September 11, 2008

In a political campaign far, far away…

Update: The Luke “Hope” Poster is now available for purchase with Lucasfilm’s blessing. Also available as a T-shirt.

Update: It’s not available anymore. Sorry!

A long time ago, in a political campaign far, far away, this poster was hanging in campaign offices across the galaxy…

Star Wars Obama

…and these logos were on bumper stickers from Alderaan to Yavin:

Star Wars Politics

Posted by David at 9:45 AM | Permalink
Filed under: Advertising | Favorites | Politics | Star Wars
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Comments

you guys should totally sell/give away/do something with those stickers. the empire one is freaking sweet.

Posted by: mark | September 11, 2008 10:21 AM

I’d buy these in a heartbeat if you made ‘em available! Amazingly well done!

Posted by: Hutson Hayward | September 11, 2008 11:02 AM

I know there’s a lot of fan-made Star Wars merch out there, but I’m not comfortable selling these without being sure I’m not stretching the fair use argument too far. What’s Lucasfilm’s policy on this sort of stuff? Do they have a “fan” license? I’ll happily sell these on stickers or shirts if I can do it properly. I’ll look into it. -David

Posted by: David | September 11, 2008 11:14 AM

The only issue I would see would be the “republic” logo. This may be a trademark, but I’ve seen many people use it, so I don’t know.

Posted by: Shepherd | September 11, 2008 11:25 AM

very nice. you should check this out: http://www.21stcenturyfilth.com/2008/08/new-hope.html

Posted by: Brian | September 11, 2008 11:31 AM

There really ought to be an “obamify” Photoshop plugin that automatically turns a portrait into the four-toned version as above. Or is there one?

Posted by: Craig | September 11, 2008 12:38 PM

Follow-up: I just spoke with Lucasfilm’s business affairs / licensing division. Their policy is not to allow unlicensed use of their intellectual property if money is changing hands, even for creative bloggers like myself. No “fan” license available. Sorry!

(And, to Shepherd’s point, it’s not just the “Republic” logo that’s an issue. It’s Lucasfilm’s characters and vehicle, not to mention Mark Hamill’s likeness. I am using it creatively, but it’s arguably not a parody of Star Wars, which would be permissible for me to sell under Fair Use.)

-David

Posted by: David | September 11, 2008 12:45 PM

If only the political campaign were [in a galaxy] far, far away. Maybe then I’d be able to hear myself cry.

Nice work, by the way.

Posted by: pannonica | September 11, 2008 12:45 PM

Too bad you can’t sell them. Maybe you could make the files available and we could just print them out and stick ‘em. No money changing hands so it should be ok, right?

Posted by: neuralien | September 11, 2008 1:00 PM

haha cool! i like these!

good post!

Posted by: Recruiting Services | September 11, 2008 1:23 PM

I would argue the stickers could fall under parody, and thus: fair use… Or, maybe it’s just wishful thinking. In any case, great idea, man.

Posted by: Alfonso | September 11, 2008 4:20 PM

The poster is really nice.

Posted by: Marc Bastian | September 12, 2008 3:13 AM

Oh just what we need: a rash, impulsive, inexperienced candidate!

Posted by: pannonica | September 12, 2008 11:06 AM

that is a genius poster. I want it!

Posted by: Crystal | September 12, 2008 2:08 PM

but Luke doesn’t have any executive experience ….

Posted by: cowpesh | September 12, 2008 2:45 PM

I love these. If someone were to make these, I’d certainly buy them.

I can only imagine what a campaign ad against Darth Vader would be like…

“I hear that Vader plans to build a second Death Star near Endor to eradicate the Rebels once and for all! That’s not change, that’s more of the same!”

Posted by: Galileo | September 12, 2008 3:00 PM

Could you do one saying, at the top “Help us Obi Wan Kenobi,” then a picture of Sir Alec, then at the bottom “you’re our ONLY hope” Thank you in advance.

Posted by: RichM | September 12, 2008 3:30 PM

I love the Skywalker poster. I would buy that in a heartbeat! I was just emailing someone that I liked Shepard Fairey’s Obama artwork.

Posted by: Paul Johns | September 12, 2008 4:12 PM

Love it!
too bad if cannot be done.

