Brand awareness/association

I’ve been trying to get a friend of mine involved with this DAO. This person comes from the mainstream news media world, they have been a social media manager for at least two recognized names within the USA.

They were doing some checking into the DAO and trying to see if it may be a fit for them and today they raised a flag to me that the DAO may want to think about.

The meme character Pepe the Frog has been legitimately linked to racism, specifically white supremacy.

The originator of the meme, one Matt Furie in 2017 “drew Pepe in one final comic—at the frog’s own funeral” because of a failed bid at trying to bring back “the positive aspects” of his “cute, generally happy frog” as he told the Athletic in this article about Pepe on the Dictionary dot com website.

Further, the ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) has put Pepe on its list of Hate symbols.

Regardless of whether this meme is being used in a funny or light-hearted way to expand the Bankless name, there obviously is a stigma attached to this character and I believe the DAO should distance itself from using it going forward.

Obviously, it is up to each one of us to be aware of what we post, but Bankless should be promoting inclusivity.

IMHO Pepe is not helping in this manner.

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As much as I love Matt Furie’s work and as unfortunate as it is, I agree and it’s a good point to bring up. Especially since we have .05 seconds to make an impression. It would be good to have some guidelines for the Bankless creative.

While we’re on the topic, if you haven’t seen “Feels Good Man” the documentary about Pepe the Frog it’s worth a watch.

Where was Pepe used within the DAO? :slight_smile:

Sorry, I should have included where the DAO is using this meme when I posted the original message.

It’s being used on the DAO Twitter page. This is just one meme that I did screenshot, there’s at least one other, maybe more.

I don’t believe it’s being used in anyway related to the racist undertones attached with this character. However the stigma is attached to Pepe and I believe the DAO should be aware and hold itself to a higher standard.

We’re trying to help onboard many people all over the world and we don’t need a known racist character being the face of this blooming environment.

With David Hoffman’s recent podcast with Dmitry Buterin talking about inclusivity and more, a conversation about ethics and guidelines for the DAO should probably be put on the list of ‘things to do’.

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Thank you for pointing this out. I agree we shouldn’t use Pepe. I saw that you had a conversation in the design guild and the guild agrees with this as well.

Moving to archive. Please reply to reopen.