On July 4, 2001, Independence Day in the United States, many United States homes flew not the traditional American flag but a corporatised version. The top left corner of the US flag has white stars set on a blue background. In the corporatised version the stars have been replaced with corporate logos – those of Nike, Warner Bros, PepsiCo, McDonalds and more.
No this is not a new marketing strategy for these firms but a protest strategy organised by the Adbusters group. Their claim is that America has lost its independence to massive global corporations, that the directions of the nation and the world are not being set in the interests of people, but in the interests of profit.