WEB EXCLUSIVE New York Congressional Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took to Vogue’s YouTube channel to address current issues like beauty standards. 

Vogue’s YouTube platform has 8.25 million subscribers, with this video garnering 1.5 million views within the week. About 80% of Vogue’s subscribers identify as female, reaching many young girls, according to sophomore Kiki Dauphin. 

“There are probably some subscribers who watch makeup videos but rarely watch political videos,” Dauphin said. “The issues she brought up hopefully reached a whole new audience.”

Ocasio-Cortez is effective in getting and keeping the attention of a generation just coming into politics, according to political advisor Teddy King (87’).

“No one has figured it out better than Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,” King said. “She is a total social media star and gets how to reach out to a younger audience.”

The video brings up issues, such as the Pink Tax on feminine products, in an accessible way for teens to understand political conversations, according to sophomore Aza Reiskin.

“Topics like the Pink Tax and the different treatment of women in politics aren’t ever brought up in this way,” Reiskin said. “The video made me feel like she cared about what younger generations thought, and actually wanted to make an effort to reach them.” 

Conveying a new message to a generation focused on social media can be a hard task for activists, according to King. 

“Any politician who can get a message thought to young and future voters, more power to them,” King said. “It’s now a very different political race to get your message out especially online.”

While other politicians have tackled issues by discussing beauty standards, Ocasio-Cortez confronts these topics while applying makeup. For Dauphin, it was refreshing to hear Ocasio-Cortez talk about serious issues while still enjoying makeup.

“I appreciated when she talked about how makeup is great as long as it is for yourself rather than feeling a need to do it for the people around them,” Dauphin said. “It had a nice balance of being inspiring and feeling like you could still be powerful while being feminine.”