While much of the country is captivated by the presidential election, you'd never know from the floors of American's retailers. Not that there's a lack of merchandise out there. But it can largely only be found at Urban Outfitters, quirky independent shops and online sites, and from street hawkers.
The hottest item appears to be the Barack Obama T-shirt, which has emerged as "a definitive statement of youthful, progressive cool," according to an article in The Associated Press. Young voters as well as professionals who embraced the Democrat's campaign "are slipping into Obamawear to make a statement as much about their political leanings as their hipness."
Urban Outfitters' website features five different T-shirts, a hoodie, an action figure, a talking bobble head and a stencil of the democratic nominee.
Brian Kirwin, who advises would-be lawmakers on their image, said Senator Obama has clearly crossed over into pop culture.
"I've seen candidates give away T-shirts for their campaign," Mr. Kirwin told The Associated Press. "I've never seen (consumers) from the bottom up latch on."
What's also driving the popularity of Obama T-shirts is social networking sites like MySpace, where users are marketing their T-shirt designs; as well as websites such as Zazzle and CafePress that encourage people to create T-shirt designs.
Outside the Obamamania craze among the mostly young, candidate books are being sold and Obama, McCain and Palin masks will be big Halloween sellers. But most retailers aren't selling any merchandise around the election. If any, it's small non-partisan efforts or more about marketing. Here are a few:
Starting Oct. 23 through Nov. 4, Gap will be selling "Vote for __" T-shirts,
encouraging buyers to fill in the blank;- Target is selling "Vote"-themed juniors T-shirts;
- Nordstrom is selling "My Dog for President" shirts from Juicy Couture for pooches;
- Whole Food's downtown location in Manhattan is selling a Hop Obama craft brew;
- The Southern California bakery Mrs. Beasley's has come out with Obama and McCain cookies and cupcakes;
- Baskin-Robbins is asking consumers to vote for president by selecting two new flavors: Straight Talk Crunch (John McCain) and Whirl of Change (Barack Obama). Results will be posted online about two weeks before Election Day;
For the third straight election
year, 7-Eleven coffee drinkers are picking red cups to vote Republican and
blue cups to vote Democrat with daily results posted online by state. At
press time, Senator Obama was leading Senator McCain nationwide, 57 percent
to 43 percent.
Discussion Questions: Can (or should) retailers be doing more to capitalize on the mania around the president election?
[Author's commentary] Illustrating the risks of playing with politics, Walgreens just pulled candidate dolls that sang songs and recited messages parodying themselves after customer complaints. The Obama doll was sold in a box that proclaimed, "The senator from Illinois gets down and funky!" The Clinton figure referred to itself as a "broad" in a song parody.