In this episode of Speak PR, host Jim James argues that face masks have become a powerful, low‑cost medium for public relations and brand expression during the COVID era. He notes the explosion of political masks on platforms like Etsy (over 4,000 designs) and cites high‑visibility examples such as Marjorie Taylor Greene’s “Free Speech” mask, MAGA/Stars‑and‑Stripes masks from the Capitol riot, and masks worn by Dr. Fauci, President Biden, Adidas, and the United States Postal Service. James expands the idea to corporate branding, highlighting how companies and restaurants are creating custom masks to reinforce team unity, convey brand guidelines, and make statements—whether witty, political, or supportive. He suggests businesses consider personalized or slogan‑filled masks as a cheap way to signal organization, safety, and culture as teams return to in‑person work. The episode concludes with calls to visit esospr.com for more PR tips and speakpr.co for a mastermind program.
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Hi, welcome to this episode of Speak PR. My name is Jim James, and I want to ask what you're wearing on your face, because there are over 4,000 political masks available for sale on Etsy. And as governments around the world are insisting that we all wear masks when we go out, it has to be now the greatest form of PR signage for those of us running businesses. Now, what made me think of this was watching Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, and she had a face mask saying free speech when she was up having her rights to be in political committees taken under consideration by the House. And it struck me then, watching how the Americans especially have taken on board the opportunity of having to wear a mask to be a way of expressing what they are thinking, which they can't say. But actually, most importantly, in this day and age of social media and photographs making a statement when speech can't, the face mask gives people an amazing opportunity to have their message seen and therefore heard around the world. We saw when the insurrection happened on the 6th of last month, when the group of Trump supporters went on Capitol Hill, that many of them were wearing MAGA hats, but also they were wearing Stars and Stripes face masks. So it's definitely now something that we should all be thinking about, not just if we've got something political to say, but also if we've got, for example, a team or staff on board that are going to be representing the brand in front of customers. It may no longer be a smile that the customers remember. It may be the face mask. That they remember. Now I mentioned there are over 4,381 political face masks for sale on Etsy, but you can also make your own or you can buy them. I just thought I'd have a quick look around. We've got Marjorie Taylor Greene wearing one saying free speech. Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labour opposition, just wears a black one. President Joe Biden is wearing one with a presidential seal. And there was a chap in America called Brad Thompson, who's the chief operations director at a company called Built on Athletics. And he says, if you have to put this thing on your face, an actually visual representation of a paradigm shift in society, why not make it as crazy as possible? So let's just have a look at some of those masks that people are wearing out there. Now, we had Dr. Fauci wearing NIH research keeps us safe, making a statement. Not the necessarily the most amusing, but one that is topical as he's looking out at us all. Adidas have got their own branded face masks. In fact, all the sportswearers are doing the same. The United States Postal Service has got on board and they've offered and issued out face masks to all of their all their staff. Now, when I look at our British postman. He's actually not wearing a mask. He's certainly not wearing a British Postal Service mask. Now we have another mask here where it says, quit staring, where's yours? So semi-political, semi-judgmental. There's another one where it says, more concerned about losing my constitutional rights than catching COVID-19. That's of course one of these people that doesn't want to wear the mask. Then we have restaurants. An Italian restaurant called the Black Trumpet has made a mask, for example. And then not every company has taken such good care of their employees. There is one mask which is just the paper-thin mask with a lady of Asian descent saying, my employer refuse to give me a mask. And so obviously making a statement there about the fact that their companies are not doing it. And there's another one that says, if you're reading this, you're too close. There is a website called maskclub.com which has got thousands of masks, but also branded for men, for women, for children, and so on. So it's now possible to think of the face mask not just as a protection against COVID, but as an extension of the brand guidelines for a company. And I was thinking of this because as we all start to think about going back into the communities later on, why aren't we having masks, for example, with individual names on them? It's not impossible to do that. People are making masks by hand in low volumes. We could certainly have brand on the masks or brand slogans. The sort of thing where maybe if you were to go into a restaurant, people greet you. There's no reason why that couldn't be on their mask as well. There's different colors and different layouts and different styles of mask. And if masks are going to become part of our day-to-day wearing and for our teams and our staff, then creating some kind of consistency around mask look and feel could actually then become one of the statements that a company's making about how organized they are. We see this now, for example, some of the soccer teams as well wearing branded team masks. Thinking about the expression, the statement that can be made by a mask— it can be witty, it could be political, it can be judgmental, or it could be silent. But one way or another, the mask is becoming an expression of what is being not said or certainly not seen. So just maybe consider that as you're looking at low-cost ways to help your team to reintegrate and to continue to feel like a team. Maybe masks made for the team representing the company and maybe with a slogan of some kind, even it's just a smile could be a really nice way to give everyone the expression that you're all in this together and keeping your team safe. So thank you for listening to this very short but just observational podcast about the impact of masks and what people are starting to use them for and what you might want to use them for within your organization. My name is Jim James. Thank you for listening to this episode of Speak PR. If you'd like more comments and tools and tips like this, then you can go to esospr.com for our newsletter. Or if you're really interested in a mastermind with me, come to speakpr.co. So until we meet again, I wish you the best of health, a sustainable business. And next time you put your mask on, just think about the statement that it's making to those people that get to see you. And when you're looking at the masks from other people, what message are they giving you? Maybe there's something to think about this weekend. Thank you so much.
