Blue and black text on white drum image with black text and illustration on yellow background.

Drums, set up in the way that Ringo Starr’s iconic drum kit was placed, set the tone for the promotion of The Rutles, a parody of The Beatles movies. In the midst of the Beatles craze in the 1970's, comedian Eric Idle (best known for his writing and acting in Monty Python) aired a clip of The Rutles on both BBC-2’s series Rutland Weekend Television and American NBC’s Saturday Night Live. The clip shown on Saturday Night Live on October 2, 1976, was such a hit with viewers that Idle was approached to create a longer film, which Saturday Night Live producer, Lorne Michaels, would also produce. Idle wrote the whole of All You Need Is Cash besides the music, which was written by Neil Innes, whom Idle had previously worked with on the Rutland series. The parodies in the satirical film, All You Need is Cash, are considered by many to be extremely similar in essence to the Beatles’ originals, both in music and video.

The Beatles had varying reactions to the film and the portrayal of themselves by musicians and comedians. George Harrison had been involved in the project for its duration. John Lennon loved it, but mentioned that one of the songs was too close to their original. Ringo Starr enjoyed the more upbeat scenes. Paul McCartney wasn’t thrilled with the film, but was said to have changed his mind after his wife found it funny.

Blue text on white bar in center with white text on blue background. Image of 0 in 2012 is red, white, and blue logo for Obama.

During the 2012 presidential election, Barack Obama and his campaign team introduced America to their newest campaign tool, Dashboard. Dashboard was accessible through Obama's campaign website and was designed to empower local volunteers to organize from home, becoming “neighborhood team members”. Modeled after social media platforms, Dashboard connected neighborhood team members together via a messaging system. Dashboard also provided the resources to allow volunteers to make calls from home, as well as materials for canvassing. Dashboard represented a new model of campaigning emerging in the era of the internet. Besides its social networking capabilities, Dashboard also allowed volunteers to directly report their canvassing data to the campaign's website. This created an unprecedented amount of real-time data for Obama's re-election team. Since the 2012 election, many other campaign teams have used similar models to that of Dashboards. A video announcing the launch of Dashboard from 2012 by Jeremy Bird, the campaign’s national field director, explains Dashboards purpose and can be seen via this link.

White text and image of scorpion over blue background.

The Alemandares Alacranes, or Scorpions, were a Cuban baseball club formed in 1878. They were the third baseball club established in Cuba after the Habana and Matanzas clubs who, in the same year, formed the professional Cuban League. In 1886, 6,000 fans came out to watch the championship game between Alemandares and Habana. Many major league teams in the United States including the St. Louis Cardinals and the Boston Red Sox traveled to Cuba to play baseball throughout the early 20th century. This ended in 1959 when travel restrictions limited access to the country. In 1999, the Baltimore Orioles played against Habana–the first American team to play against a Cuban team in 40 years.

White text on black bar inside of blue, white, and red circles outlined in black over white background. Plastic molded backing.

Interlocking red, white, and blue circles is the 1990s era logo for Cuban sporting goods manufacturer Batos, the Cuban sport industry brand. Established in 1965, Batos produces baseball gear, boxing equipment, and games, such as chess, checkers, and dominoes. The company also makes sporting equipment for children and supplies all uniforms for the island's baseball teams. Sports are very popular in Cuba; Baseball is considered a national pastime. INDER, the National Institute of Sport, Physical Education, and Recreation, coordinate all sports programs. They promote fitness and recruit promising young athletes into sports-oriented secondary schools. There are 27 schools, each specializing in a different sport. Over the decades, many Olympians have come from the INDER schools of Cuba.

Illustration of globe being covered in red paint with black text. Surrounding that, red text on white background. Lower red text has black outline.

Black text over image of rainbow and pot of gold on white background.

Farmer Smith’s Rainbow Club was founded in 1915 by Farmer Smith, a newspaper editor at the Public Ledger in Philadelphia, PA. The club started around Thanksgiving in 1915 and within 4 months, boasted over 45,000 children within the club. Anyone with the heart of a child could join. All one needed to do, whether they were nine or ninety, was to sign a slip which was printed in every edition of the Evening Ledger which read, “I agree to do a little kindness each and every day—spread a little sunshine along the way.” After submitting this form, the new club members then received a button with a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow which was pinned to a card written in red ink and bearing the phrase, “a kiss from me, to-day,” which made them a full member. Farmer Smith shared the message that, “there is only one side to the rainbow, that is the bright side,” and others believed his optimism would be a reason for the club’s expansion and success.

The Rainbow Club was a huge success not only in the number of participants, but also in that in brought in the Ledger thousands more subscriptions. From a marketing standpoint, this was a very successful advertising campaign. The column was featured in other newspapers, including, “The News” newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio that was put out on Sundays. The News was put on by Ben Field who had a Farmer Smith Rainbow Club column. This column invited children to write their ideas on the topic that changed each week.

Photograph of Our Gang Jackie surrounded by white text on blue background.

Our Gang, also known as The Little Rascals, was a comedy series about a group of young kids getting into humorous situations of everyday life. Jackie Cooper starred in this show from 1929-1931. Every few years, the show would change a few of its characters as stars began to get older. Cooper was liked for his engaging personality and portrayal of a wide array of emotions. Cooper's gang was well-liked by critics and fans.

Image of white elf wearing red hat and rollerskates in center. Above is red script text on white background while below is white text on blue background.

Red Rascal Toys was a division of George K. Garrett Company of Philadelphia in the 1940's. The red elf was the mascot for Red Rascal and appeared in print ads. Red Rascal is best known for manufacture of children's ball bearing roller skates and claimed to be the "fastest selling line of its kind."

George K. Garrett manufactured a variety of products across industries appearing as early as 1900 in trade catalogs. This broad manufacturing resulted in a loose interpretation of patent use. National Lockwasher owned a patent for split-ring spring-lock technology that was used by Garrett and took Garrett to court over patent misuse. The provision was that while the patent was licensed, no competing technology could be manufactured by the licensee. Garrett was found to have infringed the patent and the judgement was an $18,000 fine in 1943. This is well known to be one of the earliest federal court decisions to hold that it is patent misuse for a patentee to require licensees not to use a competitive technology, commonly known as "tie-outs."

Blue and white illustration of a fist holding lightning on yellow background in center surrounded by white text in blue circle. Outer circle is white text over red background.

The IBEW is the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and represents approximately 775,000 active and retired members in both the US and Canada. Members can be in many fields of work, ranging from utilities, construction, telecommunications, broadcasting, manufacturing, railroads, and government. IBEW stands out in AFL-CIO because it is such a large member base which also covers many varied skilled occupations.

IBEW was founded in 1891 in Saint Louis, Missouri, two years before George Westinghouse lit up the Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition with AC current, leading to homes and businesses in the U.S to begin receiving electricity. IBEW 424 is the local chapter for Alberta, Canada.

Blue text with red illustrated triangle on white background.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers is a union that operates in the United States and Canada and represents an estimated 750,000 members. The union is unique in that its members operate in a wide range of fields that deal with electrical work such as utilities, government, and railroad. The union's primary goal is to represent their members and bargain with their employers over wages, benefits, and rights. 

The local 380 chapter is located in Collegeville, Pennsylvania and represents approximately 773 members.