A T-shirt company that has taken its anti-status quo brand to the streets on a cross-country protest of the petroleum firm BP will be in San Francisco Thursday and Berkeley on Friday.
The Texas-based UNited We Fit "Bang the Drum" tour, which started in New York City in early July, features an oil barrel that passersby can sign, with stickers featuring the brand's characteristic "UN" logo.
From New York City, the company traveled to Los Angeles, and will spend today and Friday in the Bay Area. At the end of the month, the company plans to take the signed barrels back to BP's headquarters in Houston, Texas.
"The brand itself has always been a social action-driven brand," said the company's spokeswoman, Dara Bu.
T-shirts from UNited We Fit feature an "UN" icon on the chest, followed by a blank space that can be filled in by the consumer. Some examples of pre-made "UN" T-shirts include logos such as "UN-medicated," "UN-popular" and "UN-Censored."
"While what's happening in the gulf is unacceptable, our intent is not to bring down BP, they've pretty much accomplished that on their own," UNited We Fit founder Deb Holden said in a prepared statement. "The UN-Project is about looking at things from another perspective in order to bring about change."
The Deepwater Horizon spill began April 20 with an explosion on a drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico run by BP that killed 11 workers and injured 17.
Bu said the company has already gathered so many stickers that it has had to get another barrel to finish out the tour.
The "Bang the Drum" tour is scheduled to be in Dolores Park in San Francisco from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. today. It will be in Berkeley on Friday starting at around 3:30 p.m. near the Michael Franti and Spearhead concert at the Greek Theater.
Bay City News
