Obama’s surprise Nobel Peace Prize win last week created an unprecedented uproar of conflicting popular opinion, and the designs keep coming in as the debate over the award continues.
As the Nobel committee staunchly stands behind their decision, public opinion flares wildly on both sides. To date the CafePress community has brought about 7,000 Obama Nobel Peace Prize products to life – 57% supporting and 43% opposing the prize.
Perhaps more significant, though, is the foresight of the CafePress community. The Obama/peace theme isn’t a new one ’round these parts; we saw this trend from the get-go when Obama merchandise started to hit the catalogue. Since early 2008, customers have flocked to merchandise featuring the iconic Obama “O” transformed into a peace sign, as well as with the similar messages of “hope” and “change.” With over 180,000 Obama/Peace products made before the award, the feeling that Obama would be the President to leave a legacy of peace speaks loud and clear on the T-shirts. This flavor of candidate messaging was a new one; a search for peace-related President George W. Bush merchandise turns up 375,000 products, mostly displaying ironic messages of war and impeachment.
As the battle of public opinion rages on, we’ll continue to see folks inserting themselves into the social consciousness of this historical moment (and others to come) by making bolder, louder statements via the almighty T-shirt.
March organizers Equality Across America to demand equal civil rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people across the nation. They also set up a shop with cool National Equality March T-shirts and gear so activists could sport their support for a good cause.
The march followed a Human Rights Campaign dinner that included remarks from President Obama, who promised to end “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and voiced general support for the gay equal rights movement. More specific issues of timelines and legal actions weren’t covered, but the ever-arresting Lady Gaga (who had the night before performed at the HRC dinner) made sure that the President knew that the finer points needed to be addressed by saying, “Obama, I know you are listening… We will continue to push you and your administration to bring your words of promise to a reality.”
Not surprisingly, the trend we’ve seen isn’t isolated to our own website. The AP just ran a story about the falloff of Obama merchandise and its effect on vendors (and yep, we’re mentioned).
The trends we see would indicate that consumers refine their politics through merchandise once a candidate is elected. Whereas “Hope” or “Change” were enough to symbolize everything Obama pre-election, these days both pro and anti-camps tend to focus more on policy. Of course, supporting the President can be as simple as a straightforward “Obama” T-shirt, but we do see increasing numbers of more specific designs on both sides of the political fence – from healthcare to beer summit – that transcend the generalized persona and drill down to specific concerns of the American conscience.
This pattern is a replay of the Bush years, though as noted in the AP article the Bush years gave rise to considerably more ring-spun backlash – both in volume and proportion - than the current Administration has generated. What is similar, though, is that We the People’s initial foray into Bush merchandise was of the generalized pro-Bush/anti-Bush flavor, which then evolved to more specific grievances or support.
What this means for us: with T-shirts serving as an American cultural barometer, the merchandise is getting more individualized, more timely and more headline-driven. Stay tuned.
The classic 1980 hit “Fame” is all polished up for the 21st century with a new script and cast (though Debbie Allen is back as the Principal), and although the movie isn’t out yet the fan-created merchandise fun has already begun.
The new movie launches September 25th, so you still have some time to make your own T-shirts or outfit yourself in someone else’s. Dream it. Make it. Wear it.
Now let’s see if you can get through this post without getting Irene Cara’s timeless “Fame” theme song out of your head… because I can’t. Now I too want to live forever, and I wanna learn how to fly (high).
Supreme Court nominees aren’t usually T-shirt fodder – heck, either are Supreme Court Justices – but Sonia Sotomayor can chalk up another win for breaking the norms.
Her much-debated “wise Latina” remark has become an empowerment slogan for other like-minded ladies, and when folks feel empowered by a catch phrase it’s only a matter of time (very little time, usually) before it makes its way to the ever-flexible canvas of a cotton T-shirt.
The AP covered the pop culture trend today, noting that the appeal of “Wise Latina” T-shirts is partially cultural. Said one interviewee: “In Hispanic culture, there is such a veneration of the older Latina figure. She represents that.”
