Morph T-Shirt Leads To U.K. Terrorism Arrest As Aardman-Themed Anti-AI Protest Confuses Police

Aardman’s clay superstar Morph, created by Peter Lord and David Sproxton, found himself at the center of a terrorism arrest earlier this month when protester Miles Pickering was detained for wearing a spoof “Plasticine Action” T-shirt featuring the character and an anti-artificial intelligence message.

The incident unfolded on August 9 at a Parliament Square demonstration against the U.K. government’s ban on the activist group Palestine Action. Among the 532 people arrested was Pickering, whose shirt carried the words “Plasticine Action,” strikingly similar to the banned “Palestine Action” slogan, and a cheerful image of Morph giving two thumbs up. Beneath the mock logo appeared the line: “We Oppose AI-Generated Animation.”

“Animators and artists’ rights are of huge concern to us with the threat of AI changing the landscape of our beloved art forever,” a Plasticine Action spokesperson told Cartoon Brew when asked about the group’s initial goals for the T-shirt design. “We stand with animators and artists across the world to fight this threat and protect the industry as best as we can.”

That, however, is not the message received by a Met police officer, who mistakenly took the parody for the insignia of the banned group, and arrested Pickering under section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000. At a temporary booking site outside Scotland Yard, senior officers reviewed the case and swiftly concluded that the shirt did not, in fact, express support for a proscribed organization. Pickering was released shortly afterwards, with the arresting officer reportedly conceding that the error was “embarrassing.”

What might have been an awkward misunderstanding quickly turned into a moment of comic relief. As Pickering was led away, fellow protesters laughed and snapped photos of him pointing proudly at Morph on his chest. “Everyone was laughing at how silly it was that I was getting arrested for being a plasticine terrorist,” he later told The Guardian.

Since then, the T-shirt has taken on a life of its own. The Plasticine Action team has reproduced the design to raise money for Medical Aid for Palestinians, with sales of 4215 units reaching 75 countries. He expects to see plenty of Morph’s face at the next protest on September 6.

For animators, the sight of Morph inadvertently causing trouble with the law carries a certain symmetry. A character whose shorts were synonymous with playful rebellion for nearly half a century has, once again, been caught making authority look just a little bit silly.