates’ debate for Ottawa-Centre.
“Every issue facing young people is political, from crippling student debt to skyrocketing tuition fees, from rape culture to missing and murdered Indigenous women,” James told the Leveller.
“Voter turnout among students was 38 per cent in the last federal election but we intend to change that.”
All students are able to vote on campus for any candidate in any riding, James noted. There will be more events leading up to the election and on Oct. 19, Oliver’s Pub will host an election day results party.
This article first appeared in The Leveller Vol. 8, No. 2 (October 2015).
