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Obama and Design

By embaltz - June 4, 2008

in Object Culture

Barack Obama took home the Democratic Presidential nomination last night in Minnesota. As the first African American on a major political party's ticket, this historic achievement, followed for months by the blogosphere, has finally reached an end. Having seemingly touched on every area of the marketplace, Obama's campaign was not only a political coup, but stirred up tons of buzz in the design world as well.

Over the last months, we've seen NotCot cover Barack Button Badges and shwag, Zazzle make a mint on Warhol-esc Obama t-shirts, Shepard Fairey whip up Obama-propaganda and the NY Times position a political debate as "Mac vs PC". These are just the tip of the iceberg; Google images of "Barack Obama Design" and you'll find everything from AirObama shoes to Barack Earrings and Cuddly Dolls. The same search under Hillary Clinton and John McCain reveals a very different visual landscape, mostly that of political satire in the form of cartoons.

An article in Fast Company's April issue sums up this phenomenon. Titled "The Brand Called Obama", the article states:

Politics, after all, is about marketing -- about projecting and selling an image, stoking aspirations, moving people to identify, evangelize, and consume. The promotion of the brand called Obama is a case study of where the American marketplace -- and, potentially, the global one -- is moving.

In a campaign that has embraced Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, Barack Obama succeeded in using technology and design to further not only his political reach, but his emotional impact on voters. The outpouring of inspirational content generated in the form of songs, testimonials and art proves that the American marketplace certainly is moving, and perhaps even...Changing?

see more images after the jump.

Obama shwag

Police shut down Artist's ' Assassination' show today. The show Via NY Times

Barack Earrings

Cuddly Dolls

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bill byrne

16 years ago

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Check out Air Obama!

http://www.robustflavor.com/product_p/rob001.htm
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Ben S.

17 years ago

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Art, fashion, and Obama mixed into one:

http://www.Obamosaic.com
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Chris

17 years ago

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The ironic twist is that the party, who's religion is the ENVIRONMENT, has produced more waste by all this "design" propaganda/paraphernalia/identity-branding trinkets/products than I suspect they would care to mention. But that's not the point, is it? Symbolism over substance any day, I guess. yep, that's the kind of 'change' we need.

Bravo, enlightened ones.

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emily

17 years ago

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the only way i would accept that this country is "changing" is if hillary were ever given a fair chance and if she were given the nomination.
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Rob

17 years ago

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One of my favorite examples of Obama and design is the "Progress" print designed by Scott Hansen.

http://blog.iso50.com/?p=1669
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Mike Pick

17 years ago

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Obamacorn. :)

http://www.obamacorn.com
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carton

17 years ago

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Obama did not "take" the nomination as you say, but is projected to win. And as you may notice, it is still quite close with the uncommitted super delegates being left to make the decision.
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Julian Kovalsky

17 years ago

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You missed this one.
http://www.obamawatches.com

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