The people behind popular party game Cards Against Humanity have pulled some interesting stunts over the years, especially with their holiday surprise promotions. Those have seen them get people to pay them money for surprises that have included actual poop, a hole, a private island and more.
They’ve also made their opposition to President Donald Trump pretty clear, with trying to hire Barack Obama as CEO in January and co-creator Max Temkin sending a copy of his new “Secret Hitler” deduction game to every U.S. senator in February, along with a letter discussing “the difficulty of recognizing your own manipulation before it’s too late.” (That game also added a “Trump Pack” of secret roles involving Trump and other administration officials this summer.) They’ve now combined those two things with their latest holiday promotion of “Cards Against Humanity Saves America,” which the website they set up for the promotion says will include buying land along the U.S.-Mexico border to fight the construction of Trump’s proposed wall:
Donald Trump is a preposterous golem who is afraid of Mexicans. He is so afraid that he wants to build a twenty-billion dollar wall that everyone knows will accomplish nothing. So we’ve purchased a plot of vacant land on the border and retained a law firm specializing in eminent domain to make it as time-consuming and expensive as possible for the wall to get built.
On Day 1, all Cards Against Humanity Saves America recipients will get an illustrated map of the land, a certificate of our promise to fight the wall, some new cards, and a few other surprises.
The campaign sold out in hours, as per Amy B. Wang of The Washington Post, and it appears they have many more anti-Trump gifts ahead for recipients with their other five surprises. Their FAQ also includes another shot at Trump, in reference to their own previously-stated plan to stop the holiday silliness. “You said you weren’t going to do one of these complicated holiday promotions again.” “We’re liars, just like the president.” But the even more political part comes in the trailer they produced to promote the campaign, set as a future video looking back at how they “saved America”:
“In the early part of the 21st century, Donald Trump had just been elected president of the United States. …The people had become lazy, and stupid. The country seemed to be hanging by a thread. But then, a small card game company from Chicago, Illinois, known as Cards Against Humanity launched a bold campaign to save America.”
So yeah, that’s a pretty political take. And while Cards Against Humanity has done plenty of other marketing stunts, including a “women’s version” (the same game, but it costs more), and a fake Super Bowl ad involving a potato, this one definitely feels like a stunt where they’re also trying to make a political point. Whether consumers like that or not may depend on their feelings about the current political climate, and/or your feelings about Cards Against Humanity (many like them, but they’ve also received strong criticism for cards that reference violence, racism, rape and more). But they certainly don’t appear afraid to take a stand here, and they’ve certainly got plenty of people willing to subscribe for these “gifts.” And their FAQ has a notable response to critics who want them to “stick to card games”:
Q: “I don’t like that you’re getting political. Why don’t you just stick to card games?”
A: “Why don’t you stick to seeing how many Hot Wheels Cars you can fit up your asshole?”
[Cards Against Humanity Saves America]
