What is bandwagoning?
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Everyone loves a winner.
Bandwagoning is where people jump on ‘the winning team’ just because they are winning, not because they necessarily support that ‘team’.
It’s commonly used in sports – when a team is doing well, suddenly all these additional ‘fans’ appear at home games or wearing team hats, shirts, etc. Whereas when the team is doing poorly, they disappear. They are perceived to be not real fans because they are missing during the down years, they only start turning up when they know they’re backing a winner.
It’s also used sometimes in politics – there is a theory that if one side looks like they are going to win an election, or are simply popular, swinging/undecided votes will break towards that side. Again the idea is that these people don’t actually agree with or support that side, they are just wanting to be part of whoever wins.
Bandwagoning is almost always portrayed as negative, to label these people as flaky, shallow and vain. In contrast to ‘real supporters’ who are seen to be loyal and dedicated by sticking with their team even during very difficult times.
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