Led By Donkeys

Led by Donkeys is a political campaign group that was created as an initially anti-Brexit group that has since expanded its focus to critiquing corruption and hypocrisy within the Conservative party. After the 2024 election in which Labour won in a landslide, the group has stated that they will expand to holding the Labour party accountable as well. Created as an anti-Brexit group, Led By Donkeys uses life-sized, guerilla art projects and billboards to target Conservative (and, more recently, Labour) politicians whom the group considers hypocritical.

Key activist projects that Led by Donkeys have created include the projection of edited social media posts on billboards and Parliament. Led by Donkeys also participates in protests and performing arts. Notable examples include the unfurling of massive pro-EU flags at protests and the carving of messages on fields and beaches.

City

London

Country

Region

Europe

Year of Creation

2018

Featured Project

Heil Tesla

Led by Donkeys projected imagery of Elon Musk doing the Sieg Heil Nazi salute on various Tesla factories in Germany, along with the words “Heil Tesla.” This project is considered controversial given the restrictions on Nazi imagery in Germany, and thus made headlines globally. The project also exposed parallels between the market’s reverence for Musk’s car brand, Tesla, alongside his allegiance to the white supremacist MAGA movement, and to Adolf Hitler’s reverence for the car brand Volkswagen and its own oligarchical sponsors. More recently, Led By Donkey’s imagery for the Heil Tesla project was repurposed for their latest project at the 2025 Glastonbury Festival— another large-scale installation, although much closer to the ground given the difference in property types between the two projects. The mural featured many of the world’s most infamous billionaires in astronaut costumes, including Musk’s Sig Heil imagry— a statement on the transnational 21st century oligarchy that has, essentially, abandoned the earth and all of its beings.

DW: “Police investigate Musk salute projected on Tesla factory”

Resources

Dunn, Will. “Led By Donkeys: ‘Liz Truss Was Fair Game.’” The New Statesman | UK Politics and Culture, 16 Sept. 2024, podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/led-by-donkeys-liz-truss-was-fair-game/id630596898?i=1000669657029.

Grierson, Jamie. “‘Send Them to Mars’: Led By Donkeys Glastonbury Exhibit Takes Aim at Musk.” The Guardian, 26 June 2025, theguardian.com/music/2025/jun/26/send-them-to-mars-led-by-donkeys-glastonbury-exhibit-takes-aim-at-musk.

Lewis, Tim. “Led By Donkeys: ‘There Is a Political Power in Laughing at These People.’” The Guardian, 19 Oct. 2019, www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/oct/19/led-by-donkeys-interview-there-is-as-political-power-in-laughing.

Pace‑McCarrick, Solomon. “How Led By Donkeys Turned Activism into an Art Form.” Dazed, 10 Sept. 2024, dazeddigital.com/art-photography/article/64537/1/how-led-by-donkeys-turned-activism-into-an-art-form.

Stewart, Ben. “How Led By Donkeys Mixes Twitter and Billboards to Make Politicians Go ‘Uber Viral.’” Contagious, 26 Sept. 2019, contagious.com/news-and-views/how-led-by-donkeys-combine-twitter-and-billboards-for-max-impact.

Stewart, Ben. “Led By Donkeys: We Are Creating Political Street Theatre.” Campaign, 5 Nov. 2019, campaignlive.co.uk/article/led-donkeys-creating-political-street-theatre/1664183.

More Information

@ledbydonkeys (Instagram)

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