On Saturday, Aug. 14, participants in the Backbone Campaign’s Localize This Artful Action Camp, which took place on a Vashon farm, held a flash-mob demonstration at a West Seattle Target. About ten of the 40 singers, dancers and musicians were Island residents. A video of the flash mob has earned nation-wide attention online.

The flash mob was inspired by Target’s recent $150,000 donation to a Minnesota politician who does not support gay marriage and MoveOn.org’s efforts to encourage Americans to boycott the chain store. Backbone Campaign director Bill Moyer said the project was a collaboration between the Localize This camp and the Island-based progressive media organization Agit-Pop Communications. MoveOn.org sponsored the flash mob, which was filmed and edited by Agit-Pop.

“It was [Agit-Pop’s] idea and they looked to us to find the talent and the people do it,” Moyer said.

The video has since been posted on a number of news websites and forums, and as of Friday it had received about 700,000 views.

Moyer said he was pleased that the video has gone viral and felt that the flash mob was a great experience for the emerging political activists who attended the camp.

“This issue of corporate personhood is only now coming into people’s awareness and this was a great opportunity for us to use art to elevate the dialogue about the role of corporations and corporate money in our elections,” he said.