About the HOPE Poster

The Barack Obama "hope" poster is an iconic Che Guevara-styled image of President Barack Obama, first released while he was campaigning for President. Designed by artist Shepard Fairey, it is a stylized stencil portrait of Obama in solid red, white (actually beige) and blue (dark blue and pastel). Variations of the posters included the words Hope, Change, and Progress. It was created and distributed widely—both as a digital image and on posters and other media—during the 2008 election, eventually gainig approval of the official Barack Obama campaign. The image became one of the most widely recognized symbols of Obama's campaign message, spawning many variations and copy cats, including some commissioned by the Obama campaign and some not. In 2009, after Obama had won the office of President, the portrait version of the image was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution for its National Portrait Gallery.

Concept and Design

Shepard Fairey, who had created earlier political street art critical of government and of George W. Bush, discussed the nascent Obama campaign with publicist Yosi Sergant in late October 2007. Sergant suggested that Fairey create some art in support of Obama. Sergant contacted the Obama campaign to seek its permission for Fairey to design an Obama poster, which was granted a few weeks before Super Tuesday. Fairey found a photograph of Obama (an April 2006 photo by Associated Press photographer Mannie Garcia) and created the original poster design in a single day. The original image had the word "progress" and featured Fairey's signature obey star embedded in the Obama campaign's sunrise logo.

Distribution during the 2008 campaign

Fairey began screen-printing posters soon after completing the design and showing it to Sergant. Initially, he sold 350 and put 350 more up in public. Beginning with that sale and continuing throughout the campaign, Fairey used proceeds from selling the image to produce more of it; after first printing, he made 4000 more that were distributed at Obama rallies before Super Tuesday. He also put a printable digital version on his website. As Fairey explained in an October 2008 interview, the image quickly "went viral".

After the initial 700 posters, the Obama campaign conveyed through Sergant that they wanted to promote the theme of hope, and most of the posters sold by Fairey subsequently had the word "hope" and later "change" instead of "progress"; the obey star was also absent from later versions. By October 2008, Fairey claimed to have printed 200,000 posters (with less than 2,000 sold and the rest given away or displayed) and 500,000 stickers, as well as clothing and other items with the image sold through Fairey's website, in addition to copies printed by others.

Near the end of the campaign, a parody poster featuring opponent John McCain with the same poster design and the word "nope" at the bottom instead of "hope" surfaced on the Internet.