BrandBox: QAnon, a Brand Audit

PRINTCast: The PRINT Podcast Studio is a curated collection of cutting-edge podcasts we love about design, creativity, branding, books, and further subjects afield. Soon, we’ll have a dedicated digital listening room. In the meantime, we present the latest episode of BrandBox, “a (playful and thoughtful) podcast on the strategies and effects of brands.”

QAnon went from the netherrealms of the internet on 4Chan to the tongues of prominent politicians, and in this episode of BrandBox, hosts Tom Guarriello and Mark Kingsley explore the brand behind the conspiracy theory—and how it became the prominent fringe force that it is today.

Show Notes

• Google Trends for "QAnon."

• QAnon: What is it and Where Did it Come From?

• How Three Conspiracy Theorists Took 'Q' and Sparked QAnon.

• Navy Probing Patches Worn During Trump’s Wasp Visit.

• Florida SWAT Officer is Demoted After Wearing QAnon Patch Next to Mike Pence.

• Michael Flynn Posts Video Featuring QAnon Slogans.

• The Surprising History of Twitter’s Hashtag Origin and 4 Ways to Get the Most Out of Them.

• New World Order (Conspiracy Theory).

• Crusades.

• Claude Lévi-Strauss, The Raw and the Cooked.

• Kitsch.

• Friedrich Kluge, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache (Etymological Dictionary of the German Language).

• QAnon is Like a Game—a Most Dangerous Game. (via David Kurushima)

SVA Masters in Branding program // Music courtesy of Mikel Rouse // Dr. Tom Guarriello // Mark Kingsley