'We're trying something new': Elections Quebec makes 'corny' appeal to young voters

Elections Quebec is appealing to its youngest voting-age citizens using a unique approach:

Corn.

Earlier this week, Elections Quebec made a post to its Tik Tok account referencing the viral "Corn Kid" video, in which a young boy professes his love for the starchy vegetable.

In homage to this widely-shared and widely-parodied clip, the Elections Quebec video features a cob of corn being buttered, salted and dropped into a ballot box.

Meanwhile, a song-ified remix of the original Corn Kid video plays on in the background.

Elections Quebec says the video is part of a series in which unorthodox objects -- like a cob of corn, a slice of cheese or a tea bag -- are slipped inside a ballot box.

The idea is to encourage Quebecers ages 18 to 24, the group with the lowest voter turnout in the province, to do their part in the upcoming election.

"Until October 3, we'll put everything but the ballot paper in the ballot box," said Julie St-Arnaud Drolet, a spokesperson for the organization.

While the concept has garnered mixed reviews, Drolet said the idea is to make voting more approachable.

"A big speech about democracy won't be effective to reach them. So that's why we're trying something new here," Drolet explained. "They told us that they feel that voting is for experts or educated people."

"We think it's really important that people understand that voting is for everyone."

With weeks to go until voting day on Oct. 3, only time will tell if the strategy works.

'IT'S CORN!'

The video that started it all, in which young Tariq describes his feelings about corn, was posted to the YouTube channel Recess Therapy in August, after which it quickly blew up across the internet.

The channel's concept is simple: the host, 22-year-old Julian Shapiro-Barnum, interviews kids about life's big questions and asks for their advice.

Tariq's words were particularly resonant. Shortly after it was posted, his interview blew up across the internet's various platforms and received millions of views.

"Look at this thing -- I can't imagine a more beautiful thing,"he says in the video, a cob of corn in hand. "It's corn!"

But Tariq's fame reached new heights when the group The Gregory Brothers turned the video into a song.