Back in 2013, we posted about a large inflatable rubber duck that was visiting ports around the globe. It was created by the Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman  and was named “Spreading Joy Around the World.”  Nevertheless, it was universally known simply as “Rubber Duck.”

Seven years later, we have Borat on a barge, an inflatable 40′ long scantily-clad figure of Sacha Baron Cohen’s character, Borat, reclining on a deck barge. And there is not one inflated Borat, but three. Last Thursday and Friday, inflatable nearly-naked Borats appeared reclining on deck barges on New York City’s Hudson River, at Toronto’s Harborfront and in the Thames River near London Bridge.

If the inflatable Rubber Duck was a honey bee meant to spread joy, Borat on a barge is a murder hornet meant to promote a movie. All so perfectly emblematic of the year 2020.