Editor’s note: All opinions, columns and letters reflect the views of the individual writer and not necessarily those of the IDS or its staffers.
I’m sure most of us saw the iconic engagement photos of the couple who illegally climbed the Empire State Building on July 1. They unfurled a large flag that read, “When the power of love beats the love of power, the world knows peace.”
This whole stunt seems pretty cool. An inspiring protest against the powers-that-be and a display of peace and love for the people who see it. But, of course, people had to go ruin it — notably, brands.
Companies like Canva, Cisco, Duolingo and many others started hijacking the couple’s photos and their flag in order to advertise their products. In most cases, the brands replaced the original messaging of the protest and slapped some slogan or icon on the flag instead.
Just scroll through Instagram, and you’ll see them left and right. “Make the sign bigger with Canva,” “make this trend with AI,” “have you tried turning it off and on again,” all plastered on the image of the flag.
Many would call this “genius advertising,” but it's antithetical to the whole point of the original protest.
Large corporations in our capitalist society love economic influence, so much so that they look at a protest criticizing their greed and think, “How can I make money with this?” These companies can’t fathom that they themselves are being criticized by this protest, and instead double down on their avaricious marketing strategies. Since our nation is built on money above all else, statements of protest are often seen as nothing more than a cash grab.
Now, brands have been using internet trends and memes as marketing for quite a while.
They will use things like the Drake meme or even events like the October 2025 Louvre heist as opportunities to market themselves. While such marketing schemes are generally viewed as being slimy, the use of this protest seems like a jump too far from their normal antics.
In the case of the Empire State couple, if these brands are going to steal the couple’s visuals, why are they also not sharing their message?
It’s a pretty good message, which I’m sure many of these companies’ customers would support. For example, Duolingo's attempt at the trend wasn’t as offensive, since they didn’t change the words on the flag. Instead, they had an “illustration” of the flag with the original message, and a German translation displayed underneath. But then Duolingo had to turn around and use AI to make it. We can never win.
Half of me thinks that the marketing interns who made these posts were acting on spur-of-the-moment ideas to follow a trend, but the other half of me thinks these posts have a more sinister nature. If you search “Empire State Building flag” in Google Images, the first readable flag isn’t even the original. It’s an edited flag promoting a police department.
What these corporations and government organizations are doing is diluting the message of this protest — and the power of protest in general — by making it into a silly trend. So, when people see a flag on the Empire State Building, they don’t think about how they can treat their neighbor better; they think about what is being sold to them: software, cooking spray and hair care products. What a legacy.
Steven Leatherwood (he/him) is a senior studying journalism and is normally an arts writer for the Indiana Daily Student. But he will always take a chance to take a punch at capitalism.
