Art-Led Campaign and Public Intervention, 2016
Bun The Tories
Bun The Tories began in 2016 as an art-led response to the political climate in the UK, using humour, print and circulation rather than protest to reach people who felt politically disengaged. Stickers and T-shirts spread the slogan through streets, pubs and social media, tying free merchandise to voter registration and turning profits into money for homelessness charities.
The Campaign
Bun The Tories started as a response to the UK political climate in 2016, and to the renewed sense of optimism among younger voters during the rise of Corbynism. Rather than positioning the work as protest, Mark used humour, graphic language and circulation to engage people who felt politically disengaged or disillusioned.
The idea was simple: make something people wanted to wear and share, then attach a small civic condition to getting hold of it. As the work spread, it moved beyond a single artwork into a distributed intervention, running across print, social media and public space at once.
The Shirt
The campaign centred on a bold, accessible T-shirt design, printed across several colourways and intended to circulate quickly through social spaces, streets and online platforms. All profits from T-shirt sales were donated to homelessness charities, folding fundraising directly into the design rather than treating it as an afterthought.
Over the course of the campaign, more than £3,500 was raised for homelessness support.
Worn Out
The shirt turned up in all sorts of places, worn at home, out with friends and around Manchester. Different colourways found different audiences, but the flat, oversized type stayed constant across every version, designed to read clearly from across a room or a street.
Stickers and Badges
Stickers and badges did the quiet work of the campaign. As a condition of receiving a free sticker, participants were asked to register to vote and share confirmation of registration, linking the distribution of the work directly to civic participation rather than simple giveaway.
Making It
Early production ran out of front rooms rather than a studio: fabric cut and labelled on an ironing board, stock organised by hand, orders packed and posted between other jobs. The campaign grew faster than the production process, which stayed deliberately small and direct throughout.
On the Street
Bunting carrying the slogan went up at street parties and outdoor DJ sets, turning a protest phrase into something closer to festival signage. A banner version travelled to a demonstration outside a Conservative Party conference, held in a public park under the eye of mounted police.
At one point during the campaign, a supporter photographed her baby in a Bun The Tories babygrow alongside Jeremy Corbyn, a small, unplanned moment that a local news crew ended up filming. It summed up the whole project: a piece of graphic design that kept finding its way into rooms and situations well beyond Mark’s control.
Commission a Similar Project
If you have a message that needs humour, print and momentum rather than a conventional advertising push, get in touch. This kind of project works best when the idea is bold enough to spread on its own.
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Questions
What was Bun The Tories?
An art-led campaign from 2016 using stickers, T-shirts and bunting to engage people who felt politically disengaged, built around humour and circulation rather than conventional protest.
How did the sticker mechanic work?
Free stickers were given out on the condition that participants registered to vote and shared confirmation of registration, linking distribution of the work directly to civic participation.
Where did the money from T-shirt sales go?
All profits were donated to homelessness charities. Over the course of the campaign, more than £3,500 was raised for homelessness support.
How far did the campaign spread?
Well beyond Manchester. Stickers and shirts turned up in cafes, workshops, pub gardens and rooftop bars, and a banner version was carried to a demonstration outside a Conservative Party conference.
Was the campaign linked to a political party?
No. It was an independent, art-led intervention rather than official campaign material for any party, aimed at engagement and fundraising rather than partisan messaging.
Can Moderate Studio design a similar campaign?
Get in touch to discuss a similar message-led campaign, print run or piece of merchandise.
From the Journal
The Slogan, out in the World
Dated entries following Bun The Tories, from the first printed shirt to the marches, the merchandise and where the money went.
Selected Work