Thursday, November 20, 2008

Obama Memorabilia

After seeing a segment on the Daily Show about Barack Obama merchandise (commemorative coins and plates) , I thought it would be an interesting exercise to go online and see what sort of bizarre Obama themed items were available for purchase. Here is what I turned up.

T-shirts were plentiful and to be expected. Everyone wears t-shirts, and who doesn't want to display their affection for their candidate on their chest? What was surprising however, were the number of maternity t-shirts bearing Obama's name or visage. Does the enlarged belly provide a better substrate upon which to advertise? I see a business opportunity here for gestating ladies. This one was the strangest by far. What does "Drain McCain's Brain With Obama Drama" mean? Does it suggest that the election of Obama will be a step towards McCain existing only in a chronic vegetative state? Who knew that we, the voters, had that power? Clothing for pets that voted Democratic was also available. I found this one cute, but confusing. Was an Obama/Clinton ticket ever an option? Apparently that fashion conscious pooch never got the memo.

Ebay featured some really interesting Obamabilia, including nothing less than an entire bowling alley for a starting bid of $50,000. Or for $100,000 you could buy the domain name www.obamafundraising2012.com. How much would you bid on a set of playing cards that feature Barack Obama on the Aces, and oddly a jaguar with Obama's head on the 10 of spades? Other cards in this set feature Jon Stewart as a groundhog on the 2 of diamonds and a very youthful looking George Bush head perched on the body of a red rat snake. Try not to hurt yourself scratching your head over that one. An Obama bobble head doll could be yours for just $20. What says "I'm proud of my president" more that enshrining his image in a figurine with no control over it's upper extremities? At a certain point I began to be overwhelmed by the vast selection of strange items commemorating our president elect that could be purchased from Ebay. I decided it was time to quit looking when I came across the matched set of Obama and McCain sock monkeys. It could only go downhill from there.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

OMG - LOVE the sock monkeys.
We should be careful about commemorating our P-E on coins - currency is saved for the dead guys. I guess you won't really be able to spend those anywhere though.

I For One..... said...

Apparently there is a George W. Bush commemorative coin too. http://www.poetv.com/video.php?vid=41456

Betcha people are flocking to get that one.