13 Cursed Spon Cons From Dude With Sign

Happy Friday the 13th to me and my little nightmare boy!

Hello everyone, 

Keeping in trend with really important newsletters: today a countdown of 13 harrowing sponsored posts courtesy of my obsession, my muse, my Goodest Boy: Dude With Sign. Did he block me across platforms because I repeatedly called him my little nightmare boy? He did. We all have our own battles to face.

Are you unfamiliar with him? Or new to following me? Those two are mutually exclusive: I have been bewitched with this project since it began, and to see it circulating now on Twitter fills me with a sinister and deep knowing. That yes, I have a Midas touch. And it is specifically for seeing very cursed projects in their infancy, shouting into the void about it, and watching approx 1-2 years later as it becomes widely used Twitter bait. So let me remind you who he is—for it’s not really about this “dude” (who is a real person) but the enterprise, the Fuck Jerry orchestration, the clever crafting of a Big Meme Page made seemingly “quaint” (look, it’s written on cardboard, it’s analog!) so as to seem wholesome, personable, relatable, as he peddles stale (and stolen) jokes to sell the Fuck Jerry brand and associated products—tequila, board games, vessel for ad partnerships. Etc.

As I wrote about in the initial overview Signs of the Times, “Dude with Sign is, as I texted someone recently, an Instagram account where “a tall dude who I guess is attractive? stands around Manhattan holding signs that hold twitter platitudes from two years ago.”

As echoed just above, my thoughts are generally:

I can see this only as FuckJerry trying to rebrand as someone who “makes real things” the “real things” here being the signs, held in public by a face. This isn’t an isolated trend: people take obvious truths and sayings, almost always not their own, and spin them into DIY crafts (often for sale) that give a wholesomeness to otherwise generic platitudes.

I’ve talked a lot about how this trend is not specific to Dude With Sign, though he might be seen as a sort of Final Boss of Signage Instagram because the endeavor is so successful—by no account of his own, it is engineered as such, upsettingly very well I might add. There are cakes, there are balloons, there are LED lights, there are wood cuts: all of these teach, scold, moralize, loosely try to inspire—without really saying anything at all.

 How are we supposed to treat creators that are not creators as much as they are curators, especially when on this big, and monetizable, a scale? Using a common reality, a common phrase, rewritten in a medium of your choosing, you can funnel your way into fame, situate yourself as a creator because, though we’ve all seen this phrase a million times, doesn’t this version look pretty enough to post?

In the initial overview, I definitely went Too Deep and tried to ascribe some sort of meaning to the project beyond just “it really annoys me.” So here in the follow up “Do You Want Celebs to Have Good Takes” I tried to explore why the trend at large bothers me:

I also wonder about the proliferation of empty signs—the Dudes with Signs—that seem to be saying something, the rise of this type of “art” amidst the increasing pressure on certain public people to Say Anything. More and more I see these types of signs. Not all of them are so literal, but the tone is always the same, whether it’s scolding us or reminding us that we are loved. In the turn of phrase written on pastel color gradients or cardboard or on a whiteboard or made of magnetic letters on a marquee-esque sign, everyone is giving us a guidepost about how to feel, how to treat ourselves and others, and all saying these at once. 

So, a thorough introduction and more material for you to read if so inclined. Without further ado, here we go. (These are not ordered in any definitive ranking, they are all uniquely cursed.)

13. You Are Not Alone Right Now, Sponsored by Kleenex

“A lot of us are feeling a lot right now. To help navigate #AllTheFeelings, @Kleenex is offering 100,000 free three-month subscriptions to @Calm. Click the link in my bio to learn more and subscribe. #Sponsored”

ID: The Dude with Sign (shiver) holds up a cardboard sign that says “You are not alone right now #all the feelings.”

12. Not Everything is That Funny, Jimmy, with Jimmy Fallon

ID: the Dude with Sign stands next to a laughing Jimmy Fallon. Dude With Sign is holding a sign that says “not everything is that funny, Jimmy.” Jimmy’s sign says “hahahaha.”

11. Pooping From Home Hits Different, with Charmin

ID: this time, the Dude with Sign pretends to be pooping. His sign says “Pooping from home just hits different.”

10. Don’t Spend Money You Don’t Have, with Point Card HQ

ID: the Dude with Sign holds a sign that says “Don’t spend money you don’t have.” The caption says “cut up your credit card and get @pointcardhq. Sign up with code DUDE to get your first year free and start earning unlimited cash-back for spending your own money - link in bio.”

9. We Get It, You Invest, with Wealthfront 

ID: The Dude With Sign is on Wall Street. His sign says “we get it, you invest.”

8. Show Mother Earth Some Love, by Old Spice 

ID: The Dude with Sign wears an Old Spice shirt. His sign says “love the earth like you love your mother.”

7. Don’t Forget The Balls, by Saxx Underwear 

ID: The Dude with Sign is just wearing underwear and holding a sign that says “don’t forget the balls.” Thank you Dude with Sign.

6. Use This Sign to Slide Into Someone’s DMs, by Instagram 

ID: The Dude With Sign holds a sign that says “use this sign to slide into someone’s DMs.”

5. A Condom is Just a Mask For Your Penis, with Durex 

ID: The Dude With Sign has some condoms draped over his shoulder. His sign says, “a condom is just a mask for your penis.”

4. No Bad Vibes This Summer, by Bud Light 

ID: the Dude with Sign smiles in a Tie Dye shirt. His sign says “no bad vibes this summer.”

3. Stop Grunting In The Gym, By Oculus

ID: The Dude With Sign is wearing VR goggles in a gym. His sign says “stop grunting in the gym.”

2. Things You Should Never Do, by Canva  

ID: The Dude with Sign holds a sign that says “things you should never do.” It’s part of a slideshow.

1. Only Good Energy in 2021, by BMW 

ID: The Dude with Sign stands in front of a BMW with BMW shirt on. His sign says “only good energy in 2021.” This is in fact referring to the car being energy renewable or some shit.

Thanks everyone for reading this important update, sparked by a photo of Dude With Sign standing next to Biden. At least he’s encouraging vaccination now, I suppose, though previous posts document him bemoaning selfies of vaccinations, reminding people they don’t have to post about what vaccine they got, and general pleas to stay safe while he documents his travels around the world for spon con opportunities. I love him!

ID: The Dude with Sign stands next to Biden. He’s holding a sign that says “let’s look out for each other and get vaccinated” but I have cleverly replaced the word vaccinated with “pegged.” Biden holds a sign that says “This Dude gets it, folks.”

Signing off,
Shelby (and Clem)