More than a million Americans have died from COVID-19. And despite the introduction of three effective COVID-19 vaccines, there are huge pockets of conservative Americans who still refused to get vaccinated. We needed a message that showed people they didn’t have to protest the vaccine to put America first.
So we created a pro-bono lifestyle brand asking true American patriots to fight for their country and “bare arms” against COVID-19. Modeling our aesthetic after popular military brands, we designed custom shirts, hats, bumper stickers and more.
Then, we lobbied for support from conservative influencers and right-wing media outlets—even a few Russian bots.
Sadly, we didn’t move the needle on vaccinations (we even tried paying influencers to do the right thing). But we did shine a light on the hypocrisy of anti-vaccine rhetoric, making some people really, really mad. And we did it while raising money for CRUSH COVID – SOS, a crowdfunding initiative by the CDC Foundation helping combat the Delta variant by deploying resources for staffing, oxygen and shots.
Featured in Ad Age and PR Week
