Appearances in pop culture edit
Fairey's original goal of raising the image of André the Giant to an iconic status has been somewhat of a success, as evidenced by the appropriation of this imagery by others.
Video Games edit
- An "OBEY" poster appears on a wall in the Berlin, Germany stage of the video game Tony Hawk's Underground 2.
- Posters of the stylized face appear on the wall on the main menu screen of the video game Tony Hawk's American Wasteland. They also appear on the level Hollywood, where a lot of them pasted at once, and East L.A, where one huge poster right in front of the entrance.
- In the Half-Life series of video games:
- In the PC video game Half-Life, players can choose André the Giant as a spraytag to mark walls or floors during multiplayer matches.
- In the PC video game Half-Life 2, posters very similar to the Obey Giant ones appear, instead using the visage of Wallace Breen, and the text RESIST.
- In the game Getting Up, players have the option to paste the "OBEY" poster on a wall.
- In the Nintendo DS game "Retro Atari Classics", which features remixes of classic Atari games by famous graffiti artists along with the originals, the OBEY Giant design was used for Gravitar, Lunar Lander, Missile Command, and Sprint.
Movies edit
- OBEY Giant images appear in three of Joel Schumacher's films:
- In Batman Forever, a distorted image of Giant's face is visible on a Gotham skyscraper as Batman flies the Batplane nearby.
- In 8mm (1999), an "OBEY Giant" poster is clearly visible on the outside of an alleyway door the protagonist enters.
- In Phone Booth (2002), several stenciled images of the "OBEY Giant" image are visible on the corner of the building behind the phone booth in which Colin Farrell becomes trapped.
- The whole phenomenon was the subject of a short 1996 documentary by Helen Stickler.
- In the movie "Max Keeble's Big Move" when the bully of the movie opens his locker, two OBEY stickers can be seen inside.
- In the 2003 movie Along Came Polly five Obey Giant posters can be seen in the background in a final scene when Ben Stiller is chasing after Jennifer Aniston.
- BBS: The Documentary has been promoted with a poster that reads "Ward Christensen has a Posse / 300 baud / S-100 bus".
- A "Make Art, not War" poster is visible outside the art gallery in The Devil Wears Prada.
Television edit
- In an episode of the television program Family Guy, Peter Griffin paints an outsized image of the stylized "Giant" face emblem on the Sistine Chapel ceiling in an ostensible renovation effort. ([[Television producer}Producer]] Seth MacFarlane was a student at RISD at the same time as Frank Shepard Fairey).
- In the first episode of season four of Alias, red and black OBEY posters can been seen plastered all over the nightclub walls.
- Cartoon Network's between-show bumps depict a single city in which all of its cartoon stars seem to dwell. In one of these bumps, a picture of Aku, villain from the Samurai Jack series, can be seen with the word "OBEY" underneath it. This picture stylistically resembles the Obey Giant sticker.
- On the television show Veronica Mars there is an Obey poster on the wall of Keith Mars' detective office that says "This Is Your God" (also a reference to the 1988 John Carpenter science fiction film They Live).
- On the television show Weeds character Andy Botwin (played by Justin Kirk) wears "Obey" branded T-shirts in several episodes.
- On an episode of Viva La Bam, Bam's uncle Don Vito steals Bam's Hummer truck and disappears. In the meanwhile, Bam and the CKY Crew place posters all over town of Vito. The posters resemble the "Giant" posters in a form of Don Vito's face. Margera later had the image tattooed above his foot.
- In the Invader ZIM episode Game Slave 2, a poster of Obey with upraised fist is seen on the wall of the character Iggins' house.
- Comedian Carlos Mencia has worn an OBEY shirt while hosting his show, Mind of Mencia.
- Some fans of the Ron and Fez show have formed "The Whatley Posse", named in honor of Fez Whatley. Their symbol is a Photoshopped version of André the Giant's face morphed with a picture of Fez.
- In the television show Afro Samurai:
- In the first episode there is an OBEY sticker in the bar, on the wall.
- In the second episode there is an OBEY Giant design on a hanging lantern.
- On the cartoon show The Fairly Oddparents, there is a poster of an ape, with the word OBEY, because Timmy Turner had accidentally wished the world into a WORLD OF APES.
- An Obey Giant sticker appears in episode 6 of Robot Chicken. It is shown in the background on the wall in the racing skit.
Other edit
- Fairey's iconic Andre the Giant face is a tattoo schema.
- The Electronic Frontier Foundation uses the phrase "Fair Use Has a Posse" on stickers in a publicity campaign.
- Homestar Runner released a parody sticker using the phrase "Strong Mad Has a Posse".
- In Raleigh, North Carolina, the death of local DJ Sean Johnson (known as DJ Oldschool) prompted the appearance of stickers reading "Sean Johnson has a Posse".
- A popular icon of the Clock Crew, a Newgrounds animation group, is the "OBEY" poster with the image of OrangeClock, a founding member.
- In the Netherlands stickers have been circulated bearing the legend 'Obey' under a black and white, Giant-style image of the Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende.
- After their win over Tottenham Hotspur in the English FA Cup Leicester City footballer "Crazy" Mark De Vries was the subject of an updated version of the Obey sticker.
Clothing edit
- In 2004, a design student named Grey Gunter at the Georgia Institute of Technology made and sold T-shirts and stickers bearing the face of their center Luke Schenscher in the style of "Andre has a posse" as a popular fundraising tactic, capitalizing on his increased attention during the 2004 NCAA championship game in which he played for Georgia Tech.
- Similar shirts were made for Jackie Manuel of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill basketball team.
- Diesel Sweeties creator Richard Stevens III released a parody T-shirt using the phrase "Power Droid Has a Posse".
- A free pattern for knitting a scarf with an intarsia version of the OBEY Giant image appeared in the Knitty webzine in Summer 2005.
Music edit
- Rapper Sage Francis sells a t-shirt bearing his image which parodies the André the Giant Has a Posse design. The shirt reads: "Natalie Portman Has a Stalker" and states Francis's respective height and weight.
- The OBEY Giant is incorporated into some of the images used for the CD screenprint and vinyl etching artwork on American alternative rock band Mission of Burma's limited edition, eight-volume singles series.
- Serj Tankian of System of a Down wore an OBEY T-shirt at a performance at Big Day Out festival in 2002.
Music Videos edit
- In the music video for Rise Against's "Give it All", the Obey sticker can be seen on the guitarist's guitar throughout the video.
- In the music video for "Little Bitch" (Montreal Warped Tour and #2), by Big D & the Kids Table, a 4' upside-down Obey poster can be found in the background throughout the video.
- In the music video for "Kids and Heroes," by The Bouncing Souls, a large Obey sticker can be seen on one of the amplifiers in the background.
- The Black Eyed Peas video Shut Up has several stylized "Giant" face posters near the stage man (A reference to Shepard Fairey who designed the art for the album "Elephunk").
- In the 2006 music video "Work It Out" by Jurassic 5 featuring Dave Matthews Band, you can see a montage of Obey posters along a wall where three homeless men are sitting.