All for the price of a bottle of vodka
A group of students at Queens University Belfast (QUB) have shown how law society election campaigning should be done with a clever Beyoncé-inspired ad.
The campaign video (embedded below) is based on Beyoncé’s O2 Priority TV ad and is set to the US R&B star’s hit track Flawless, featuring Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
It shows the QUB students — who are campaigning under the name Bona Fide as part of a collective bid to fill all seven of the university’s law society positions for the coming academic year — getting ready for action by donning ties, suits and high heels.
Having completed their grooming, the group stride out into the courtyard of the main QUB entrance before issuing a hashtagged plea to “#TrustInUs”.
The video, which has had over 3,000 views since being uploaded to YouTube on Thursday, even contains a cheeky gag, with a section where the candidate for the position of treasurer, Sarah Matthews, chucks a handful of pound notes off a balcony.
Yesterday evening, one of the students behind the video, Grace Manwa, told Legal Cheek that it had been created “in return for a bottle of vodka” by a film student at neighbouring Ulster University.
Manwa, who is in her second year of a law degree at QUB, said the aim of the clip was to set her and her fellow candidates out from the often rather staid efforts of other law society hopefuls.
“This ad is a bit different, and will help to underline our unstuffy approach and commitment to taking the society to a whole new level,” she said.
Bona Fide’s Beyoncé-inspired ad comes amid rising interest among students in being elected to law society positions. For the QUB election alone — which takes place on Wednesday — 28 hopefuls are fighting it out for seven roles. Legal Cheek understands that there are similar levels of competition at various English universities where law society elections are also underway.
Manwa said the positions were not only desirable because of the experience they promised, but because they are seen as a great way to develop connections with London-based corporate law firms, which often sponsor uni law societies.