The eye-rolling trend of politicians glomming onto hip musicians to appear culturally relevant continues unabated, this time in Alberta, Canada. Earlier this week, recently elected Premier Rachel Notley and two mayors, Edmonton mayor Don Iveson and Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi, unveiled a slogan encapsulating their shared political goals: “Notley Iveson Nenshi: Building Alberta Together.” Naturally, to underscore how serious they are about achieving this unity, the trio adopted the Nine Inch Nails logo.
A photo tweeted by Nenshi’s chief of staff shows Notley and Nenshi grinning as they hold up freshly printed T-shirts featuring their rah-rah slogan and the band’s NIN logo. The National Post wasn’t thrilled, writing, “The group’s most famous songs, ‘Hurt’ and ‘Closer (F— You Like an Animal),’ are thematically appropriate, given what the province’s taxpayers are going to feel during the next four years.” There’s no word yet about how the NIN camp feels either, although as Vanyaland put it, “We’ll just assume [the shirts using the logo were made] without approval from Trent Reznor.” Incidentally, this isn’t the first time Notley has borrowed a band logo for a shirt: Huffington Post Canada points out that she also had campaign tees made up that said—wait for it—Nötley Crüe.