The mid-term elections are less than a week away, and as time draws closer, the means of attracting the youth to their civic duty is becoming one of extreme controversy. This was first seen with the release of the College Republican National Committee’s “Say Yes to the Candidate” video.

It has since, evolved from music videos containing popular celebrities to physically trying to get millennials to the polls. The most outrageous case of this attempt is going to take place at North Carolina State University this Election Day, thanks to Cosmopolitan Magazine.

The #CosmoVotes Party Bus is the latest contest by the magazine, attempting to provide transportation to and from the polls Tuesday. The fascinating thing about the bus is it is not just a simple shuttle. The Cosmo Party bus will contain not only free swag and food, but male models.

North Carolina State University earned the privilege of providing this eccentric ride to their students to the polls, not by request of the university, but from a winning submittal from the associate director of publicity for student government. What concerns me about this eclectic situation is not that the magazine has publically endorsed Sen. Kay Hagan or even that the student government association at North Carolina State is more than happy to provide biased transportation for its students.

The issue I take with the Cosmo Party Bus, as well as with all the previous attempts to attract millennial voters, lies with the message they are clearly sending to our generation. It appears that in the eyes of messaging specialists, all our generation can be attracted by is being talked down to via reality TV spoofs, catchy rap videos and male models.

We, as a generation, care about more than these simple distractions. My worry is that these seemingly harmless messaging tactics are a distraction from the real issues twenty somethings should or want to focus on.

Instead of worrying about wedding dresses, we are worried about the lack of jobs waiting for us after graduation. Instead of dancing to catchy celebrity filled videos, we are entranced by the news stories, which always seem to bring bad news from foreign shores.

Most importantly, we care about more than distracting male models, no matter how gorgeous they may or may not be. We care about the direction our country is heading. My only hope is that when millennials do make it to the polls, we can convey our serious message more clearly than any of these feeble attempts have done this far.

Caitlin Grimes can be contacted at [email protected].