So if you’re looking for that perfect gift for your own wise Latina, hey – look no further. Even if you don’t want to go political, we gotcha covered.
There’s been a lot of talk lately about the anti-Obama T-shirts in our catalogue, all made by folks who are getting something off their minds and onto their chests (and the chests of those around them). It would seem that a T-shirt is worth 1,000 polls…
One of the more discussed designs is the Obama/Joker design, which went viral both online and as a subversive poster campaign in the real world. This image was the first real iconography to catch on in the anti-Obama movement, and it certainly got some attention from the Left. Some decried it as “racist,” (these folks apparently aren’t big Batman or circus fans), while others went on record to doubt the intelligence of the design itself.
Perhaps, under a new administration, the collective memory slate that once held notes of political outrage has been wiped clean. Indeed, those decrying the Obama/Joker image seem to have forgotten that President Bush earned himself similar artistic… er, tributes. A simple search for “Bush” reminds us that the process of Presidential policy critique via the almighty T-shirt isn’t remotely reserved for the Right.
The trend of anti-Obama merchandise is to be expected. This is, after all, the artistic cycle of political opposition; those opposed to a specific candidate spend the majority of their pre-election energies on promoting their candidate of choice, not focusing on The Other Guy (or Girl). In fact, the only candidate we’ve seen garner a big anti-following well before holding the Presidential office is Hillary Clinton, who started the whole retro communist/socialist propaganda art theme long before Obama was the target.
Which is to say that all the folks making McCain ‘08 merchandise should be expected to join the new political dialogue, and that dialogue centers around President Obama and his policies. Those who made the pro-Obama T-shirts have, already, done their jobs: their candidate was elected, their merchandise is still – for the most part – relevant in supporting him.
For those interested in the trend, here’s some factoids for you:
There are about 1 million anti-Obama products, vs. 3 million pro-Obama products
Sales of pro vs. anti are fairly evenly split, though anti can spike if there’s a good, T-worthy catch phrase or policy that comes up (like the Great Stupidly Debate & Happy Hour)
The anti-Obama sentiments post-election tend to focus on policy issues – socialism is a big theme, as well as generalized “I told you so” messaging. Pre-election, the anti-Obama sentiments trended more towards a generalized answer to the ubiquitous Hope/Change messaging, with “Nope” being a main theme.
Overall, the anti-Obama merchandise is, in its infancy, displaying much the same pattern as the anti-Bush merchandise. One big difference: anti-Obama merch tends to be almost exclusively about what Obama does; anti-Bush merchandise had a lot of content specifically related to what Bush said. The “acting stupidly” remark was the first Obama public gaffe to make its way as a trend to ring-spun cotton, so we’ll just have to wait it out to determine whether or not the Obama administration will go the way of Bush, inspiring designers with “Obamisms” or some such.
And with the series finale keeping everyone wondering, L Word fans can keep the dream alive with fan-created L Word T-shirts. Because after all, who knows? Maybe Dexter killed Jenny.
A public memorial service for Michael Jackson is taking place at the Staples Center today. The service is open to 11,000 fans, who registered online for a ticket lottery.
The site received 500,000,000 hits within its first hour of being launched, and over 1.5 million people registered for tickets. Los Angeles authorities are asking that anyone who didn’t receive tickets please refrain from heading to the Staples Center, as the city is fearing that anywhere between 250,000 to 750,000 people might show up. As it is, there have been hordes of fans and reporters and helicopters descending on his Holmby Hills rental house and the Neverland Ranch property since his death.
Reports are estimating that more people will watch this funeral than those of Princess Diana or Elvis.
The services will be aired on television and online, so anyone wishing to pay respects to Michael Jackson may do so without traveling to a city already famous for its incredible traffic jams.
The violence and everyman suppression of post-election Iran was crystallized to the world when student Neda Agha-Soltan was shot in the chest and killed by one of Ayatollah Khameini’s Basij paramilitary officers. Neda was on her way to a protest march.
