Trump’s convention staging was… unlike any we’ve seen before
The president turned the South Lawn into a branded Trump extravaganza. Also in this week’s issue of the Yello newsletter:
The Biden campaign released yard signs forAnimal Crossing: New Horizons
The VMAs did a subway art exhibition
Banksy bought a yacht to help migrants in the Mediterranean
Yours,
P.S.: I’m off next week, taking a quick post-DNC/RNC breather, but I’ll still be publishing exclusive stories for Yello membership subscribers. You can catch up on Yello’s convention coveragehere, in case you missed anything.
Trump’s convention staging was… unlike any we’ve seen before
Credit: C-SPAN
President Trump became the first president in modern history to accept his party’s nomination for reelection from the White House when he gave his acceptance speech last Thursday from the South Lawn, which had been decked out in screens that showed the Trump campaign logo when walked out. Some on Twitter pointed out the similarities between the convention staging and the image that former President Obama used at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner to depict a Trump White House turned into a neon Trump casino.
Walter Shaub, a former director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics during the Obama and Trump administrations, tweeted that the speech location “may be the most visible misuse of official position for private gain in America’s history.”
There were other examples of the office of the presidency and powers of the federal government being used in support of Trump’s campaign, which were potential violations of the Hatch Act, including other speeches on White House grounds, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaking from Israel while on an official diplomatic trip, and a naturalization ceremony that took place inside the White House.
The Hatch Act is a 1939 law that bars federal employees from engaging in political activities while on the job. Trump aides told the New York Times the president “enjoyed the frustration and anger he caused by holding a political event on the South Lawn” and “relished the fact that no one could do anything to stop him.” The U.S. Office of Special Counsel said Trump did not break the Hatch Act because presidents aren’t covered by the law, but “there may be Hatch Act implications for [White House] employees, depending on their level of involvement with the event and their position in the White House.”
Wieden+Kennedy just launched an entire protest merch brand
Powerhouse ad agency Wieden+Kennedy has launched a not-for-profit protest paraphernalia line called Respectus. Their first collection, in support of Black Lives Matter, includes shirts, posters, face masks, and other items designed in house with all proceeds going to Campaign Zero. More collections are forthcoming.
“Clearly everything is not great right now,” Wieden+Kennedy New York creative director Sean McLaughlin told Yello in an email. “Racism. Police brutality. Denying basics like science or virus transmission rates, etc. So we wanted to think beyond any one issue. And knowing that we all work with some of the most passionate, creative people in the world, it seemed like we could use our networks and skills in a way for the greater good, thinking about this stuff more cohesively, and raising money in the process.”
The next collection from Respectus will be in support of safe schools and they have an open call to creators to submit their work. There’s no hard release date for the collection yet, but the agency said they’re trying to get it out before New York public schools open.
When asked what other issues Respectus will weigh in on, creative director Marques Gartrell said, “Is ‘All of them’ a fair answer?”
“Unfortunately, there's going to be a lot of source material for years to come, regardless of how November turns out, but our goal is for Respectus to be a voice for the many who feel voiceless,” Marques said.
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The Biden campaign released yard signs for Animal Crossing: New Horizons
The Biden campaign is letting players on the Nintendo Switch game Animal Crossing: New Horizons decorate their virtual islands with official branded campaign yard signs. The campaign has made four signs available on the game, which has been a runaway success for Nintendo, selling more than 22 million copies as of June. Back in May when Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) dropped by supporters’ islands in the game, I wrote that “the age of video game politics is here,” and now it’s official. How long till we have our first Animal Crossing rally?
The VMAs did a subway art exhibition
Credit: @zzdesign/Instagram
MTV held its socially distanced 2020 Video Music Awards Sunday (shoutout to Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande for their “Rain On Me” performance, which gave me life), but the VMAs aren’t over yet.
A subway ad art gallery is now on display at the Atlantic Ave. terminal under Barclays Center in Brooklyn where the VMAs were originally supposed to be held. The exhibition features eight artists who are queer, Black, Indigenous, or people of color, and their work is inspired by the theme “unity, music, space, and the future.” The exhibition will be up through Sunday, September 6, according to MTV.
Credit: @morcoskey/@bronsonphoto/@brisseaux/@blackpowerbarbie/Instagram
Among the artists participating are Zipeng Zhu, who did the astronauts at the top of this section; designers Wael Marcos and Jonathan Key, who worked on the custom typeface for the Emanuel Nine memorial in last week’s newsletter; and illustrator Kervin Brisseaux, whose style you may recognize from the Adobe Illustrator start screen. You can see more work from the exhibition on the Yello Instagram account.
The Pepe doc “Feels Good Man” ends on a happy note
There was an online screening for the “Feels Good Man” documentary about Pepe creator Matt Furie on Friday along with a Q&A with its director and producer. One thing I learned watching was Furie started an official Pepe merch line, but after white supremacists hijacked his cartoon he was left with a garage filled with Pepe shirts he couldn’t sell anymore. 😔
The doc ends on a happy note, though, looking at how pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong have adopted Pepe as a symbol. Producer Giorgio Angelini said that on the documentary’s TikTok account, Generation Z users “get it” and “are so excited about taking back Pepe,” while director Arthur Jones said he doesn’t think bad actors find Pepe useful anymore.
Banksy bought a yacht to help migrants in the Mediterranean
Credit: @MVLouiseMichel/Twitter
The anonymous British street artist Banksy announced on Instagram that “like most people who make it in the art world” he bought a yacht. Rather than cruise around in it himself, though, he turned it into a lifeboat.
Christened the M.V. Louise Michel — M.V. stands for “motor vessel,” and Louise Michel was the name of a French anarchist born in 1830 — the former French Navy boat is decorated in a pink spray paint design with an image of a girl in a life vest reaching up for a heart-shaped life preserver, a play on Banksy’s infamous shredded “Girl With Ballon” artwork from 2018. On the ship’s website, Banksy wrote that its mission is “rescue anyone in peril without prejudice.”
On Saturday, the ship was overcrowded with more than 200 people on board and some were later transferred to an Italian Coast Guard boat and another humanitarian ship, per the New York Times.
At least 1,095 people died trying to cross the Mediterranean into Europe last year, according to the group Missing Migrants. Banky’s work has focused on asylum seekers in the region before, including a triptych called Mediterranean Sea View that showed life vests washed up on shore, and welcome mats made from the fabric of life vests found on Mediterranean beaches. It’s heartening to see how Banksy is using his platform for good.