Shepard Fairey and Obey Phenomenology

Zack Hommel

Shepard Fairey and OBEY Phenomenology

In today's busy marketing world advertisements are often focused around their flash appeal bigger and brighter is better. Many companies spell it out in giant letters on billboards with lights and colors to catch a passerby's attention. Millions of dollars are spent on expensive ad campaigns with new catch phrases and looks for their products. However many companies are beginning to steer away from this over the top marketing strategy and are taking things to a much more personal level, and there is one company that has managed to use this unconventional style like no other. It was about 20 years ago when young Rhodes Island native Shepard Fairey created the the OBEY giant face. Using a picture he found in the newspaper of Andre the Giant, a famous professional wrestler, to show a friend how to make a stencil. He turned the image into several stickers and stuck them up around town (Providence, RI). Fairey was intrigued by the response he got, people where curious and concerned as to what the image was, what it meant, and who was responsible. All of this was from a simple sticker of a face. This essentially was the birth of what Shepard Fairey has come to call "the Giant Experiment" one of the most successful underground marketing campaigns since early wartime propaganda.

Since the emergence of the OBEY name Shepard Fairey has become world renowned in the art community. He has also sold millions of stickers and prints of his art work not to mention his very successful line of OBEY clothing, and it is hard to walk down the street in a major city without seeing one of his images posted or painted on a wall or street corner. Fairey has perfected the advertising technique known as underground or guerrilla marketing. He doesn't use the radio, television, or fancy billboards to promote his product; instead he uses more original methods by putting up stickers or painting his image on the side of buildings. The principal of Fairey's campaign is the mystery involved with it; people are made to question their environment and the message of his art. The images of OBEY don't offer some type of commercial motivation and can't be interpreted right away, and in a society where people expect answers to their questions his images are very provocative. His marketing style hasn't changed since he started putting up the first stickers 20 years ago and has used the same image to represent his brand name from day one. So why is it that his controversial marketing style is so effective? How does it compare to more traditional methods? The following will answer these questions and explain how OBEY appeals to the consumer just as well as major corporations do just by using cost efficient minimalist marketing techniques.

Most of the time when someone purchases an OBEY product a sticker comes free along with whatever was bought, in hopes that the person who received the sticker will put it somewhere in public view. These methods of advertising have become what some call a graphic chain letter. This method is very popular with many underground or "grass roots" companies such as bands, skate board brands, and smaller collective clothing suppliers . You might see their stickers stuck up on light posts or subway cars, and there are even stickers advertising OBEY stuck around Salisbury in several areas. Anthony Lappe of Notorious magazine said that the images of OBEY are ,"something of a social Rorschach test you can tell a lot about someone by how they respond to the adds". Many people see the adds as eyesores and are frustrated at first but eventually frustration turns to interest and curiosity which then leads to people talking and asking question which is simply efficient and provocative word of mouth advertising. This word of mouth advertising is arguably the most powerful form of marketing that a company can generate. Instead of using billboards that tell the consumer what to do and what to buy the images of OBEY are simple and withhold information. Consumers today like to have options and with access to the internet they can be well informed on a product before they buy it. OBEY doesn't offer these options or background information so people have to talk to others and voice their questions to get answers on what exactly it is. This minimalist approach sounds like it would be ineffective, but it has been the exact opposite for Shepard Fairey. Whether people like or dislike the image or not, they advertise it to others by voicing their interest or their concerns. This secretive sense of the unknown behind OBEY is exactly why so many people have embraced the images and art of Shepard Fairey. "Most people look up from their cubicles or hear their co-workers talk about "American Idol" and Tiger Woods. Those are easy things to digest and understand."(Snyder, Scott "obeygiant.com.") This is a good analogy to the methods of OBEY the things that are easy to digest and understand are also easily forgotten, but when someone is confronted with the face of OBEY they are forced to ask questions. When the questions people have go unanswered they develop a curiosity that can be molded into any explanation the audience wants to believe. "The OBEY sticker attempts to stimulate curiosity and bring people to question both the sticker and their relationship with their surroundings" (R, M. "Shepard Fairey."). The curiosity of what is the face on the sticker supposed to mean, why was it put where it is, and why don't I know more about it. This approach is a complete 180 from most modern day advertisements that market a specific product with a specific purpose and this night and day difference is what catches peoples attention.

The brand creates a sense of inclusiveness as it appeals especially to the younger generations looking for someway to break away rebel or be different. This sense of inclusiveness is what has made the brand so successful our generation enjoys the fact that we can have something of our own so we embrace OBEY. Many people see the sticker everywhere so having the sticker or something with OBEY on it like a T-shirt gives the buyer a sense of belonging. Obey makes this easy because it doesn't tell the consumer what to do, it's ours' to do what we like with it. It does not say "go out and buy this." There are no flashing lights or salesman in faces of the consumer feeding them a bunch of reasons why they should have the product. OBEY doesn't place a burden on the consumer, the images can be recognized for what they are simply as a piece of art, or some might believe it is the face of