Biden-Harris campaign brings yard signs to virtual worlds in Animal Crossing

TORONTO -- The U.S. presidential race has arrived at an unexpected location: the virtual villages of Animal Crossing.

The Biden-Harris campaign has released QR codes so that players of the popular Nintendo Switch game can post their own miniature yard signs showing their support for Democratic nominee Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris within their towns in the game.

“Show your Biden/Harris pride virtually!” the caption for the Animal Crossing signs on the Biden-Harris website reads.

Four designs have been released: a Biden-Harris sign, a “JOE” sign with rainbow colours in the “E”, a Team Joe sign, and a sign with three colours of aviator sunglasses. The QR codes can be scanned for free so the designs are usable by gamers.

A promotional picture for the virtual merch shows Animal Crossing avatars of Harris and Biden standing happily outside of two Animal Crossing houses with the four yard signs displayed next to them.

Animal Crossing is a well-known franchise in which players create cute cartoonish avatars of themselves (or whoever they want) and curate a village filled with friendly animal villagers. They can visit the villages of other players as well and trade goods.

Yard signs for players to download appear to just be the beginning for how the campaign is attempting to engage Animal Crossing enthusiasts.

According to the Biden-Harris campaign, they will be “expanding options for your island, so stay tuned!”

Christian Tom, director of digital partnerships for the Biden campaign, told The Verge that the campaign is “looking forward to rolling out more digital swag, voter education tools, and organizing efforts on Animal Crossing and other platforms.”

No official Animal Crossing designs appear to have been released by the Trump-Pence campaign yet.

This is not the first time that a politician has publicly engaged with the Animal Crossing world. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez asked her supporters in May for town codes on Twitter so she could visit their islands, where she exchanged fruit and wrote messages on several town bulletin boards.