This AR filter makes Trump’s campaign signs turn against him

With Trump’s taxes (or lack of) bringing the US president under fire (well, more so than usual), a group of student designers and activists have chosen an opportune time to launch their sharply comedic and clever subvertising project, Trump Against Trump. The result of five months research and fact-checking around the president’s real activities, the AR filter transforms Trump’s own campaign signs so they “tell the truth,” changing the text on the signs into statements that don’t paint him in the best light – hence turning his own signs against him.

By holding your phone up to the blue signs with a red border, which originally say “Trump Pence – Keep America Great!” the text below Trump instantly transforms into one of a range of hidden statements written by the students, highlighting one of the president’s abhorrent doings. For example: “Trump… paid no income taxes in 10 out of the past 15 years. The year he won the presidency, he paid $750 in income taxes.” Or: “Trump… proposed cutting New York State’s educational budget by $433 million.” Befitting the man himself, some facts are laughable: “Trump… spread rumours that windmills cause cancer”; and others are just plain depressing: “Trump… praised low Black voter turnout”. All the sources for the facts are cited in an online spreadsheet, and include publications and platforms such as The Washington Post, the BBC, Politifact, the White House website and Trump’s own Twitter account.

After discovering that 100 million eligible Americans didn’t vote in 2016, the students decided to “use Trump’s campaign marketing against itself”. The project, the students say, aims to hijack one of the current president’s most prominent marketing tools, the lawn sign, to reveal to users “how Trump’s reality affects yours”. The transformed sign will be customised to each visitor’s location, showing a fact specific to the state from where they are scanning the sign. To use the filter and find out more about the project go to the Trump Against Trump website. There’s also a link to register to vote embedded in the site.