About a week after Barack Obama was elected, conservative Denverite Dave Griebling set in motion a T-shirt idea that he says had been percolating since last August's Democratic National Convention. Riffing off Shepard Fairey's famous HOPE design, Griebling came up with his own catchy slogan: HOPE You Don't Fuck It Up.
Griebling's design copies Fairey's red-and-blue template but uses a slightly different photo of Obama, one in which he looks a bit arrogant. But the 37-year-old, who does sales and marketing for sports companies and athletes, insists that his design is playful satire, not a mean-spirited quip. "I disagree with him," says Griebling, who was peddling his wares at the State Capitol rally at the center of "Colorado Conservatives' Porkiest Anti-Stimulus Protest Ever," a blog published yesterday. "But I still hope he doesn't fuck it up."
Griebling is selling $15 T-shirts and $3 bumperstickers emblazoned with his design at www.hopeisgood.bigcartel.com. He also has a PG version -- HOPE You Don't Jack It Up -- suitable for the office, the grocery store and PTA meetings.
