Bold Progressives: Anti-Elon Musk Poster Promotion

The “Hands Off” protest movement that launched in the Spring of 2025 included thousands of these creepy-great “Elon Musk: I Am Stealing From You” posters, commissioned by the Progressive Change Institute and distributed by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (or “PCCC” at BoldProgressives.org). CNN, The Associated Press, The New York Times, Axios, Time Magazine, Reuters, The Hill — and even Rachel Maddow — have featured the posters, produced and fulfilled through F.I.I.

Merch for Fundraising Plus Much More

PCCC is a million-member grassroots organization building power at the local, state and federal levels through both electoral and issue advocacy work.

“When we collaborate with F.I.I. on branded merch, it always has a purpose beyond fundraising,” notes Keith Rouda, the org’s Online Member Engagement Director. “There’s always activism behind the merch. People want it because it helps them with their activism. The goal of the posters was to make Elon Musk a real liability for the administration.”

Selecting the Most Effective (and Economical) Merch

The poster art was commissioned by the PCCC’s sister organization, the Progressive Change Institute. They’re a 501(c)3 with an education-focused mission. Well-known D.C. area political street artist Absurdly Well designed the hard-hitting image.

“F.I.I. was really good at working with us on the front end. Items like this aren’t something we do day in and day out. F.I.I. helped us with many aspects of choosing the right product, right down to making sure they ship appropriately to arrive in good shape,” notes Rouda. “F.I.I. helps us stretch our donation dollars as far as possible. I find them to be competitively priced, their service is good, and they’re always helpful and responsive.”

Successful Multi-Platform Campaign Elements

Email Marketing:

PCCC initially promoted the posters through emails to members. With donations of $30 or more, supporters got a poster sent straight to their door. They could also get packs of 5 and 10 posters to distribute to others at rallies and protests across the country.

Emails drove to a landing page on Act Blue, where many of the organization’s long-time supporters have Express Accounts. “It made ordering nearly frictionless,” Rouda explains. “We also have a Shopify store. F.I.I. handles the fulfillment for both platforms.”

Partner Networking & Social Media

With so many other groups involved in the protests, there were many opportunities for PCCC to distribute posters via other organizations as well.

“People have been asking ‘where can I get one?’, and we want to widen the audience beyond our membership,” explains Rouda. “We’re offering them on organic social media, with paid Meta ads to reach more people.”

Suggestions to Multi-Purpose the Merch

The PCCC’s member email encouraged supporters to use the posters for rallies, also included these post-rally ideas: “Bring it to your next march. Hang it in your window. Use it as a tool for truth-telling and protest wherever you are.“

Great work, PCCC, and Amen!