OBEY propaganda through fashion

Michael Mejia, Reporter

Obey is a company that was very popular in 2001 because of their release of Obey clothing, and still is, but over the years it started losing its attention due to other brands fighting for bragging rights.

Obey was founded on the ideas and art of Shepard Fairey.

Why I think Obey is the best brand of art, design and skate is because, as it was only a sticker at first created in 1989, Obey turned out to be one of the most evolved worldwide street-art campaigns ever.

The Obey street-art campaign started when Fairey released the very first design of Obey, which was in 1989.

It is a worldwide movement to motivate people to show off their art skills and paint something that sends a message about what’s going on with them, or about the world.

But getting the word out about Obey street-art campaign was a slow process at first.

“My friend told me about Obey,” student Mark Miranda said.

Miranda, who is a skater and senior at PHS, knew about the Obey franchise for a long time and the way he found out about the street-art campaign was through paintings he’d seen around made from Obey artists.

In some places, mostly in urban areas, you can find paintings and murals of amazing things, including some that are made by fans of the brand.

For me, in the city of Chicago, I’ve personally seen art in numerous places, from sides of buildings and behind street signs, to up by the billboards where everyone can see.

But once in a while I catch glimpses of Obey writing on signs or mostly by the streetlights, referring to things politically or economically, like global warming or the election.

The Obey campaign was not only about street-art, but developed into a source that people could use to get their message through.

For example, commercial marketing to political messaging, which plays a big part in our time considering what happened with the election.

In 2001, The Obey clothing line opened as an extension of Shepard Fairey’s work. But the clothing also became an extension into using the shirts almost as a canvas to spread the art and messages to the people around the world.

“They sell pretty good clothes for skaters,” Miranda said.

“I feel like Obey went down, but I liked some of their clothes,” student Nemo Luna said.

Luna, who is a skater as well as a senior at PHS, knows very much about what the brand is including the message behind it.

He found out about Obey by just buying a shirt that he liked with the Obey logo on it, making him a fan since that moment on; even later he found out what Obey is and what they do.

Other than Obey’s popular designs and paintings, it was also known for having T-shirts well made. Although the T-shirts are a bit pricey, they are made with high quality material to better suit people who skateboard, or just for casual wear.

Also, the T-shirts themselves have some famous paintings resembling something important that happened recently, or an event that changed the world, making the Obey merchandise much more interesting.

Overall, Obey, to me, is an amazing brand because they show much more than just graffiti.

It tells a message. It’s a symbol, an icon to stand up for what you believe in and tell about it through painting.

As one of Obey’s famous quotes says: “Make art, not war.”