If you’ve retreated into games like Animal Crossing: New Horizons to avoid the increasingly unavoidable spectre of the 2020 US election, we’ve got some bad news.
The campaign of Democratic candidate Joe Biden has released digital yard signs as part of a “broader initiative to organize voters online this fall.”
From today, gamers can scan QR codes from within the Nintendo Switch Online app and adorn their digital lands with signs supporting the challenger to Donald Trump in November, in what promises to be a closely fought and massively contentious US presidential election.
Related: Best Nintendo Switch Games
You can grab the official Biden-Harris logo, Team Joe logo, the “Joe” Pride logo and some red white and blue aviator sunglasses akin to those worn by the septuagenarian candidate.
If you were hoping that your gaming refuge could be kept separate from people continually campaigning for their preferred candidate in your ear for the next two months and beyond, you’re probably going to be out of luck. The Biden campaign told The Verge that it is looking for other ways to “meet voters where they are” and this won’t be the only instance of them courting voters via Animal Crossing.
Christian Tom, the director of digital partnerships for Biden, told The Verge: “This is just the start of how we plan to engage players ahead of November as we’re already looking forward to rolling out more digital swag, voter education tools, and organizing efforts on Animal Crossing and other platforms.”
Video games have become a new way for marketers to get events and products in front of the right eyeballs in 2020. We’ve seen movie trailers and concerts within Fortnite, while the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War trailer debuted within the Warzone multiplayer version of the game.
Would you rather politics stay away from your video games? Let us know @trustedreviews on Twitter.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
