Ex-President Donald Trump’s NFT Collection Receives Backlash After Users Spot Photoshop Errors
Why Trust Cryptonews
The recently-released non-fungible token (NFT) collection by former US President Donald Trump, is being heavily criticized over its poor quality and editing, and use of stock images among other things.
There are two major accusations leveled against Trump and the team behind the collection:
- the images used for the collection were taken directly from the internet, created by other people, and are of poor quality;
- the photoshop is badly done, or an AI image generator was used.
For example, there is an image of Trump as a duck hunter (or something akin to it), in an outfit very similar to a branded online clothing collection.
Besides allegedly using branded outfits in the collection, there are accusations that Shutterstock images were used as well.
And not just Shutterstock, but Adobe as well, users claim. Some are advising a fast exit from the project.
__
The Adobe watermark is clearly visible on this card as well:
Meanwhile, The Washington Post wrote that,
“If the images seen on the website are similar to the digital images that will be transferred to anyone who pays the $99 fee, then the Trump cards will feature clumsy Photoshop pictures of the former president’s face grafted onto reasonably fit male bodies, clad in various costumes of masculine bravado, including sporting garb, a sheriff’s duster and lots of blue suits.”
But the article also warned that,
“The joke, in the end, will, unfortunately, be at the expense of people who pay $99 for his NFTs, which, despite what appears to be an initial surge of interest, are likely to be extremely risky as a long-term investment. But that, too, is very on brand for Trump, a perfect distillation of his unique take on marketing.”
The NFT website itself, meanwhile, denies that NFT INT LLC, the company listed as hosting the NFT auction, is owned, managed, or controlled by Trump or his companies. Therefore, it is not clear what this company is, with plenty of speculation being spread online.
As for the designer behind the cards, the website says that the “award-winning illustrator Clark Mitchell designed the beautiful imagery of the Trump Digital Trading Cards [who] has prominent working relationships with brands such as Star Wars, Hasbro, Mattel, Marvel, Time Magazine, Coors, Budweiser, Disney, Corona, and Coca-Cola.”
Laughs a-plenty
Donald Trump released the collection of NFTs, ‘Trump Cards’, last Thursday, which portrayed him in various guises, including a superhero, astronaut, and cowboy. There were a total of 45,000 NFTs, minted on Polygon, and the project is seen by many as another cash grab.
The collection sold out fast, and the OpenSea marketplace currently shows (at 9 am UTC on Monday morning) the lowest price to be ETH 0.099 ($120). The highest-priced card costs ETH 505 ($598,000).
The total volume currently stands at ETH 6,369 ($7.55 million), with 15,621 owners and 35% unique owners.
That said, the collection and its release were widely mocked upon their announcement, given that Trump had teased “major” news that many had presumed would be connected to US politics.
Notably, the release of his own NFT project comes in stark contrast to Trump’s stance on crypto during his time in office. Trump has previously been critical of Bitcoin and the crypto industry in general, joining a long list of politicians who have also decried crypto products due to their ecological impacts.
The former President was also mocked for poor timing – releasing a collection when the NFT market is in turmoil due to the ongoing crypto downturn and a series of company failures and bankruptcies, including the massive fall of the FTX exchange.
Per CryptoSlam, NFT global sales volume has dropped 87% since January this year.
Donald is not the only Trump turning to NFTs: less than a month after her husband called crypto “very dangerous,” Melania Trump announced her ‘Melania’s Vision’ collection.
And unsurprisingly, the ex-President and the collection were ridiculed on SNL as well.
____
Learn more:
– Billionaire and Ex-US President Donald Trump Launches Official NFT Project – This is What You Need to Know
– Crypto Community Stumped After Melania Trump ‘Shills’ Bitcoin (And Her NFT project)
– Defeated Donald Trump-themed NFT Sells for USD 6.6 Million
– Why One Crypto Artist Won’t Call Biden Victory until Fat Lady Sings
