Turkey’s Generation Z is not happy with the government. While the country’s teenagers and young adults are anxious about a future of economic insecurity and political repression, the ruling party’s attempts to win them over with flashy YouTube videos and overblown rhetoric about an illustrious past seem to be increasingly falling flat.

On Oct. 19, the youth branch of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) released a 3-minute political advertisement aimed at the country’s youth, but the video, which took social media by storm, has badly backfired, coming under fire for being out of touch.

The animated video titled “Who Are You?” begins with Bedouins riding camels, with the Kaaba in the background. The voice-over addressing the youth says, “You’re young, you’re just starting out in the world. You have a lot of work and many troubles.” The video repeatedly asks young viewers the question “Who are you?” It answers for them, giving the names of figures from Islamic, Ottoman and Turkish history, including companions of the Prophet Muhammad, Sultan Abdul Hamid II, conservative novelist Sule Yuksel Senler and former Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan, the political mentor of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The video culminates with an image of Erdogan and tells viewers encouragingly, “You are Recep Tayyip Erdogan.”

“This video is one of many attempts by the AKP government to use audiovisual media to articulate, disseminate and cultivate a particular understanding of the Turkish nation,” Lisel Hintz, assistant professor of international relations at John Hopkins University, told Al-Monitor.