A recent visit to US military bases in Greenland by Vice President JD Vance, his wife, Usha, and national security adviser Michael Waltz, may have come across a cold shoulder, but produced at least one hot item.
The week before Vance's arrival, Aannguaq Reimer-Johansen, a consultant at Greenland's trade conglomerate KNI, posted a photo on his Facebook page of what looked like a bright red maga hat. However, Raymer Johansen's hat is not the usual “make America great again” that says “America is leaving America.”
It touched the nerves as well as locally. The hat ended with “Daily Show” and “View.” The general response across social media was “I want one.” Tina Brown compared it to “French resistance on the ice,” so she tied the red hat to the “bonnet rouge” of the French Revolution.
The success of the maga hat as a symbol of political loyalty – even the small screen of a smartphone, its immediate recognition potential has proven to be an effective weapon of opposition, at least internationally. A parody of points.
Greenland hats come in the wake of the Canadian hat protest that began earlier this year in response to the president of Canada's threat of making Canada a 51st province. At that time, Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford was wearing a truck driver's hat that looked like a “dark maga” hat, and that alone gave the saying “Canada is not for sale.”
The hat, available on Maga Red and White, has sparked similar social media Hoo-Ha, pushing creators Liam Mooney and Emma Cochrane's Ottawa into an unexpected career path. They are currently creating a brand that Canada is not for sale, and Mooney said they have sold over 40,000 hats “in almost every country in the world” as well as Canada. Instead of peeping, demand is growing. (Recently, Ford urged a man wearing a “Canada is not on sale” hat to “never take it off” in a somewhat controversial way.)
After all, “they can play the hat game,” Mooney said. Or three in that respect.
The Greenland and Canadian Magazine hats are part of a long tradition of protest and protest art, embracing and destroying familiar ones, said Ruth Bengiatt, a professor of history at New York University and author of Strongman: Mussolini. “We need a ubiquitous symbol that is visually arrested and we'll apply it with a completely different message,” she said.
“Authorists in general are very knowledgeable about making clothes in apparel and tribal affiliations where people can wear on their bodies,” she continued. “Trump is a marketer, so he understands this.”
He is an expert in marching his message, especially with items like hats, and modeling it so relentlessly that it transcended its origins as a stolen item in the campaign and became part of the regime's spiritualism. He threw his hat to the audience at his “liberation day” tariff announcement, like a souvenir of the moment. The message can also be modified according to the audience, like Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Maha slogan.
“We've seen a lot of experience in our business,” said David Sauberman, a marketing professor at the University of Toronto's Rottman School of Management.
This is effectively what psychologists call “poison parasite protection.” This occurs when new meanings like parasites are attached to the familiar “host messages,” so when you look at one, you think of the other. (This is also Trump's tactic, especially adopted in his mugshot. He turned it into a ralliant portrait of cries and power, rather than being embarrassed.)
Greenland and Canadian hats have taken similar attempts to protest parody in the United States, but include hats “American Gay Again” and “NATO Make America Again.” Political strategist and messaging consultant Anat Schenker Osorio said he thought there were two reasons.
First, the Democrats were unable to focus on the message of one magician. Instead, they, along with their hats, split into their interest groups, as well as their positions. In contrast, she said that Greenland and Canadian hats not only protest against foreign invasions, but also united those who support their country.
“It really says, 'I represent the idea of a sovereign nation,'' Mooney added.
Schenker Osorio then said the hat represents the three components needed to make a successful protest. “Resistance, rejection, rid lol.”
“Rid lol is important,” she said.
Reimer-Johansen did not respond to requests for comment, but Mooney thinks his hat is easy to appeal. “Policies, trade agreements and international relations can be very confusing,” he said. “This cuts through all the noise.”
That's why Bengiat believes anti-Maga movement products are just beginning. As the image spreads across social media, she said, “something that someone invents in Greenland might be accepted in Canada, Mexico and the United States.”
