Denied! Anon AA Ad Artist Slams Faux-Bam Culture Jam
So yesterday we posted what seemed to be a new work by the anonymous American Apparel ad spoofer—this one featuring Obama being menaced by a big dick, with the familiar slogan "The Assassination of Barack Obama" and an American Apparel logo. Then we heard that it might not be a work by the actual spoofer, which was confirmed by the spoofer's own blog, then confirmed again by Copyranter, who thinks the Obama piece is a Photoshop fake. Now the spoofer himself has sent us a statement, of sorts, saying he welcomes copycats as long as it's clear they're different copycats (and he's not a Dov Charney employee, thank you):
Hi Hamilton, I am the "aa ads spoofer." I am not the creator of the Obama poster you posted yesterday, and don't deserve the little fame it temporarily got. I never mix art and politics, the billboards in Tribeca have never inspired me, and I don't do use the Photoshop posterization filter. I gladly welcome copycats though, as long as people don't think it's my doing. Also, to answer a floating question, my fake AA campaign is a personal project. American Apparel isn't behind this campaign, I don't work for them, I don't know them, and all I ever got from them is a pleasant mute tolerance... I picked up AA essentially because their ads were sex-oriented, which was a good place to start. This work is about inspiration in art and advertising, and manipulation, if I get it right... i'll be wrapping up the project in sept w/ a little showdown on stereohell.
[Disclaimer: To the extent we were able to check around, we're pretty sure this is the real spoofer. Although you never really know when it comes to spoofers.]