Posted on 01/02/2009 5:10:29 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Peddlers are pushing Barack Obama everything, from now ubiquitous T-shirts and campaign buttons, to the slightly more risqué Obama-themed cigars and “Yes, We Can!” thong underwear.
But the president elect in your bathtub?
Proving that the power of political kitsch transcends even the lousiest of economic times, two Dallas businessmen are stimulating their own economics by peddling Obama soap. Specifically, “The Audacity of Soap,” complete with a wrapper featuring an image of the president-elect and the slogan, “This is our moment to clean up America.”
With scents ranging from “sea to shining cedar” and “blue state bluebonnet,” Obama bar proprietors Craig Tiritilli and Salah Boukadoum say the holidays are causing sales to spike, even as the national economy continues to languish.
Each bar sells for $9.99, with gift-wrapped holiday packages ranging from $16.99 to $39.99.
The partners say they donate a portion of each sale to the Yellow Ribbon Fund, a charity that provides assistance to families of injured U.S. military personnel. In all, they say they’d like to raise $50,000 for the charity.
“We caught election fever, we both supported Obama and we laughed about doing Obama soap a little bit,” said Mr. Boukadoum, who employed several dozen people as chief executive of Atrana Solutions, a financial transactions technology company, until selling it in 2005. “But it’s really good business. Obama is already helping to create jobs.”
Mr. Boukadoum estimates his fledgling outfit, Soap Hope, had sold about 1,000 Obama bars by mid-December alongside non-Obama branded products. Sales of holiday gift-wrapped packages of Obama bars, in quantities of three and eight, have been particularly brisk of late.
Orders have shipped to almost all of the 50 U.S. states, as well as several foreign nations, Mr. Boukadoum added. Soap Hope, located in Deep Ellum, is prepared to ship several thousand more bars immediately.
If nothing else, Dallas County Republican Party Chairman Jonathan Neerman admires the Obama bar makers’ entrepreneurialism.
“If someone would have sold John McCain anti-aging cream a while back, maybe that would have worked pretty well,” Mr. Neerman joked.
He had a few lighthearted GOP-centric suggestions of his own: Sarah Palin lipstick, Texas Comptroller Susan Combs combs and, perhaps, bow ties in honor of the always dapper Texas Railroad Commissioner and U.S. Senate candidate Michael Williams.
As for politicizing soap, it isn’t an entirely new idea.
Bostonite Kavita Pillay, for one, sells George W. Bush-inspired bars dubbed “Scrubya,” as well as a newer cleansing product, “Soapbama.”
For Dallas resident John McKibben, however, he’ll stick with the locally made Obama bar.
He first discovered the product through a link on social networking site Facebook and bought four bars. Mr. McKibben, a 30-year-old leasing specialist who served as an Obama delegate this year to the Texas Democratic Party state convention, has since purchased six more, he said.
“Sure, it’s a novelty,” he said. “But it’s actually really good soap, too.”
I felt like putting a bullet between the eyes of every Panda that wouldn’t screw to save its species. I wanted to open the dump valves on oil tankers and smother all those French beaches I’d never see. I wanted to breathe smoke.
Or one that applies to this thread, “It was beautiful: we were selling rich women their own fat asses back to them.”
Personally I like the movie a lot better. I realize I shouldn’t be discouraging reading, but I think this is one of the few cases where the movie is better than the book.
And I’m not surprised that someone who goes by “Zevonismymuse” likes Fight Club. :)
How about a toilet seat with his mouth being the opening.
Many folks share your opinion. I had to buy the book after seeing the movie. It really blew my mind. I think the movie is great and watch it at every opportunity. I just think the required reading in California High Schools needs updating and I would like to see Great Expectations replaced by Fight Club because of all the contemporary cultural issues addressed in the book.
How about Obama urinal targets
A legion post I go to has Jane Fonda urinal targets
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