n his early days as prime minister, Justin Trudeau was 鈥渃ool.鈥� In the year that followed his majority sweep into power, he appeared in the pages of Vogue, on the cover of a Marvel comic book and on 鈥淭he Daily Show,鈥� chatting with an up-and-coming Hasan Minhaj.

But the same strategy experts and observers say put him in the public eye and won him the youth vote in 2015 may have brought damning scrutiny as political tides changed, particularly as his rivals adopted his online style.

鈥淗e created a movement in 2015 and he got a lot of young people engaged,鈥� said Alfred Burgesson, who sat on the Prime Minister鈥檚 Youth Council from 2019 until 2021.

鈥淭he same people that are asking for change today, or looking for a different leader today 鈥� a lot of these young people, they started to pay attention because of it.鈥�

Trudeau announced plans to step down as prime minister and Liberal leader on Monday following weeks of pressure from within his party. He said he would resign just as soon as a new leader is chosen.

And though sentiment has changed over the years, Burgesson, who is now 28, said Trudeau helped many young people feel seen and heard, in part by establishing the youth council.

At the time, he said, the way people talked about Trudeau was 鈥渋ncredibly positive.鈥�

Elections Canada data from the 2015 election showed that 57 per cent of voters aged 18 to 24 cast a ballot, an increase of 18.3 percentage points from the almost 39 per cent recorded in the 2011 election. And research conducted by Abacus Data following the 2015 vote suggested Liberals won the support of 45 per cent of young voters.

Mireille Lalancette, a professor of political communications at the Universit茅 du Qu茅bec 脿 Trois-Rivi猫res, noted that Trudeau was the first major party leader in Canada to use Instagram in 2015.

鈥淧eople were using Twitter, but Instagram is more of an identity-centric, image-centric medium,鈥� she said.

Trudeau used those images to project a persona that was at once youthful and confident, sensitive and thoughtful: a leader worthy of respect, she said.

鈥淭hese were his best years because people were rooting for him. He was also really popular. He was also able to reach out to the younger generation,鈥� Lalancette said.

He was a self-proclaimed feminist, an optimist who promised 鈥渟unny ways.鈥� He presented himself as a family man, Lalancette noted, and said he valued reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples.

He also reached out beyond Canada鈥檚 borders.

His 鈥渟teamy鈥� photo shoot for Vogue magazine with Sophie Gr茅goire Trudeau made waves internationally in December 2015. He graced the cover of Rolling Stone a couple years later. His likeness 鈥� though not his voice 鈥� appeared on 鈥淭he Simpsons鈥� in a 2019 episode that saw Lisa Simpson nurse a crush on him.

鈥淭here was a moment where he was really a supernova,鈥� said Alex Marland, a professor of political science at Acadia University.

鈥淏ack here in Canada, we were getting all sorts of news stories that were talking about how he was being mobbed in the Philippines, or if he was going out to Switzerland, there were people there wanting to meet him.鈥�

Marland said Canadians had a sort of parasocial relationship with Trudeau at that time. He鈥檇 grown up in the public eye because of his father, former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, so people felt like they knew him.

鈥淭hey did not like anybody criticizing Justin Trudeau, because they saw him as almost a family member,鈥� he said.

But Marland said that started to change in 2018 when Trudeau and his family took a much-ridiculed trip to India. They were photographed, over and over again, wearing clothes more appropriate for a wedding than a state visit.

鈥淧eople started seeing it as: he鈥檚 a bit of a phoney,鈥� he said.

鈥淎nd all of a sudden, now, for some people, they were able to move away from giving him the benefit of the doubt to realizing that instead of (being) authentic, he was actually manipulating them.鈥�

Politicians seldom go out on a high note, Marland said, but in Trudeau鈥檚 case the highs were higher and the lows were lower. His image had become so big, Marland said, that when it didn鈥檛 match up with reality, people noticed.

鈥淲hat was growing over time was the disconnect between promise and delivery, and that鈥檚 a fundamental problem when you鈥檙e dealing with a brand,鈥� he said.

鈥淎s a brand, Justin Trudeau was failing on a lot of promises because he was creating expectations and he was not fulfilling them.鈥�

He was dogged by a litany of scandals, from the SNC-Lavalin affair that saw two female cabinet ministers 鈥� justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould and health minister Jane Philpott 鈥� resign, to the surfacing of old photos and video of Trudeau wearing black- and brownface.

Trudeau didn鈥檛 live up to his feminist, culturally sensitive promise.

Although Canadians re-elected Trudeau in 2019, he was knocked down to a minority government. The Liberals were unable to regain majority in 2021.

Marland pointed to a famous photo of Trudeau flanked by his cabinet, which was the first in Canada to achieve gender parity, walking up to the governor general鈥檚 residence in 2015 to be sworn in.

Compare that, he said, to the image of the prime minister standing alone at a lectern as he announced his resignation.

鈥淭hat in itself captures what has happened,鈥� Marland said.