American pop culture icons balk at White House deportation marketing

Filed 1h ago · Via Courthouse News · The Buffoon Desk

THIS STORY IS SCORED

Bushwick Tarantella Loop

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Rijksmuseum · CC0 · via Wikimedia Commons

The Department of Homeland Security deleted social media posts depicting Transformers character Optimus Prime as a deportation supporter after Hasbro said the AI-generated content was made without its permission and did not represent the brand. It's the second walkback in a week, following the White House's quiet removal of a Tetris-inspired 'Build the Wall' browser game after the Tetris Company objected to its use.

DHS's images pitted Prime against Harjinder Singh, an Indian man accused of killing three people while driving a truck; a DHS spokesperson called press questions 'nonsensical drivel' while attaching an image linking Singh to the Transformers villains. A Quinnipiac poll last week found roughly 57% of Americans disapprove of the administration's immigration policy.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

Any outfit that has to keep quietly pulling its own posts down might consider whether the trouble is the audience. Two toy companies in one week told the federal government to take its name off the flyer, and the government's answer was to call the people asking about it names. When your best pitchman is a cartoon truck who never agreed to the job, the sales meeting probably went sideways somewhere.

Source: Read the original at Courthouse News → Scored: Bushwick Tarantella Loop · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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