Partisan outrage over a new AOC sweatshirt missed the point of campaign merch pricing. Also in this week’s issue:
2020 gets the villain treatment from Time
There’s a MAGA fire sale on Amazon
This Biden billboard uses a Britney Spears font
Yours,
Why AOC’s $58 “Tax the Rich” sweatshirt triggered the right
“Tax the Rich” sweatshirt, designed by Jordan Rosenberg. Credit: shop.ocasiocortez.com
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) promoted new merchandise available for preorder in her campaign shop last week, and one item in particular caught the attention of conservatives.
AOC’s $58 “Tax the Rich” sweatshirt was criticized as pricey by conservative media personalities and outlets who saw it as hypocritical. “Only the rich can afford this idiotic sweatshirt,” tweeted host Ben Shapiro. The congresswomen explained, though, that the cost was due to producing the sweatshirt in the U.S. instead of overseas.
“Republicans are freaking out bc we don’t use slave-wage labor for merch that funds grassroots organizing,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. The item is also union printed, per its description on Ocasio-Cortez’s store, adding to its price.
Also, no one seemed to notice that Trump is selling a $55 “Keep America Great” hoodie? Folks, I think a $50-$60 price range is actually pretty reasonable for campaigns selling U.S.-made sweatshirts these days!
Ocasio-Cortez is a fundraising machine, bringing in $18.9 million in 2019 and 2020, according to data from Open Secrets. That’s more than all but five U.S. House members and second among Democrats, behind only Speaker Pelosi.
What sets Ocasio-Cortez apart from most of her top fundraising peers is how much money she raises from small-dollar donors giving under $200: 77.91%. Compare that with the top House fundraiser, Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana), who only brings in 36.41% of his total from small-dollar donors, or Pelosi, who brings in 55.42% from small-dollar donors.
AOC has a powerful base of small-dollar donors, and items like a “Tax the Rich” sweatshirt offer supporters a fun way to donate and get something in return. The fact that it triggered the cons only seemed to become a point of pride.
Designer Jordan Rosenberg, who created the sweatshirt and other items for AOC’s shop (including Green New Deal and S̶t̶u̶d̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶D̶e̶b̶t̶ shirts), jokingly tweeted that he was retiring after Fox News aired an image of the sweatshirt with the chyron “Out of Touch Democrats.” The Ocasio-Cortez campaign added “As complained about on Fox News” to the sweatshirt’s description online.
One fact checking note on all this: In her defense of the sweatshirt’s cost, Ocasio-Cortez suggested that Trump’s merch was not made in the U.S. According to Trump’s merchandise descriptions, however, his items are made in the U.S. The Louisiana-based Ace Specialties has handled apparel orders for the Trump campaign for several years.
2020 gets the villain treatment from Time
Time magazine, December 14, 2020
Time magazine crossed out 2020 with a big red X for its December 14 cover about “the worst year ever.” If you’re a magazine cover nerd/history buff, you might recognize the visual reference, which Time reserves for the really bad guys. ❌
The magazine first used Xs on two covers in 1945, first to cross out Adolf Hitler after his death and then to cross out the Japanese rising sun following the end of the Pacific theater in World War II. In 2003, the X was used again to cross out Saddam Hussein when the Iraq War began, followed by al-Qaeda leader Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi when he was killed in 2006, and most recently Osama bin Laden when he was killed in 2011.
Credit: Time archive
Time staff writer Oliva Waxman wrote that the magazine has used the X throughout its history for humanity’s “worst foes,” and that challenges still lay ahead in 2021.
“Just as Time acknowledged that bin Laden’s May 2, 2011, death was ‘the end of an era in some ways, but not the end of our struggle against terrorism,’ so Time’s use of the red X in Dec. 2020 marks the end of a historic year, but not the end of the battle to curb the spread of this deadly virus,” Waxman said.
There’s a MAGA fire sale on Amazon
Trump flags on sale on Amazon.
Slowly but surely, 2020 election deniers are coming around to the fact that Trump lost, and that includes MAGA merchandisers on Amazon. As noted by Ryan Broderick’s Garbage Day newsletter, the invisible hand of the market has decided Biden won the election: you can now get a number of Trump-themed flags at a discount on Amazon.
Biden hammered coronavirus in his ads, and Trump focused on crime
The top messages used by the Biden and Trump campaigns. Credit: Ad Impact
New data about the messaging used in Biden and Trump campaign ads shows the campaigns had two very different strategies. Ad Impact, an ad tracking firm formerly known as Advertising Analytics, found that both Biden and outside Democratic groups were disciplined about sticking to the coronavirus as their top issue.
Meanwhile, the Trump campaign cycled through several messages throughout the course of the race, including accusing Biden of mental decline, tying him to the “Defund the Police” movement, and finally, traditional messages about healthcare and the economy.
About 44% of Biden’s ads were positive and 6% were negative, compared with about about 19% positive ads and 61% negative ads from Trump.
The data comes from Ad Impact’s 2020 report, which found a record $8.45 billion was spent on political advertising for presidential, Senate, House, down ballot, gubernatorial, and attorney general races in 2019 and 2020.
Biden was the top spender. He spent a record $652 million, followed by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who spent $582 on his short-lived campaign, and Trump, who spent $381 million.
Michelle Obama stars in Spotify’s #2020Wrapped campaign
Credit: Spotify
Former first lady Michelle Obama’s Spotify-exclusive podcast “The Michelle Obama Podcast” was the platform’s top summer podcast, and the company is highlighting it in their annual end-of-the-year campaign, Wrapped.
For #2020Wrapped, Obama and 54 other top streamers got their own ads, including Cardi B for “WAP”and Taylor Swift for folklore. Obama’s ad thanks her for “starting a conversation we all needed to have this year,” and Cardi’s thanks her for sharing her “invaluable Wisdom And Philosophies this year” lol.
Spotify VP-Global Executive Creative Director Alex Bodman told AdAge that the company was “very intentional” with its tone for this year’s Wrapped “knowing that this year has been incredible in terms of its challenges but also has shown incredible strength in communities around the world.” The choice of colors, gradients, and the kaleidoscopic effect on images was meant to reflect the idea of “beauty within the chaos.”
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This Biden billboard uses a Britney Spears font
“Joe loves Scranton” billboard in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Credit: @NaomiBiden/Twitter
This is niche news item for readers who like fonts and Britney Spears only:
Biden’s granddaughter Naomi Biden tweeted last week that someone gave her grandfather a poster that said “Scranton loves Joe” during the campaign, and they used it as a family dinner centerpiece in the week before Election Day.
Then, to show his birthplace of Scranton, Pennsylvania, some love in return, Biden’s campaign put up a billboard that reads “JO☰ ♥️ Scranton!” after he won.
Anyways, the typeface used for “Scranton” is Raphael, which was designed by Central Type Foundry, based on 19th century wood type, and used for the album art on Spears’ legendary 2001 album Britney.
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