Outside of her musical exploits, M.I.A. has taken a deep dive into conspiracy theories in the past half-decade, and she’s now launched OHMNI, a new line of clothing and accessories that including a real-life “tin foil hat” to (purportedly) protect the wearer from 5G waves.
Most of the branding behind OHMNI preys on fears of the future like the rise of AI and the aforementioned electromagnetic waves. All products claim to offer “exceptional electrical conductivity” and “99.999% shielding effectiveness” from electromagnetic waves due to the Original Silver Street Shield textiles they use.
5G has been a buzzword in recent years for conspiracy theorists as many believe that 5G causes cancer and coronavirus, is put into vaccines as a mind control device or is a government weapons system. The brand offers tops, bottoms, outerwear, hats, boxers and a phone case so M.I.A. fans can be “protected” from head to toe.
The hat is far from the only product to make somewhat questionable claims with no bona fied proof of concept: boxers claim to “protects testosterone and boosts fertility” while bags and a phone case cut “all Wi-Fi and Data, making your devices untrackable and unhackable.”
The “about” section of the brand’s website reads, “In the time of smart cities, digital crypto, AI, NeuraLink, hackable humans, zero privacy, deepmind, internal body data harvesting, and indiscriminate tracking surveillance, mind data mining, social media overload, augmented reality, social credit system, virtual dystopian mindfield, we bring you the revolutionary future of fashion. OHMNI is your last frontier at preserving your privacy, autonomy, and rights over your body and your data.”
M.I.A. has been long outspoken about her belifs, which weren’t always conspiracy theories. Her famed 2007 album Kala, which contained the smash hit “Paper Planes” touched upon her experiences as an immigrant and her Super Bowl XLVI appearance in 2012, where she flipped off the camera resulting in the NFL suing her for $15.1M USD and reached an undisclosed settlement. She continued to dive head-first into controversy by announcing her anti-vaxx stance at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
She then got into hot water in 2022 when she compared Alex Jones’ lies about the Sandy Hook shooting to celebrities promoting the COVID-19 vaccine. M.I.A. ended up announcing this line on Alex Jones’ notorious Infowars podcast where she also discussed dealing with being “canceled.” This line is another example of her leaning into her stances and fully committing to the bit.
For those opposed to electromagnetic waves, the line is available to preorder on OHMNI’s website and prices range from $50 USD to $400 USD.
