Kanye’s finally serious about his 2020 campaign branding
A look at Kanye West's new campaign merch and ads
Kanye West’s presidential campaign now looks like how you would expect a Kanye West presidential campaign to look. Also in this week’s issue:
How magazine covers illustrated the White House Covid outbreak
Virgil Abloh did a swing state shirt collection
The Minneapolis George Floyd mural was vandalized, but it’s fixed now
Yours,
Kanye’s finally serious about his 2020 campaign branding
Back in August I wrote about how the lack of creative direction for Kanye West’s presidential campaign proved he wasn’t serious about running. He’s such a creative, collaborative artist, but his campaign design was meh.
I conceded, though, that West often misses his own project deadlines, and it turns out that’s what happened. Last week, West finally unveiled campaign merch, and on Monday, he released his first campaign ad.
West released five items: a “Vote Kanye” hat ($40) and hoodie ($80), a “Kanye 2020 Vision” hat ($60) and hoodie ($160) that play off the logo of the fashion brand Vision Street Wear, and a “God Save America” t-shirt ($40). West filed a trademark application for the phrase “God Save America” last Wednesday, as trademark attorney Josh Gerben first noticed.
The items are in fact campaign merch, and buyers must meet Federal Election Commission standards by being a U.S. citizen, not exceeding the $2,800 individual contribution limit, and providing employer information. Purchases are contributions to Kanye 2020.
West tweeted on Thursday that he’s brought in $864,980 so far, and he said the purple “Kanye 2020 Vision” hat was his top-selling item.
West’s ad shows footage of him speaking in front of a waving black-and-white American flag background, as well as footage of families, a group studying scripture, and shots of nature and space.
“We will build a stronger country by building stronger families,” West says in the ad. “Families are the building blocks of society, of a nation. By turning to faith, we will be the kind of nation, the kind of people, that God intends us to be.”
It’s basically a Kanye West music video as a campaign ad but without music. West is only on the ballot in 12 states as of last month, and the ad ends with the text “Write In Kanye West.”
These new creative assets make it seems like West is actually taking his candidacy seriously, as does the $6.8 million personal loan he made to his presidential committee. Still, West has a ways to go before he’s running a pro campaign.
A review of campaign websites by 97th Floor, a digital marketing agency, found West’s site is not well suited for SEO purposes, its sign-up form is poorly designed, and West does not appear to currently be running any digital ads or following up with his campaign mailing list.
How magazine covers illustrated the White House Covid outbreak
Both Time and the Guardian Weekly went with an image of the White House overflowing with red viruses, while Bloomberg Businessweek used a close-up image of President Trump’s open mouth with the text “Superspreader” (inside, the cover story used a bunch of close-ups of several Republicans who’ve tested positive for the virus). 😷
White House physician Dr. Sean Conley said on Monday that Trump has now tested negative for the virus. As of last week, at least 34 people connected to the White House had tested positive.
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How do we feel about the Biden campaign art deco look?
The Biden design team has started to have some fun with signage, creating location-specific collateral for campaign events, like a breezy, beachy backdrop for a drive-in rally today in Florida. At an event held Monday at the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal in Ohio, the campaign’s “Vote” signage used an art deco-style typeface that complimented typefaces used in the terminal. Very throwback.
Virgil Abloh did a swing state shirt collection
Designer Virgil Abloh is promoting voter registration and raising money for scholarships with his “Swing State” shirt collection. The $55 shirts show an “I Voted” sticker graphic on the front pocket and a map of the contiguous U.S. on the back with individual swing states highlighted. There’s also a few shirts for non-swing states, like California.
The online shop to pre-order the shirts includes a link to Fashion Our Future 2020, a fashion industry voter registration initiative, and all profits go to Abloh’s Post-Modern Scholarship Fund in support of Black students.
The Art of Protest chronicles Trump-era resistance art
The street art collective InDecline teamed up with Saving Banksy director Colin Day to produce The Art of Protest, a documentary about political artists, activists, and musicians in the Trump years that premiered today streaming for free on Rolling Stone’s website.
InDecline is known for their hijacked billboards and The Emperor Has No Balls, a series of statues of naked Donald Trumps. The group is featured prominently in the documentary, but it also packs in interviews with some of the most visible political artists of the past five years, like Shepard Fairey and Pussy Riot, and it connects today’s movements with historical protests.
The Art of Protest covers the recent explosion of political art (“During the Obama years, I’d say that protest art was not flourishing,” Fairey says), and while the documentary touches on how artists have in some cases shaped our political discourse, that message felt like it got lost because the film is almost too ambitious. There are so many voices and so much ground covered in 45 minutes that it’s missing a solid narrative.
“The power of art is it tells the truth that you won’t get from a bureaucrat or politician,” Emory Douglas, the former minister of culture for the Black Panther Party says in the film. The Art of Protest does a great job documenting what our political art moment looks like, but it spends a lot of time trying to convince viewers that art is honest and powerful instead of just showing it. We’re living through a golden age of political street art and culture jamming, and doesn’t take much convincing anymore.
The Minneapolis George Floyd mural was vandalized, but it’s fixed now
Credit: @cadexherrera/Instagram
The mural of George Floyd outside Cup Foods where he was killed in May was vandalized on Sunday by a man with spray paint. It’s the second time the mural has been vandalized. Artists Cade Herrera, Simone Alexa, and Tachianna Charpenter restored the mural, though, and they did a great job.
This Wednesday would have been Floyd’s 47th birthday, and in his native Houston on Monday, family members and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) were on hand to unveil a new mural showing Floyd with the message “Go Vote” and “Be the Change.”
One more thing…
Michael B. Jordan wants you to vote early.