Members of Generation Z are so passionate about saving the US Postal Service that they're turning a joke about sexualizing the agency to save it from potential defunding into serious activism.
One TikTok user has quickly gone viral for dancing to "WAP" in a sexy mail carrier outfit. Siete White told BuzzFeed News the bag she purchased from the official USPS website for the joke sold out within a day of her video coming out.
"It’s empowering to know, wow, I made a 15-second-long video and people actually went and used their hard-earned coins to go and make their own individual difference," she said about the USPS merch selling out.
White has even used the recent attention she's garnered to make informational TikToks for people her age about other ways they can be involved.
White, who's 22 and based in Los Angeles, said the video was inspired by all of the memes in response to President Donald Trump's threat to privatize the USPS and, by his own admission, suppress mail-in election ballots.
Earlier this month, @BonniePuns tweeted, "We must sexualize the USPS in order to save it," which inspired a massive online effort to, well, do just that. People are sharing sexy graphics and gestures in support.
"It’s such a layered concept because when you look at how Gen Z or how Twitter will make a joke like, 'Should I vote for the sexual abuser or should I vote for the sexual abuser?' In our society we prioritize hyper-sexualization of things instead of making them safe and accessible," White said. "It’s intersectional and metaphorical. Yeah, we should sexualize USPS, just like how we sexualize everything that we care about."
We must sexualize the USPS in order to save it
@BonniePuns
She added that if "as women we are taught by society that we only have value when we’re sexually desirable, perhaps if we were to literally make the USPS sexy our government officials would finally determine it to be of value."
As far as her own political TikTok joke-not-joke about it, White said it came out of a perfect storm of things happening in the country. First, of course, the president's threats and remarks. Then, the Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion song came out. And when she was perusing the online USPS store, she thought their messenger bag was genuinely "so cute."
"I felt like it was the perfect time [to] make light of something that’s serious and also bring visibility to the issue in my own way," she said. "I feel like we as Gen Z have a very specific tone of humor."
Beyond general amusement, she said she received a ton of initial comments from people asking, "Wait, what's going on with the Postal Service?"
"My main goal was to get people to know, hey this is something that’s happening," she said.
So it inspired a follow-up TikTok where she aims to educate people about why they should care, why the USPS issue should be publicized, and what they can tangibly do.
A USPS spokesperson told BuzzFeed News they had no comment about the phenomenon.
Sexy cop costumes are OUT and sexy mailman costumes are IN
Still, White hopes that USPS officials and the public won't overlook the jokes because "something very serious" is underwritten in all of them.
"The postal service is a constitutional-outlined right that employs 500,000 Americans. ... My grandparents rely on it to deliver their medications," she said. "It’s not something that is up for grabs. It’s not something that is for profit. It’s the one institution that I feel should be left intact and should receive bailouts. I view it as an American right. Leave it alone."