Despite Iran’s best efforts to keep news of the ongoing protests contained, this incident has proven that the Internet’s facilitation of citizen journalism is more powerful than the constraints of traditional press. Which is to say that you can boot all the foreign journalists from your country, but amateur video combined with the broadcast and sharing power of the Internet can lead to worldwide awareness of whatever you’ve been trying so hard to keep on the down-low. And the more you try, the bigger the backlash.
Video of the killing (and it’s very graphic, so be prepared if you seek it out) circulated quickly. Commentary and reaction began spreading virally via Twitter, Facebook, blogs, websites, e-mail and – as we’ve come to expect when people have something important to say – CafePress, where those touched and angered by the assassination began in earnest to design protest T-shirts to share their message of outrage. This is one of those events wherein the merchandise is primarily a symbolic creative outlet for its designer, rather than a “this is a funny headline” somewhat entrepreneurial T-shirt event.
Neda has become a symbol of all that the protestors are rallying against in Iran – and the more the Iranian government seeks to silence the voice of the people, the more they’re empowered to use alternate forms of communication as a broadcast system. This is not a new phenomenon in cultures where neither press nor elective process are free from government intervention; having lived in South America in the mid-90’s, one of the things that immediately struck me was the graffiti. And it wasn’t the amount of graffiti that caught my attention – that’s nothing new to anyone who’s lived in big urban cities – but rather the content. The graffiti in Quito wasn’t, as most American graffitti is, vanity tagging. By and large these were hard-hitting political statements, brought to the streets by an oppressed people looking to find the most accessible public of places to make their voices heard.
And so it is with Neda. No longer is this kind of government-chafing message necessarily constrained by the locality of a public wall. No longer is there as much personal risk when you can trade in your can of spray paint for an Internet connection. Getting online from half a world away can get the word out, and get it out fast. You can tell your story. You can influence people. You can use the almighty T-shirt to get it off your mind and onto your chest, and you can empower an army of grassroots participation. You can even get a message to the foreign journalists denied access to a first-person vantage point, and they’ll write your story anyway.
Or, as President Obama put it: “No iron fist is strong enough to shut off the world from bearing witness.”
And so, while the Iranian government prohibits Neda’s family and friends from having memorials in her honor and tries to locally silence the voices mourning her, the world is talking. And from our end, a T-shirt is worth 1,000 words.
President Obama’s much-awaited speech at the University of Cairo was the culmination of his trip throughout the Middle East. The tour has been called “The Middle East Tour” by most American and World Press, with the final speech being referred to as a “reach out” to the Muslim world.
The speech focused on “new beginnings” for U.S./Muslim relations.
Not everyone is moved by the President’s overtures, however. Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei noted that the Muslim world still holds a deep-seated hatred of America, citing the reason as “For a long time, these people have witnessed aggressive actions by America, and that’s why they hate them.”
U.S. critics of Obama saw the speech as a terrorist invite, having already dubbed Obama’s tour “The Apology Tour” (not to be confused with Marilyn Manson’s “Boo Tour,” though it would seem that the Apology Tour was more successful than the latter at disturbing some Americans).
Within the theme of new beginnings, he addressed the Iraeli/Palestinian conflict from a different stance than previous Presidents, referring to Palestine as “Palestine” (rather than a future Palestinian state), and noting that current conditions for Palestinians are “intolerable.” Obama also highlighted the fundamental rights of Palestinians to have a homeland by noting, “Israelis must acknowledge that just as Israel’s right to exist cannot be denied, neither can Palestine.”
Obama’s surprise Nobel Peace Prize win last week created an unprecedented uproar of conflicting popular opinion, and the designs keep coming in as the debate over the award continues.
As the Nobel committee staunchly stands behind their decision, public opinion flares wildly on both sides. To date the CafePress community has brought about 7,000 Obama Nobel Peace Prize products to life – 57% supporting and 43% opposing the prize.
Fans of Showtime’s Dexter are in luck – now you can design your own 
