Wellington City Council's racy TikTok encourages young people to vote

A screenshot of the TikTok video. Photo / Supplied

Wellington City Council's racy TikTok account is encouraging young voters to get involved in local politics.

A video posted on the account last night which had the subtitle "POV: You voted" accompanied by a middle-aged man singing about "p***y power" has 9000 likes, has reached more than 100,000 people and amassed more than 200 positive comments.

It's a different kind of representation to the usually stuffy local politics social media accounts, and council spokeman Richard MacLean told the Herald it's working.

"We're incredibly pleased with the engagement on our TikTok so far, including this latest video about voting in the election."

The TikTok strategy focuses on capturing the rapidly moving trends on TikTok before they're passed.

"[The video] also features a number of comments from people saying it has encouraged or reminded them to vote," MacLean said.

Voter turnout is at a record low this year with just 4.9 per cent of city council votes reported as having arrived by last night.

This is the OFFICIAL Wellington City Council tiktok account, team. I continue to be amazed at whoever is wrangling the sign-off on this content. pic.twitter.com/mvucu5Gjcl

— Harriet Prebble (@harrietprebble) September 28, 2022

In 2019, 5.7 per cent were recorded at the same stage, and 9.4 per cent in 2016.

Comments on the video were hugely supportive of the content, with one person writing "whoever made this needs a promotion".

Others commented saying they had just enrolled, or that the video made them want to vote.

"This is a masterpiece," someone else said.

While a few people on Twitter questioned the content, saying it was "inappropriate and irresponsible", MacLean said it's all above board.

He said the racy video was produced and signed off by the council's social media advisers "as they best understand the nature of the channel and the wants of the audience".

"They are empowered to make their own decisions about the content, within the framework of the strategy, and so far it has proven to be very successful."