A little more background on the design... We wanted to push back directly on the messaging of the Obey brand which is very much built on the cliche anti-America and anti-consumerism theme. Fairey's graphic stylings are copied directly from Maoist style propaganda posters. Mao, the dictator that created the soul crushing state of Communist China. The guy who is singularly responsible for more human deaths than anyone in history, upwards of 100 million. The teddy bear who came up with the idea of "re-education camps", for political dissidents and non-conformists. A practice that China and other Communist regimes still utilize to this day. Mao's legacy in no way should be praised or glorified, least of all profited on in the process of doing so. And just to cement the notion, for his brand icon he uses the Soviet star.
Consider the above along with the name of the company, "Obey", and I just find it creepy that it's a bunch of young ignorant people buying his product. Combine that all on his "crusade against consumerism" and his regular support for politicians who identify with types of socialism, and you start to get a pretty clear picture of what he's about. But as is often the case that's not the whole picture. He's the leftist, anarchist, street artist giving the middle finger to corporations and the government, only to find out that he regularly sells his services as a viral marketer to huge government lobbying corporations like PepsiCo and Ford, well it's just hard not to laugh or upchuck on every encountered Obey shirt on the street.
So yeah, we felt a compulsion to "DISS Obey." Plus, the play on words is damn appropriate, disobedience to unjust authority was what this fine country was founded on, it's a shame that fact seems lost on Mr. Fairey, you'd think there's a cooler message in there to impress upon the youth then the savage "revolutions" of tyrants like Mao, Stalin and Castro. You'd think a guy who built a multi-million dollar fortune off of illegal street art and T-shirts would praise the country that afforded him the opportunity to do that, instead he often bashes it while glorifying the art and propaganda of that country's ideological enemies, places where he would be jailed or murdered for doing what he did here to make his millions. Calling this type of "activism" pseudo-intellectual might be even giving him more credit than it deserves. And that's why we shrug at you, Mr. Fairey. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
© 2024, SHRUG REPUBLIC
Diss Obey T-Shirt – SHRUG REPUBLIC
