"Sarkozy – Yes we can" - who's behind the poster?
The poster that saw Barack Obama rise to fame has been altered to accommodate the beaky face of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and plastered around the streets of Paris. Nobody knows who's behind the somewhat baffling idea; only that the mystery is attracting a lot of attention. UPDATE (3 Dec. 08 2pm): Greenpeace has announced that they're behind the "Sarkobama" campaign. On Wednesday morning, the organisation followed up the original posters with the same image, this time displaying the message "Cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30% in Europe? Yes, you must!" According to the director of Greenpeace France, the campaign was designed to attract attention to their message before the imminent singing of the climate package deal by the EU, and while the UN conference in Poznan is going on.
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The poster that saw Barack Obama rise to fame has been altered to accommodate the beaky face of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and plastered around the streets of Paris. Nobody knows who's behind the somewhat baffling idea; only that the mystery is attracting a lot of attention.
UPDATE (3 Dec. 08 2pm): Greenpeace has announced that they're behind the "Sarkobama" campaign. On Wednesday morning, the organisation followed up the original posters with the same image, this time displaying the message "Cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30% in Europe? Yes, you must!"
According to the director of Greenpeace France, the campaign was designed to attract attention to their message before the imminent singing of the climate package deal by the EU, and while the UN conference in Poznan is going on.
The image is a take-off of the poster designed by LA artist Shepard Fairey for Obama's election campaign. There are various accompanying messages, like "Make polluting companies pay: Yes we can", and "Save each household €1,000 a month: Yes we can".
The Associated Press says that Sarkozy's centre-right UMP party has denied being behind the campaign. Regrettably, according to a representative from the party's youth movement, who said: "we would have liked it to have been us, because we like this message". The Elysee has paid no heed to the campaign... Unlike the French media, which is tying itself in knots over the mystery. Young artists trying to be controversial? Subliminal messaging from industrialists? An anti-Sarko campaign in disguise? Whoever it is, they're certainly enjoying themselves. Yesterday the group posted photos and videos of themselves prancing around Paris, hidden behind the very posters in question.
The original campaign image
The campaign around Paris
