DCX and Up In Arms Launch Activist Campaign to Attack Pentagon Waste

Oct. 01, 2025

DCX Growth Accelerator, cultural strategy and creative agency, has launched a multiplatform communications and activation campaign to promote D.O.P.E., an activist movement formed by Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s and founder of Up In Arms, to cut Pentagon waste and return that money to Americans. D.O.P.E. is the public face of Up In Arms, an initiative of the People Power Initiative. 

Dressed in black and wearing a black D.O.P.E. baseball cap, Cohen appeals directly to American consumers in an Instagram video, accusing Elon Musk and D.O.G.E. of failing to address the Federal government’s largest single source of waste—the Pentagon. A split screen shows President Donald Trump reacting as Cohen explains that cutting the bloated Pentagon budget would pay for healthcare, housing, schools, food security, clean air and water, aid to veterans and other popular programs.

The video ends with Cohen starting up a chainsaw and inviting Americans to join the movement and to show up for a protest at the Capitol.

Doug Cameron, CEO/founder, DCX said:

"Americans are angry and divided. But they agree that big corporations and politicians are lining their pockets because no one is watching what the hell is going on with our $1 trillion annual defense budget."

 

Cameron, a veteran of purpose-driven campaigns, leapt at the chance to work with Cohen and support a project that could reshape the public conversation about Federal spending. The timing was critical given the increasing likelihood of a destabilizing government shutdown. 

But the campaign, while provocative, is aimed at being inclusive and includes invitations to members of Congress and their staff, the national and D.C. press corps, the media, fiscal watchdog and government accountability groups and voters of all stripes.

The guerilla marketing tactics underline the campaign’s gravely ambitious goals, centered on a public demonstration on Tuesday, September 30, on the steps of the U.S. Capitol building. Cohen was joined by Larry Wilkerson, United States Army Colonel (retired) and former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell; Josephine Guilbeau, former U.S. Army All-Source Intelligence Analyst; and politicians, activists, influencers and other speakers.

Messaging at the demonstration will focus on the looming and irresponsible shutdown; the hypocrisy of the White House Congressional budget; the lack of financial oversight of the Pentagon; the ongoing mistreatment of veterans; and the bipartisan nature of D.O.P.E’s mission. The protest will end with Cohen taking his chainsaw to a replica of the Pentagon. A second online video features Cohen wandering the halls of a faux Pentagon, wielding a chainsaw, and asking Americans to join him.

D.O.P.E. has called for trimming 30 percent of the U.S. defense budget, which amounts to about $303 billion a year. The rescued funds could be converted into direct payments of $1,882 delivered to every taxpayer annually. 

Cohen said:

“D.O.G.E promised to cut 30% of government waste, yet Pentagon spending went entirely unchecked—in fact, it increased. Each day adds another billion to the Pentagon’s trillions, and our leaders slash taxpayers’ healthcare to make up the difference. D.O.P.E. is here to take the money back from the military-industrial scam President Eisenhower warned us about and give it back to the American people.”

 

Fact sheets released by Up In Arms detail the shocking scale of Pentagon waste and notes that the U.S. spends more on defense than the next nine countries combined, most of them allies, while notorious projects drain taxpayer dollars. A detailed list includes $28 million spent on forest camouflage for troops fighting in deserts and arid mountains and $6.5 trillion in “unaccounted adjustments” in the Pentagon’s books.

The campaign will continue on media and activist fronts, including an influencer outreach with informational posters, branded swag and Pentagon piñatas filled with cash that will be donated to charities. For more information and to join the campaign, visit: JoinDope.org.

DCX Growth Accelerator works with global and challenger brands such as PepsiCo, Logitech, Stoli, Zipcar and Fiverr and has been recognized with the industry’s most prestigious awards for its purpose-driven work. In August, the agency collaborated with Ben Cohen to plant an ash-covered doll holding a sign that read “Remember Hiroshima” inside Disneyland’s It’s a Small World ride to mark the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing.