If you live in Washington, DC, you've probably noticed IKEA advertisements like these in Metro stations:

(photos via Animal)

Obviously, the content of the message should be familiar. Barack Obama's campaign theme of "change" turned out to be a great way to sell a politician, and it looks like it might be a good way to sell furniture as well.

IKEA's design is a spot-on ripoff in other way besides content. They use the same font (the famous "Gotham"), the same block lettering, the same justified paragraph style, the same simple layout, the same stylized images. Just about the only thing different is the color scheme.

I noticed this advertisement for Pepsi in the Metro yesterday:

(photo via The Truth According To Mark)

Not only is the slogan familiar, but that "O" in hope looks awfully like Obama's "O" logo.

The fact that Pepsi and IKEA are using these designs to sell furniture and soda is a testament to Obama's visionary graphic design during the campaign. Clearly someone on Madison Avenue thinks the imagery that inspired a nation to vote for Obama will also inspire a nation to empty their wallets. Given the other choices Obama had for his logo and design aesthetic (a fascinating look at the rejected logo concepts is here), he chose wisely.

Obama showed us the power of good design this cycle. His website was (and still is) the prettiest I've ever seen, and one of the most easy to use. There's no question its design helped power the campaign. Still, it's a bit tawdry to see these concepts, once used to promote a noble cause, used to push consumer junk. As Lance Steagall pointed out pertaining to the current popularity of Che Guevara, powerful imagery is co-opted to sell merchandise, watering down the message into a cultural touchstone with little meaning:

All this has little to do with Che Ernesto Guevara the man. His face is no longer his own; since his death it's become a vehicle behind which you advance whatever unrelated cause you're keen on. It's been co-opted by leftist culture, prostituted by Hollywood, clothing manufacturers, hip-hop artists, wealthy suburbanites; his image is the hammer and sickle, the stars and stripes, the crescent and star, the Mickey Mouse of revolutionary Disneyland©. He has become the hypothetical, undemanding revolution whose membership does not even require an understanding of his mixed legacy. Much the way some Christians profess faith in Jesus, slap a bumper sticker on the car, fill a pew every seventh day, and feel no obligation to mirror Jesus' self-sacrifice, utter disdain for materiality, or devotion to his fellow man, YOU TOO can become revolutionary. Just slap the official symbol on your person, parade yourself in conspicuous places, and retire to watch [insert inane comedy here] when your feet get tired.

Perhaps nothing represents this phenomenon better than this t-shirt, which you can actually purchase (ironically, of course):

It would be unfortunate for Obama's powerful imagery to go the same route, keeping its appeal but losing its power to actually change this country for the better.

There's more...