As we enter the final two weeks of the endless and bottomless campaign for the presidency of the United States, we’re also encountering what will almost certainly be the last wave of creative agency projects that have overwhelmingly tilted against the former co-star of the smash hit Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.
The Los Angeles office of CP+B is the latest to weigh in with a project that differs from past efforts in that it compares the many incendiary comments Trump has made over the past 16-plus months to some related quotes from one of the true founding fathers: George Washington.
The project has taken the form of a Washington vs. Trump website, a billboard in Bushwick, Brooklyn (above), and an Instagram account that will share one of 18 selected pairs of quotes up to Election Day (which is just 15 days away, thank fucking god).
Chief creative officer Kevin Jones, art director Goran Krstic and VP/director of integrated production Ryan Moreno led the project, which groups the quotes by topic for maximum dramatic effect.
Here, for example, are the two men discussing taxes and the fair payment thereof.
This one is particularly rich given recent stories regarding Trump’s finances and his unusual and complete refusal to release his tax returns even as they serve as a constant source of negative headlines for his campaign.
It’s not hard to depict the famously reticent Washington as a deep thinker when compared to Trump, and we feel like even Donald’s fans will acknowledge this.
Washington was, by all accounts, not a guy who relished the spotlight.
“The project was born while reading a biography of George Washington and, at the same time, being bombarded with news feeds about what Donald Trump was saying and posting,” said Jones. “It occurred to us that there was a stark contrast between the way our first president thought and spoke about politics, this country, and life in general, versus the things Donald Trump was putting out into the world.”
As the CP+B team continued to compare quotes, they found the “shocking” contrasts between the two men both surprising and horrifying. “We know that many people share this sentiment, and that there’s a chance this website will be speaking to the choir,” said Jones in explaining why they felt the need to execute on the concept. “But it is our hope that presenting this simple side-by-side comparison that we will manage to persuade a few voters who are currently on the fence.”
Is anyone beyond Ken Bone truly undecided at this point? We don’t know. But as the profile pic graphics in this campaign make clear, these two very, very different men do share at least one thing in common: they weren’t fooling anyone with that fake-ass hair.
CREDITS
Art Director/Design Director: Goran Krstic
Writer/CCO: Kevin Jones
Producer: Ryan Moreno
Designer/Illustrator: Courtney Kuhlman
UX: Dan Sok
Media Supervisor: David Hunter
Media Company: Jay Heleva @ Seen Outdoor