With 37 candidates chasing eight seats on Kelowna City Council ahead of the Oct. 17 municipal election, several are using humour and attention-grabbing social media posts to get noticed.
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More than three dozen candidates are competing for eight seats on Kelowna City Council, and some of them are leaning on humour, stunts and social media content to separate themselves from the pack before the Oct. 17 vote.
Brady Rogers, a 33-year-old business owner, has used self-deprecating humour both in campaign messaging and on social media. His campaign website introduction includes the line: “Do I enjoy politics? No. Do I know what I’m doing? No. But am I qualified? Also no.” Rogers has also posted comments such as “I barely want to do this,” and said the approach is intentional rather than a sign he would not take the job seriously.
Rogers said, “I’m being a little bit tongue-in-cheek when I say I’m unqualified,” and added, “I’ve never been a politician, but I certainly have experience that I think is very relevant and helpful.” He also said one of his posts was picked up by a U.S. social media account with a significant following, saying, “It’s been crazy… somebody in the U.S. picked it up on Instagram, and now it’s all over.”
Teresa May, a longtime Kelowna resident, has taken a different angle by posting a video of herself wake-surfing on Okanagan Lake while wearing a suit jacket and high heels. She said the goal was “to look still professional enough to look like a city councillor and at the same time… sort of outside the box,” adding that she was aiming to attract younger voters “especially through social media.”
May said she hopes the campaign encourages more people to vote, pointing to turnout in the last election. “With only 30 per cent of the population out voting the last time, that’s not good enough,” she said.
In West Kelowna, Garrett Millsap is presenting his campaign through a furry-themed approach, using signs that feature his 10-year-old Beagle, Cooper, alongside the message “re-elect my human.” Millsap said he jokes that the dog may be drawing more attention than he is, saying, “I’m hoping they’re not confusing me with Cooper,” and, “He’s a little bit better looking, a little more handsome than me.”
Millsap said he sees the humour as a way to make campaigning more approachable. “I want to engage people, let them see something different, give them a chuckle, and hopefully it engages them to vote,” he said.
Christopher Schneider, a sociology professor at Brandon University and former UBC Okanagan sociology professor, said these campaigns reflect a broader shift in how people present themselves online. He described it as the “mediated self,” a concept tied to influencer culture and the performance of identity through media, and said social media creates a crowded environment where people compete for attention.
Schneider said that can lead candidates to act like “personal brands,” and while unconventional behaviour can help them stand out, he cautioned about a downside in democratic settings. “There’s always a danger in a democratic society like Canada, where you have people who might be casting ballots for just names on a ballot sheet and not having a full idea or understanding of what that person is campaigning on,” he said.
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