Skip navigation
Watchlist Sponsored By :


Current DateTime: 04:41:14 14 Nov 2009
LinksList Documentid: 24355697
powered by digg
Could a T-Shirt Pick the Next President?
By: Brooke Sopelsa | 28 Apr 2008 | 11:00 AM ET
Text Size

Courtesy of CafePress.com
Sales of John McCain T-shirts have been less-than-stellar. Could that be a contrarian indicator of his chances of becoming president?

Enthusiasm over the 2008 presidential election is motivating some people to wear their politics on their sleeve. Literally.

Political T-shirts are nothing new, but interest in this presidential campaign season, and the ease with which custom T-shirts can be created, has led to a trend that is giving new meaning to the phrase "retail politics."

And merchandisers — especially online merchandisers — are cashing in.

CafePress.com and Zazzle.com, which both specialize in user-generated products, report significantly increased political merchandise sales. Zazzle, in fact, expects 2008 sales in this area to be 10 times their normal amount.

But which candidate's merchandise is seeing the best sales? And could this possibly be a political barometer?

At CafePress.com, election merchandise sales have accounted for approximately 20 percent of overall revenue since the election cycle started last November.

Sen. Barack Obama product sales on the site account for 46 percent of cumulative election sales during that time. Sen. Hillary Clinton sales accounted for 19 percent over the same time period, and products for Sen. John McCain accounted for 3 percent.

At Zazzle.com, the story is very similar.

"Obama is by far, two-to-one, over the second place candidate. Hillary is number two.  The interesting thing about Hillary is, there’s just about as much negative merchandise on Hillary as there is positive," said James Heckman, Zazzle's chief strategy officer.

Sen. John McCain is third in sales on the site, but as Heckman points out, that could be a contrarian indicator.

"The older demographic ends up voting more than the younger demographic, so I would say the last-place merchandise seller, McCain, may end up being the first place winner," he said. "Maybe the older audience doesn’t know how to sit down in front of a computer and create a design for a T-shirt, but they do tend to show up at the voting booth."

© 2009 CNBC.com
Tools:
Print EmailAdd This share icon
  • digg share

CNBC HIGHLIGHTS

  • Warren Buffett and Bill Gates spoke to Columbia students, and Buffett made the students a startling offer.
  • Brian L. Roberts
  • For the chief of cable company Comcast, growth has been about making deals – generally very large deals.
  • Some companies may start using insurance to shift carbon risk from their balance sheets to maybe... yours?
  • The president and founder of Genesis Today wants to improve America’s health, and thinks Wal-Mart can help.
  • Switzerland's privacy watchdog is taking legal action to force Google to make changes to its Street View service.
  • A wealthy, distracted Texas driver crashed his million-dollar Bugatti Veyron sports car into a salt marsh, say police.
ADD COMMENTS
Remaining characters


Current DateTime: 01:04:47 14 Nov 2009
LinksList Documentid: 29778428

Current DateTime: 01:04:47 14 Nov 2009
LinksList Documentid: 29779196

Current DateTime: 01:04:47 14 Nov 2009
LinksList Documentid: 29779199

Current DateTime: 01:04:04 14 Nov 2009
LinksList Documentid: 29779198
  Data is a real-time snapshot  *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes
Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis

© 2009 CNBC, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.
A Division of NBC Universal
Thomson ReutersThomson Reuters