Hate the president, buy our pants? Sportswear brand tries to cash in on an ad showing Trump TIED-UP

18 Oct, 2019 19:15 / Updated 5 years ago

Not only do they fit snug and look great, yoga pants are apparently now the latest front in the US’ culture-war. One enterprising firm is selling its pants with a picture depicting a feminist hog-tying President Donald Trump.

The image, entitled ‘Lady Liberty’ and reportedly erected over New York’s Times Square, shows model and Marine Corps veteran Michal Mesa screaming into the face of a Trump likeness, while tying POTUS up with a red, white and blue rope.

Strange way to sell yoga pants and sports bras, but DHVANI, the company responsible, has apparently banked on turning Trump-hate into profit. Other images depict a gaggle of angry women gagging Trump, a woman ‘shushing’ the president with her finger, and another burly woman snatching his beloved cell phone from his hands.

Each Instagram post is accompanied with a semi-factual anti-Trump polemic, and the company has promised to donate a slice of its earnings to women’s causes and abortion services.

Needless to say, the campaign stirred up some outrage. Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk called the images “sick,” while Donald Trump Jr wondered if the media would “dedicate the same time and outrage” to the billboard as it did this week to a meme depicting the president massacaring his enemies in the ‘fake news’ industry.

“Good thing you're not a conservative company who posted a photo like this with Obama because ANTIFA would be burning your store down right about now,” wrote one commenter on DHVANI’s Instagram post.

The Portland, Oregon-based company - which says it sells “Activ(ist) Wear” - has stuck by its turbo-woke messaging. “We realize that some of our customers won’t agree with our activism and that’s okay with us,” the clothing firm wrote.

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DHVANI is not the first company to build a marketing campaign on social justice themes. Sportswear giant Nike caused ructions last year when it unveiled posters featuring former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick (best known for taking a knee during the national anthem) along with the text “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.”

Similarly, razorblade maker Gillette decided to lecture men on ‘toxic masculinity’ with a hugely unpopular ad, while Ben & Jerry’s ice cream sought to sate liberal hunger with its ‘Pecan Resist’ flavor.

Using politics to sell products is somewhat becoming a tradition. Whether DHVANI goes broke from going woke or not, the entrepreneurial spirit of American capitalism is alive and well in 2019.

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