Yes: Patagonia Hid "Vote the Assholes Out" on Some of Its Tags
This season, the company hid a secret message on one of its products—and the internet just noticed.
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From suing the president over Bears Ears National Monument to boycotting one of the outdoor industry’s biggest trade shows, Patagonia hasn’t been shy about wading into politics. But one of its latest political statements isn’t splashed in an ad or plastered across their homepage—it’s hidden on the back of a clothing tag.
Yesterday, an image of a Patagonia clothing tag reading “Vote the Assholes Out” on the back began making the rounds on various social media platforms. While some users questioned whether it was real, the tag is the genuine article, though it’s not new.
“The tags are real. They were added to our 2020 Men’s and Women’s [Road to] Regenerative Organic Stand-Up Shorts because we have been standing up to climate deniers for almost as long as we’ve been making those shorts,” Patagonia spokesperson Corley Kenna said in an emailed statement.
“Vote the assholes out” has become something of a catchphrase for Patagonia’s founder Yvon Chouinard. Over the past four years, the company has clashed repeatedly with the Trump administration and congressional Republicans over public lands policy. After the administration shrank Bears Ears National Monument in 2017, the company changed its homepage to a black banner reading “The President Stole Your Land” and blasting the “illegal” move. In response, the House Committee on Natural Resources tweeted “Patagonia is Lying to You,” and accused the company of “hijacking” the the public lands debate to sell product.