Gran Fury was an activist/artist collective that came together in 1988. The group was formed as a spin-off from the original group ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power]. They took the name Gran Fury as it was the specific Plymouth model used by the New York Police Department. The name was also meant to reference their anger towards the AIDS pandemic. Gran Fury acted as ACT UP's unofficial propaganda ministry, creating work that used the same strategies as advertising to reach a wider audience.