Snobs R Us
By Mark Kaufman
These posters appeared on the Huffington Post today, along with some very loopy commentary and design critiques. Most of you elistist designer snobs will recognize the one on the left as being by Shepard Fairey, the one on the right is a parody that was posted on Michelle Malkins blog. I tried to comment on the Huffington Post but was banned for some reason. I don’t think my ramblings were inflammatory in any way, but here is what I wrote below. You’ll have to check out the original post to see the context of some of my comments, but it is of interest:
Sorry folks, putting the aesthetics aside, this is actually a very good piece of satire, because it has very quickly jumped on a developing meme about "elitism", and used the very sort of hipster, designer imagery, that quite frankly doesn’t play well to the masses. On the Malkinista elitism scale, Shepard Fairey rates very high. Thomas Kinkade and Jeanne Bice rate very low. So I beg to differ that Fairey’s work is "anti-elitist", yes it uses street art and hand pulled screenprinted posters, and utilizes stickers and guerilla marketing tactics, but that is in FACT the epitome of elitism to the audience for the Snob posters. These people read Readers Digest and their local newspaper, they watch Fox News, listen to Rush and blog Malkin, they don’t read the hipster design magazines where Mr. Fairey advertises his brand.
Whether it looks like Obama, whether it utilizes red or blue, position of head etc. is totally beside the point, because it speaks to the audience that wants to hear that Democrats and Obama supporters in particular are elitist, that they and their effete designer/artists hate America, hate the flag, despise flag pins, God and guns. So in that regard it is giving the people and the media what it wants. A story they can wrap their minds around.
I am a Democrat. I am an Obama supporter. I am a designer and illustrator, but I have to call ’em like I see ’em. The Snob poster is very good satire.
Of course I just engaged in a bit of elitism myself by totally pigeon-holing everyone on the right as being lowest common denominator types that drag their knuckles on their way to church, but that’s the way I roll.