Lip balm you can believe in?

If you have any doubt that the Occupy movement is changing the American culture and capturing the imagination, check out this ridiculous ad for Mabelline lip balm in which supermodels carry signs and line the streets to protest—wait for it—dry lips. “We want lip balm we can believe in!” says one pouty model to the camera.

Absurd, exploitative, and way premature, to be sure. But it’s also a sign that, four decades after the civil rights and Vietnam eras, protest has become cool again. That’s a culture shift that can affect an entire generation, and move our politics along with it. Dry lips and all.

Views expressed on this page are those of the authors and not necessarily those of Campaign for America's Future or Institute for America's Future