The Met Gala has always been known as the “Oscars of the east coast”; the premier event on the New York social calendar. This year, pressure group Everybody Hates Elon is doing its best to damage the prestige of the starry fundraiser with a poster campaign that condemns this year’s sponsor, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
“There’s no dressing it up. Met Gala chair Jeff Bezos avoids tax, enables ICE and backs Trump,” reads one. Others show a bottle of urine on a red carpet alongside the word “Brought to you by worker exploitation,” or “Democracy is so last season.”
The campaign might even be working – there are reports that tickets, originally on sale for $100,000 each, are being discounted as the real A-listers and tastemakers choose not to be associated with the tackier elements of the tech set. Event New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani is skipping the event, saying that he’s focusing on affordability.
At Cannes Lions, a parallel shift has been taking place as the tech giants’ generous budgets dwarf those of the ad agencies, just as they dwarf the funds of fashion houses like Gucci, Chanel and Louis Vuitton that which have sponsored the Met Gala in the recent past.
With Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman and Venus Williams as co-chairs, the event (which takes place on Monday 4th May) isn’t likely to be a flop, but it’s another sign that technology is pricing out creativity and even eroding culture.
