Meme-able ‘Couch Lube’ campaign by Quality Meats trolls JD Vance & benefits Harris’s run
Inspired by an unhinged internet rumor about the Republican vice-presidential candidate, this spoof campaign cheekily champions “couch love for the love of democracy “ while raising funds for Kamala Harris’s presidential run.
Sales of the real lubricant go towards the Harris campaign / Credit: Quality Meats
In the latest chapter of the JD Vance couch saga, Chicago-based creative house Quality Meats has launched a tongue-in-cheek product called ‘JD Jelly Couch Lube,’ the first water-based lubricant designed specifically for couch love-making.
The spoof product, available for preorder at JDJellyCouchLube.com for $20.24 per bottle, is an absurd response to a widely circulated but baseless internet meme claiming that Vance recounted pleasuring himself with couch cushions in his 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy.
While Vance’s memoir contains no such passage, the meme has taken on a life of its own, with major news outlets picking up the story and comedian John Oliver even joking, “I’ve never seen someone with more couch f***er energy.”
Ashley Furniture employees when JD Vance walks in. pic.twitter.com/p5xRNzJG90
— Alex Cole (@acnewsitics) July 30, 2024
Quality Meats seized the opportunity to poke fun at the situation while supporting a political cause. According to the agency, samples of the product will be ready just in time for the Democratic National Convention (DNC), and the e-commerce site also accepts donations for those who want to support Harris without purchasing the product.
All proceeds from JD Jelly Couch Lube sales will go directly to Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign. “We often want to use our weirdly specific advertising skills for good, instead of just selling consumer goods,” Gordy Sang, co-founder and co-chief creative officer of Quality Meats, tells The Drum.
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“With the DNC approaching and the conversation around JD and his couch-styled relations, we wanted to shine a light on that in any way, shape or form we could. Weirdly, the shape that ended up taking place was Couch Sex Lube.”
A hero spot for the campaign humorously identifies Harris as “a childless cat lady who actually cares about protecting the fabric of our country.” The line is a reference to a jab Vance made about “childless cat ladies“ – in reference to Harris – in a recent Fox News interview that has garnered significant backlash on social media.
The initiative, ideated and launched in just five days, has gained organic support from progressive social media account Call To Activism and The Lincoln Project, a political action committee founded by former Republican strategists who oppose the Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump.
Holy moly. This is the greatest ad I’ve ever seen. I didn’t realize until the end that it’s real. pic.twitter.com/DfPWxSc5Xf — CALL TO ACTIVISM (@CalltoActivism) August 1, 2024
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Jamie Stark, creative director at Quality Meats, summed up the campaign’s irreverent tone: “What JD Vance does with his couch in the privacy of his living room is up to JD Vance. But if he were to be elected and impose his extreme views on women’s rights upon the American people, well that could leave a stain on our country that would take a lot more than a fabric cleaner to get out.”
Maxx Delaney, another creative director at Quality Meats, added, “We know Couch Lube isn’t for everyone, but hopefully it’s a fun way to keep America focused on what’s at stake this election. Which also happens to provide a convenient distraction for those weirdos hellbent on violating our democracy.”
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