Page 16 - IAV Digital Magazine #551

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‘Eat the Rich’ Truck Sells $10 Popsicles Shaped Like Billionaires
By Khristopher J. Brooks / CBS
An artists’ collective in Brooklyn is selling popsicles shaped like billionaires including Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos with the tagline “Eat the Rich.” But the $10 price tag on the frozen treats has some people pointing out the irony of criti- cizing the world’s wealthiest while engaging in “peak capitalism.”
The ice cream pops are offered by the artist collective MSCHF and sold via food trucks in New York City and Santa Monica, California. The popsicles are proving popular: they
sold out Tuesday in New York, Bloomberg reported.
The treats were designed to start a conversation, MSCHF’s chief rev- enue officer Daniel Greenberg told CBS MoneyWatch via email. Even though the items are selling well, MSCHF will stop its project Wednesday and “there are no plans to expand this,” he said.
Billionaire wealth soared during the pandemic, boosting the fortunes of Musk, Bezos and others — and sparking calls from some lawmakers for a “wealth tax” amid widening
inequalities. While the popsicles are poking fun at the world’s rich- est, some individuals on social media say the joke’s on those paying $10 a pop.
“I’m going to go out on a limb here and say selling overpriced popsicles to end capi- talism is peak cham- pagne socialism larp,” noted one Twitter user, referring to live- action role-playing.
Another pointed out, “A ice cream truck selling ‘eat the rich’ popsicles for $10 to influencers to post on Instagram so they can sell ads is ironically peak capitalism.”
Aside from Musk and
Bezos, customers can purchase frozen treats shaped like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Ma. The snacks have tongue-in-cheek names like Snack on Jack, Bite Bezos, Gobble Gates, Suck Zuck and Munch Musk. Advertising depicts headshots of the well-known billion- aires alongside their icy likenesses.
The popsicles are the latest in a series of art projects from MSCHF designed to spark public interest, Greenberg said. MSCHF — a vowel- less abbreviation of the word mischief — is the same collective that created musician
Lil Nas X’s Satan Nike shoes. Canadian musician Grimes car- ried a sword created by MSCHF to the Met Gala last year.
The Satan shoes from MSCHF drew immedi- ate controversy because the design contained human blood. The shoes eventually generated a lawsuit from Nike because they alleged- ly copied from the brand’s Swoosh logo.
Grimes’ sword was created with metal from AR-15 rifles under the collective’s “Guns2Swords” art project. It was the subject of conversa- tion during the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s annual fundraiser.
“I think we always expected this as this is the norm for MSCHF,” Greenberg said about the popsi- cles.
For its final day, MSCHF will open its ice cream truck in New York City from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Washington Square Park and from 11 a.m. to6p.m.on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles.
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