An inside look at how Biden's campaign is winning the viral merch game
Joe Biden's campaign has mastered the art of making memorable merch.
As with any candidate's site, the vice president's online shop is full of apparel, accessories, and other unique ways for supporters to publicly show their Biden/Harris pride. But over the past two weeks — since the New York Timesreported that Donald Trump paid just $750 in federal income taxes the year he won the presidency and another $750 his first year in office — the Biden campaign has seriously stepped up its merch game.
After seeing people express outrage over Trump's shockingly low income tax payments, Biden's campaign released buttons, stickers, and shirts that said "I Paid More In Taxes Than Donald Trump." Then following the first presidential debate on Sept. 29, the team created "Will you shut up, man?" shirts to commemorate Biden's blunt reaction to Trump.
On Wednesday night, during the first and only vice presidential debate, the team once again had a pitch perfect response to the fly that landed on Mike Pence's head mid-debate: a Biden/Harris fly swatter featuring the clever pun, "Truth Over Flies."
The Biden team has been heavily praised online for so quickly responding to the news and finding ways to take part in viral moments. Mashable spoke with Zach McNamara, merchandise director for the Biden campaign, about the team's successful merch strategy and how they've managed to brainstorm, design, and sell these products in such a timely manner.
Tweet may have been deleted
McNamara gave us a little behind-the-scenes peek into how the merch gets made, explaining, "When something like the tax story comes up, or we have unifying moments during debates, like we saw last night […] there is a Slack channel where we come together and start to throw out ideas. And you know, like nine out of 10 them will not work. But a lot of times one of them will."
Once the now infamous debate fly started trending on social media and the campaign tweeted an old photo of Biden holding a swatter, everything fell into place merch-wise. The team found fly swatters that were union-made in the U.S. (like all items in the store), they came up with the pun that played off of Biden's "Truth Over Lies" quote (which is featured on other campaign merch), and they created the product mockup.
Within an hour of the fly landing on Pence's head, Biden's team had the fly swatters for sale on the site. Within 24 hours, the campaign had completely sold out of them. In the end, supporters snagged nearly 35,000 swatters, and though the product had some lighthearted inspiration behind it, Biden's team hopes people focus on the deeper message it carries.
Bye, fly swatter.Credit: store.joebiden.com"Yes, the fly swatter thing is cute and of the moment, but what's printed on it — the allusion to truth over lies — I think is a key reason why it resonated and why we sold so many, because we consistently see that those products that feature those short, simple phrases are among our bestsellers always," McNamara said.
The "Will you shut up, man?" shirts, which featured Biden's quote atop an image of Trump's face, were also massively popular and sold out the day after the first presidential debate. But the clever merch isn't just there to make people laugh. It also helps drive current and potential supporters to explore the site, inspires them to learn more about Biden and Harris as candidates, and, of course, raises money for the campaign.
Tweet may have been deleted
The witty items that piggyback on viral moments clearly get a lot of attention online and are a big hit with supporters, but interestingly they're not the campaign's biggest sellers — not by a long shot.
"Biden-Harris yard signs are the most popular item on the store virtually every hour of every day, every week. And we've sold just an ungodly amount of those. Ever since we put them up the day Senator Harris's selection was announced," McNamara said.
"Lighthearted and fun is not something that we get a lot in Donald Trump's America."
The online store also features other items including apparel printed with Harris and Biden's go-to fashion accessories (Chuck Taylors and aviator sunglasses), virtual Animal Crossing merch, bottles of hand sanitizer with Biden's COVID-19 plan printed on the label, and several campaign collabs with professional designers.
Though the team will be winding down rolling out new production as November draws near, supporters can expect a few more surprises to hit the shop before election day.
Ultimately, the goal is to strike the perfect balance between stressing the political gravity of this election and providing some much-needed comedic relief.
"It's a very, very serious campaign. Everybody knows that. There's possibly never been a more serious time for our country, certainly in all of our lives. But that doesn't mean that we can't have some lighthearted moments," McNamara said. "Joe and Kamala themselves, they are fundamentally lighthearted people. We don't only love them for their policies and their experience and what they've done for this country. They're good people. And lighthearted and fun is not something that we get a lot in Donald Trump's America."
(责任编辑:关于我们)
-
Best smart home deal: The Amazon Smart Thermostat is just $63.99
SAVE 20%: The Amazon Smart Thermostat is on sale for $63.99 at Amazon, down from the normal price of ...[详细] -
揭阳“国字号”农产品+1!揭西橄榄入选全国名特优新农产品公示名单
揭阳“国字号”农产品+1!揭西橄榄入选全国名特优新农产品公示名单_南方+_南方plus近日,农业农村部农产品质量安全中心发布2023年第三批全国名特优新农产品的公示,共有608个产品拟纳入“全国名特优 ...[详细] -
跨越海峡 融聚民族丨精美畲族视频,约你相聚潮州凤凰山_南方+_南方plus(凤凰来仪,跨海相会!海峡两岸民族同胞欢聚凤凰山,时长共4分40秒)潮州凤凰山,千百年来静静地伫立,依着山和水,一代代畲族人在 ...[详细]
-
雅安日报/北纬网讯8月29日下午,芦山县林业局举办了主题为“‘姜城法律大讲堂’林业课堂”的普法教育讲座。讲座用通俗易懂的语言,深入浅出地讲解了森林法概念、林权的种类、林权纠纷处理办法、采伐森林和林木的 ...[详细]
-
Ocean Energy has deployed its 826-tonne wave energy converter buoy OE-35 at the US Navy's Wave Energ ...[详细]
-
舞蹈《新时代追梦人》舞蹈《再次出发》为热烈庆祝中华人民共和国成立70周年,表扬长期献身人民司法事业的人民法院工作人员,9月10日晚,雅安法院庆祝中华人民共和国成立70周年系列活动“祖国不会忘记——20 ...[详细]
-
澹崇墝鐭虫补钀藉瓙闈掑矝甯傚崡 涓栫晫500寮轰紒涓氳揪48瀹禵涓浗灞变笢缃慱闈掑矝
銆€銆€涓浗灞变笢缃戦潚宀涢閬?鏈?1鏃ヨ(璁拌€ 濮滃┓) 7鏈?0鏃ヤ笂鍗堬紝甯傚崡鍖轰汉姘戞斂搴滀笌澹崇墝鍗庡寳鐭虫补闆嗗洟銆侀潚宀涙梾娓搁泦鍥㈠湪鍏ぇ鍏冲棣嗕妇琛屾垬鐣ュ悎浣滅绾︿ ...[详细] -
9月18日至20日,“践行绿色发展理念全国主流经济媒体四川行·雅安”活动在雅安举办。媒体代表们走进川西大数据产业园、成雅工业园、中国藏茶特色小镇、芦山龙门古镇、中国至美茶园绿道、天全县始阳工业园等多个 ...[详细]
-
在深夜的汉源湖畔,一艘皮划艇搭载着两人,一人驾驶皮划艇,一人放网,两人搭档非法捕捞野生湖鱼……日前,记者从雅安市公安局获悉,夏季治安打击整治行动开展以来,汉源县公安局和汉源县农业农村局联合对大渡河流域 ...[详细]
-
提速搬迁进度为项目建设打基础。图为成雅快速通道水津关特大桥项目施工现场截至目前,由6号片区承担的新区大道及综合管廊项目80户搬迁任务已完成91.25%;南坝东街棚改109户搬迁任务已完成104户;前进 ...[详细]