Memes and Protest Posters

Women's March, January 21 2017, Chicago, by Jonathan Eyler-Werve on Flickr, used under a CC-BY 2.0 licenseHow do the current political posters (say like at the women’s march) compare to political protest posters from another time period (let’s say the 60s)? I’m wondering if the rhetoric and content of image-based memes is influencing the phrasing and content of today’s posters.

Take that Grumpy cat poster, for instance. It’s building on the Grumpy Cat meme, of course. And it’s obviously referring to the Billy Bush tapes and Trump’s suggestion to “grab them by the pussy.” There were surely pop culture references in the protest posters of the past, but did they incorporate memes as this one does?

 
 

[Photo credit: Women's March, January 21 2017, Chicago, by Jonathan Eyler-Werve on Flickr, used under a CC-BY 2.0 license]