Fan Armies Turn Digital Craft Into Political Muscle Worldwide

By Priya Raman

Days after the US midterm elections, the Instagram fan account @swifties4hope, with more than 60,000 followers, posted an image of a friendship bracelet reading "democrats won" — one post in a weeks-long campaign that put Taylor Swift fandom at the service of American politics.

"Foi a noite em que tudo mudou" ("It was the night everything changed"), read the caption of one video on the profile, referring to the elections that handed the party opposing Donald Trump majority control of both legislative houses and weakened the president.

The movement extends far beyond US borders and beyond Swifties. In Brazil, dozens of fan clubs — mostly of pop divas — joined forces to boost President Lula's re-election campaign on October 25. In Spain, fans are mobilizing ahead of the November 29 legislative vote. In France, which chooses Emmanuel Macron's successor in April 2027, fan-driven youth protests are already erupting in the streets.

What does this change for marketers?

Fan communities have become an increasingly connected and combative force defending democracy and the rights of marginalized populations — and they bring digital expertise that brands and parties once had to buy.

"O fandom pode ser uma fonte de valores, uma espécie de referencial ético, que orienta ações políticas de quem participa dele," Ashley Hinck, American researcher and author of "Politics for the Love of Fandom," told O Globo. She coined the term "fan-based citizenship" to describe the phenomenon.

Swifties campaigned in previous races too: "swifties por Kamala" in the 2025 US presidential election and "swiftie não vota em Milei" in Argentina's 2023 vote.

Beyond party politics

The engagement is not strictly partisan. The collective Fandoms pelo Brasil unites fan portals — Beyoncé Brasil, Access Beyoncé, Taylor Swift Brasil, Ariana Grande Brasil, Info Billie (Eilish) Brasil and others — around social causes from Amazon protection to ending the 6x1 work schedule. In 2026 it offered digital and street-mobilization support for the Lula-Alckmin campaign.

"Somos um movimento que busca unir fandoms em torno de causas sociais que interessam nossa comunidade e nosso país," said Rafaella Silveira, a 29-year-old advertising executive and one of the collective's leaders, obsessed with Beyoncé since age 13. "Somos muitas mulheres e pessoas LGBTQIAP+, por isso sabemos que temos interesses a serem defendidos."

Her observation matches findings from the CultPop research lab at the Federal University of Fluminense (UFF), which analyzed fandoms of pop divas, games, series and films during the 2026 presidential race and concluded most positioning is progressive.

"Há várias hipóteses sobre esta atuação de esquerda, mas a principal é a questão da identidade," said Adriana Amaral, CultPop coordinator and UFF professor. "Essa atuação é uma resposta a tantos ataques."

María-José Establés, a media-literacy and fan-culture specialist at the Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, cautions against treating fandoms as monolithic: "Vejo um padrão de atuação, como hashtags, memes, arrecadação de fundos, registro de eleitores. Mas ser fã não significa compartilhar as mesmas posições. Fandom é uma forma de participação, não uma ideologia."

BTS fans take on the Amazon

The collective Army Help the Planet, created by Brazilian BTS fans after the 2019 Amazon fires, has focused on the environment since 2022. This year it launched institutional-literacy campaigns explaining what senators and deputies do, and voter-awareness drives. With the NGO Votinho, it occupied Avenida Paulista in São Paulo to distribute non-partisan voter guides. On the 28th, in the queue for BTS's Morumbi show, the group handed out 1,500 gifts to fans who showed voting receipts — all gone in under two hours.

"Quando começamos, víamos os jovens muito afastados da política," said Mariana Faciroli, 35, a lawyer and director of Help the Planet. "Nossa campanha é apartidária, mas não é neutra. Tudo na vida é político."

For practitioners, the lesson is blunt: fandoms now run identity, mobilization and fundraising operations at a scale parties and brands struggle to match — and they will bring that machine to whichever cause earns their trust.