Though I could see an Obama-like tv/radio version, “You’re our only hope Obama-Wan.”

Posted by: Brian | September 12, 2008 4:20 PM

These need to be made NOW. I’d buy ‘em in a heart beat.

Posted by: Revenge of the Blog | September 12, 2008 4:37 PM

It’s too bad you can’t sell them, but could you make PDF’s available for download?

Posted by: y7om3 | September 12, 2008 10:48 PM

You rock! It’s unfortunate you can’t sell it, because I’d buy it.

Posted by: Anna | September 13, 2008 12:10 AM

A candidate that actually fights for the people? I’m all over that one. And thanks, because this inspired me to break out my Star Wars DVDs (the original ones, not the newly destroyed ones). Haven’t seen those in a while.

Oh, and I love the idea behind your blog design.

Posted by: Doug C. | September 13, 2008 2:31 AM

I’m not sure about Luke Skywalker, but I’d vote for Jack Bauer!

Posted by: Dustin Boston | September 13, 2008 9:11 PM

David,

Any chance of posting high resolution (or vector graphics? I’m not a photoshop person) copies of this? I’d love to put this up somewhere in my apartment but would need a better source to take it to Kinko’s.

Awesome!

Posted by: Jacob | September 14, 2008 4:07 AM

flippin’ sweet! i’d love to have these! cheers, tex

Posted by: tex | September 14, 2008 5:07 AM

This picture appears to be in 3D, but I can’t figure out how to view it in the intended mode.

Posted by: Miele Greggsedova | September 14, 2008 10:41 AM

American party stickers? Sorry, but I think we Vogons from beneath the North Pole will take over the galaxy first.

Oh sorry, we’re already halfway done.

So long, suckers!

Posted by: LOL | September 14, 2008 9:19 PM

How’d you do this? Did you put it through a filter or did you have to cut out the layers individually?

Posted by: Rusty | September 14, 2008 11:17 PM

Gorgeous design. He’d get my vote!

Posted by: The Stars My Destination | September 15, 2008 5:06 AM

Gorgeous design on the Luke poster. He’d get my vote, for sure.

Posted by: The Stars My Destination | September 15, 2008 5:07 AM

Yeah, I’ll back the high-res requests. Very nice work.

Posted by: David | September 15, 2008 7:41 AM

This meshaup inspired me to try my own Movie+Obama meshaup

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dubster/2859514615/

Posted by: Dubi | September 15, 2008 1:44 PM

Awesome.

Posted by: George | September 15, 2008 9:06 PM

They’re stickers?! Can I have one, I promise I’ll tell everyone :)

Posted by: raptureponies | September 16, 2008 4:40 PM

Eh, Luke’s a bit naive and whiny to run a galaxy. Leia should have got the nomination, but she went negative in the primaries.

Posted by: Hugh | September 21, 2008 5:20 PM

Can you post a Hi-Res version of the pic? I’d like to print a poster of it.

Posted by: Gabe | September 21, 2008 11:31 PM

Can you post a hi-res version of the pic? I’d like to print a large poster of it.

Posted by: Gabe | September 21, 2008 11:32 PM

Hey, i’m pretty sure by definition this is a parody… but it’s good you’re being safe rather than sorry.

Posted by: Iby | September 22, 2008 1:30 PM

Did they tell you how much an actual license would cost? Maybe you can make a deal. Is George Lucas a Democrat?

Posted by: True Believer | September 27, 2008 1:05 PM

The poster is really great.

Posted by: Oyunlar | September 29, 2008 11:11 PM

Any chance of a tutorial on how you did this? I love this and would love to create one of my own.

Posted by: g | September 29, 2008 11:59 PM

try using live trace in illustrator, then changing the colors around. also, you DEFINATELY HAVE TO START SELLING THESE

Posted by: Aaron | September 30, 2008 4:32 PM

With the black shield down how am I supposed to fight?

www.sternlange08.com

Posted by: Campaign manager | October 28, 2008 1:56 AM

I love this! It’s brilliant.

Posted by: Michael Powell | November 3, 2008 12:42 AM

Can you tell me how you made this poster? I’d like to try and do the same effect with a family photo. Sadly, I only own photoshop elements.

Posted by: Laura | November 5, 2008 4:45 PM