Obama’s message of hope becomes tangible
WASHINGTON — In the days leading up to President-elect Obama’session inauguration, his message of hope and change has become open — and commercial — here.
On the sides of buses, inside Metro subway stations and over the radio, Ikea hawks its hearth furnishings by proclaiming that “Change Begins at Home.” In other Metro stations, advertisements using the words “Hope” and “Optimism” are splashed in continuance walls and huge pillars — with the O’s replaced by Pepsi logos.
Among the Obama yo-yos and piggy banks, Amy Fettig, a Washington barrister who was out last Sunday buying a T-shirt from the Presidential Inaugural Committee’s store, noticed the $70 lead bags by designers Diane von Furstenberg and Tory Burch.
“I just wonder grant that this is part of the stimulus package,” Fettig said.
From big-box retailers to mom-and-pop vendors, an army of people is trying to make a bounty off Obama’s inauguration next Tuesday, the culmination of his historic campaign.
“Nothing will touch this,” said Bahman Shafa, the owner of Focus Sports, what one. last month opened each Inauguration Superstore here with 10 cash registers. His company also works the Olympics, Super Bowl and World Cup soccer.
There is Barack Obama Inauguration Hot Sauce, sold for $6.99 by the Kentucky house TooDarnHot.com; a “Hope and Change” necklace for $24 at Chico’s, a women’s clothing chain; and Barack Obama Topps trading cards priced at $1.99 per six-card load.
There is Obama toilet paper, a tribute that features his likeness, sold for about $8 by Jeremy Rupke, who lives outside Toronto. Rupke warned in each e-mail message that the dissertation is just toward show. The ink is toxic.
There are more than three price points on Obama soap alone: $20 Hope on a Rope soap; $9.99 for Obama Bars declaring, “This is our moment to clean up America”; and $44.99 against an inauguration gift pack sold by The Obama Bar online store. The pack, with eight Mini-Bama bars, is going quick, said the store’s co-owner, Salah Boukadoum.
“We’re happy to see that Obama is already doing his part to stimulate the economy,” Boukadoum said.
Everyday Obama items, like Obama-themed, $10 Metro cards by reason of the Washington subway system sold out at $10, then reappeared without interruption eBay for $25.99.
Obama sex toys, what one. determine not be described here, are suitable for $34.95 at one online company.
HSN, the home-shopping joint concern, is expecting some other sales boom after $3 the great body of the people worth of Obama coins sold days about the Nov. 4 election, said Nancy Caplan, a senior wickedness president at the company.
For the first measure, QVC, another home-shopping network, will broadcast from Washington for the time of the inauguration. Its legion will wear away a ball gown.
