Biden campaign releases yard sign designs for Animals Crossing, teases future "digital swag"

Hillary Clinton’s various political campaigns often had a strange knack for making every attempt to seem “cool” or “relatable” feel grating and phony. Part of that is because the higher-ups in the Democratic party take their popularity with young people for granted, assuming that whatever they do will be cool because they’re the cool ones, even though that’s only true because their regular opponents in the GOP are so far from cool that they make the average Democrat look like Han Solo in Ray-Bans on a motorcycle (Bernie Sanders could’ve locked this thing up if he had worn sunglasses and a vest more often). All of that is to say that the Democrats are at it again, with another cool and relatable voter outreach thing that feels kind of phony. But hey, we’ll take phony over the Republicans saying that the way to beat the coronavirus is to let millions of people die.

This comes from The Verge, which says the Biden-Harris presidential campaign has released QR codes that can be used to unlock campaign signs in Animal Crossing: New Horizons on the Nintendo Switch. The game has systems in place that allow people to design their own outfits and signs, so this isn’t some kind of licensed DLC thing, but it does show that the people trying to get Joe Biden elected are aware of the fact that, A.) Animal Crossing exists, B.) Animal Crossing is very popular, and C.) You can design your own things in Animal Crossing. If it’s important to you that a political candidate knows those things, then the Democrats sure have a guy for you!

So yeah, maybe it’s not super cool, but it’s fine. At least it’s not hurting anybody (which, again, is the strategy the Republicans seem to be going with). What is a little concerning, though, is that Christian Tom, the Biden campaign’s director of digital partnerships, told The Verge that they’re going to be “rolling out more digital swag” on Animal Crossing and “other platforms.” We don’t know how much it costs to put something in Fortnite, but surely Biden can make that happen if he tries. Just imagine: You and your squad, dropping into Misty Meadows or Frenzy Farm with a Joe Biden, a Kamala Harris, a Deadpool, and some kind of banana creature, all ready to loot and shoot and built walls and vote for the Democrats in November. Doesn’t that just sound… well, not fun or appealing but… inevitable?

Hey, here’s an idea: Can we just vote now and not have to deal with any of this? Nobody’s going to change their mind at any point between now and November, no matter how many signs they see in Animal Crossing.