Social:Dogs at polling stations

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Short description: Hashtag
Pip at a polling station for the EU referendum in 2016

Dogs at polling stations or #dogsatpollingstations is a popular hashtag and Internet meme on social media during an election in the UK and other countries such as Australia .[1] Typically, the dogs are photographed waiting for their owners outside the polling station and the pictures then posted on services such as Instagram or Twitter.[2][3]

The hashtag became popular in the UK general elections of 2015 and 2017.[4][5]

The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held in December and thus many of the photographs had a seasonal theme such as showing the dog wearing a Santa hat. Politicians who participated included Boris Johnson, with his dog Dilyn, and Sadiq Khan with his Labrador, Luna.[6] Ed Davey posted a picture of his family's guinea pig, Carrot, as they do not have a dog. Other animals, such as horses, also made appearances.[7][8][9]

Semiotic analysis of the photographs may indicate the political alignment or voting preference of the dogs' owners.[1]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Caple, Helen (2019), "Lucy says today she is a Labordoodle": how the dogs-of-Instagram reveal voter preferences", Social Semiotics 29 (4): 427–447, doi:10.1080/10350330.2018.1443582 
  2. Dogs at polling stations: Pooches at the polls, BBC, 12 December 2019, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-50755053 
  3. Fidler, Matt (12 December 2019), "Taking the lead: dogs at polling stations – in pictures", Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/gallery/2019/dec/12/left-out-in-the-cold-dogs-at-polling-stations-in-pictures 
  4. Allen, Tony (23 August 2017), "10 years of hashtags that changed Twitter", The Independent, https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/ten-years-hashtags-changed-twitter-a7908416.html 
  5. Ruck, Joanna (2017-06-08). "Dogs at polling stations – in pictures" (in en-GB). The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/gallery/2017/jun/08/dogs-at-polling-stations-in-pictures. 
  6. Hogan, Michael (12 December 2019), "Forget Boris Johnson v Jeremy Corbyn… the real political rivalry is between Dilyn the dog and El Gato the cat", The Telegraph, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/pets/news-features/forget-boris-johnson-v-jeremy-corbyn-real-political-rivalry/ 
  7. Betts, Marc (12 December 2019), "Social media, dogs and even a guinea pig: The trend of pets at polling stations", The New European, https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/top-stories/ed-davey-guinea-pig-dogs-at-polling-stations-1-6421472 
  8. Brown, Faye (12 December 2019), "Dogs at polling stations upstaged by 'horses with causes'", The Metro, https://metro.co.uk/2019/12/12/dogs-polling-stations-upstaged-horse-cause-11845120/ 
  9. Hassan, Jennifer. "Dogs at polling stations are always big in Britain. This election also brought horses and reindeer." (in en-US). Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/12/12/dogs-polling-stations-are-always-big-britain-this-election-also-brought-horses-reindeer/.