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In urging “disaffected patriots” to head to the polls on Tuesday and cast ballots in Wisconsin’s election, the political advocacy group Look Ahead America relied partly on a fairly perfunctory get-out-the-vote strategy: It spammed about 250,000 residents on Monday with a text message that reminded them of the issues at stake.
That text message came with a twist: It was accompanied by a provocative photo catered to the gender of the intended recipient.
Men received a photo of Emily Ratajkowski — a supermodel and a longtime supporter of Bernie Sanders — in a bikini, while women received a photo of a topless man cradling a puppy. The photo of the shirtless man was created for the 2015 edition of the “Hunks and Hounds” annual calendar.
“Now that we have your attention,” the text read, “a critical special election is happening TOMORROW!”
In the election, Wisconsin voters approved an amendment to the state’s constitution to strengthen a current law requiring photo identification at the polls — a measure that Look Ahead America supported — while electing a liberal candidate to a pivotal seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Matt Braynard, the executive director of Look Ahead America, said in an email that the organization had “conducted studies that have proven that using eye-catching images not typically associated with politics increase voter awareness of elections and voter participation.”
He added that the organization would not know the effectiveness of its unconventional text-message campaign for several weeks but that it was looking forward to reporting those numbers.
Look Ahead America, which was founded in 2017, identifies itself as nonpartisan but has engaged mostly on conservative issues, such as holding rallies for people involved in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The group describes its mission as supporting and amplifying the voices of “rural and blue-collar patriotic Americans who are disaffected and disenfranchised from the nation’s corridors of power.”
Mr. Braynard, who created the group, is a former member of President Trump’s campaign team.
When selecting images to accompany the texts, Look Ahead America went with the photo of the shirtless man, which had been taken by the photographer Mike Ruiz for a calendar series that raises funds for Louie’s Legacy Animal Rescue, and the photo of Ms. Ratajkowski, which was posted to Instagram by Inamorata, the apparel company she founded.
Ms. Ratajkowski, who declined to comment, was a peculiar choice considering her support of Mr. Sanders and other left-leaning causes.
Mr. Ruiz was not happy about the group’s choice to use his work.
“I am disgusted that they used a beautiful philanthropic project to save animals in dire need, a project which means so much to me, to spread their propaganda,” he said in an email. “You can quote me.”
Mr. Braynard defended his organization’s decision to use the photos without seeking permission of the subjects or the original photographers.
“All of these images were originally shared publicly on social media,” Mr. Braynard said, “and our nonprofit using them to encourage voter turnout constitutes ‘fair use.’ We are not a partisan organization so we aren’t concerned with partisan beliefs of the subjects, we just wanted eye-catching photos.”
Tuesday’s election in Wisconsin was notable for, among other reasons, the involvement of Elon Musk, the businessman-turned-policy-aide to Mr. Trump, who spent $25 million in support of Judge Brad Schimel, the conservative candidate in the race for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Judge Schimel lost to his liberal opponent, Judge Susan Crawford.
Though Look Ahead America did not explicitly endorse Judge Schimel in its text message to potential voters this week, it linked to a chart of the two candidates that purported to detail some of the crucial differences between them on issues like immigration, gender identity and “late-term abortion.”
Ms. Ratajkowski did not publicly comment on the election results, but she had previously made her feelings on Mr. Musk’s political ambitions known.
On the day before the 2024 general election, the social media account Pop Base reported on the social media site X that the rapper Azealia Banks had decided to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris because Mr. Musk “belongs nowhere near American politics.”
Ms. Ratajkowski replied to the post, saying, “finally an endorsement i can get behind.”
Benjamin Hoffman contributed reporting.
