Obey!

Have you seen this sticker around town? You have to obey.

Okay, so I admit. This sticker has frustrated me to no end. I didn't understand what it was selling, be it a cult or a product. Was it something to do with MTV? OC 16? That crazy church that I see on TV every Sunday morning? What is trying to tell me, located in the back of a stop sign on the corner of Ward and Beretania? Or on the back of the number 6 bus? Or under that bench on the 3rd floor of the Ala Moana center (don't ask why I was looking there, just trust me)?

I'd forget about it, then, right there, as I was dropping off one of my dear friends, after a quiet and uneventful evening of drinking and partying, there it was. Staring at me. Mocking my inability to decipher its simple meaning. Why had you chosen me sticker? Why, I'm just a man with simple abilities. Sure, with illusions of grandeur, but illusions nonetheless!

I began to seek it out. Maybe it's at Kahala mall. Maybe At the Zippy's on Waialae? Where are you, sticker, and why have you forsaken me!

Then, today on Myspace, the bearer of all that is good and holy, gave me the answer.

Myspace said to me "you see my child", in her soft yet determined voice, "the meaning of the sticker is..."

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(periods inserted to create dramatic tension)
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Absolutely nothing. Yes, that's right. It's not selling anything, it doesn't ask you to do anything, or join anything. Well, it does do something. It's supposed to give you a glimpse into your psychosocial self, expanding your knowledge of yourself by illustrating your reaction to an unplanned piece of advertisement that does not fit the stereotype of an advertisement; it gives you an idea of who you are, and it gives you a clear example to your own reactions...but, of course, who wants to know that.

Anyway, here's the official explanation to the stickers around Honolulu

“The OBEY sticker campaign can be explained as an experiment in Phenomenology. Heidegger describes Phenomenology as "the process of letting things manifest themselves." Phenomenology attempts to enable people to see clearly something that is right before their eyes but obscured; things that are so taken for granted that they are muted by abstract observation.”
More at the Obey Giant website

What in fact does annoy me is that many people knew about the stickers. I seem to be the last one to know. I should have just asked.

Comments

You're not the last to know - I was just as clueless! Thanks for enlightening me.

So this is like a Seinfeld moment... a sticker about nothing. Great.

great piece of writing, bra.

wait for the next installment of this esoteric practice of creating cult figures out of 80's pop culture iconsvia random stickering: Ralph Machio by way of the Karate Kid will be beckoning for your attention at a nearby stop sign soon...

I actually prefered the versions of that sticker that read "Andre the giant has a posse."

Probably by the same folks.

bailey matsuda also has a posse

(oh and yes the andre the giant has a posse stickers are part of the whole obey experiment)

The whole Andre the Giant/OBEY propoganda campaigns started way back in the early 90s in Charleston, SC. I was in college there at the time.

I've been all over the world and seen the stickers around the globe. It started as a graphic design project, and turned into a pop culture phenomenon.

Shepard is a very creative and enterprising dude.

I COULD NOT FIGURE OUT WHAT IT WAS EITHER....Is Meatloaf mad at me? I saw it out on the Northshore highway and it just irked me too...."What is it?" I really have 4:20....what is that crap about? Thank you all.

Great explanation, my brother...Thanks...when i seen this picture i started to stare at it by the point of the nose for a moment and then at the wall, but all i see is the same man...geees...and i thought what is it all about...and wow...this is too much i did all that for nothing...but thank you again for the insight...

Your homegirl,

Tyger

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it appears as though... it did it's purpose

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