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Ok who thinks Obama looks like Mel Gibson’s crazy ass in this poster? Well, unless your dead, you’ve probably seen the Obama Progress/Hope Posters from Shepherd Fairey either on TV, the web, or on the street. I have been a fan of Obey and political satire in general, for a long while and pretty much ate up everything he put out. What has always impressed me about Obey was the idea of using imagery and design methods that was once were used to empower, invoke fear, and command submission is now used to poke fun, inform, and defame current day political figures, and in most recent efforts promote peace. Which is brilliant. But now that the tables have turned and we are no longer looking at pointing the fingers at the past as much as we are concerned with protecting our future, The same methods don’t quite apply. And that is very apparent in these posters of Obama. It didn’t really hit me until I saw them pasted up on the streets. When I saw the graphic on the website, I thought, that looks sweet. But seeing them now in mass repetition from a distance, they are very reminiscent of the old Communist Propaganda posters that weren’t about progress.

Although I think they are super cool looking, they just don’t say “Trust Me With Your Country”. Even though they are a variation of our colors, the heavy amounts of red are just pulling way to much negative connotation along with the iconic upward stare from the cold war era (Check the B/W Version, its not so harsh ). I know our countries current political state is nothing to smile about and that these are serious matters, but I think sometimes when colors play a supporting role to a graphic vs actually making the graphic themselves, they tend to take on different meanings. For reference, just check Obama’s logo. The colors in simple shapes make the graphic. In closing, I’ll leave you with this and a couple of quotes from some friends that I thought made good points. This is not a discussion about whether or not Obama should be president or not, so don’t get it twisted, It is merely a discussion about whether design, no matter how cool it looks, does it job or condemns it’s efforts. So talk amongst yourselves!!! Maybe Shepherd will read this and tell us what’s up, and why he did it that way. If the world has told us anything so far, it’s that you can’t expect everyone to see eye to eye, but it never hurts to try to make it a better place. Props Shepherd!

“Shepherd can’t just use his same style of satirical messaging to convey a positive message - it really backfires for me.” - Scott J.

“Although Barack has much potential to do great things and become an Icon to this country, he is not an icon yet. It’s like seeing a poster of someone who was destine to do many great things and was taken away too soon, much like MLK.” - Mike G.

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