There’s no time for a barbecue like the Fourth of July.
Knowing most Americans are likely to spend their weekend near a grill, the Hillary for America campaign has introduced a “Grillary Clinton” line of accessories. The items peddled include beer/soda koozies, spatulas featuring the “H” campaign logo and an apron that reads “Grillary Clinton”.
The campaign’s tongue-in-cheek sense of humor first came to light at the end of May, when it introduced the “Everyday Pantsuit tee”.
And the strategy seems to be working.
On Wednesday, Clinton announced that her campaign had raised a record-breaking $45m, which included proceeds from sale of items such as the apron or the pantsuit T-shirt. That surpassed the previous highest total for first-quarter fundraising, which was set in 2011 by President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign at $41.9m. Furthermore, campaign merchandise is not just used to raise funds. It is also used to collect supporters’ email and mailing addresses and other data.
“It’s all about learning who your supporter base is,” Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst of the NPD Group and the author of Why Customers Do What They Do, told the New York Times.
“How do they live? What are their trigger points? What words resonate with them? It’s worth its weight in gold, in the political arena just like the consumer arena. We call it demographic profiling, because ‘voter profiling’ sounds like a dirty word, but that’s what it is.”
Here, then, is a closer look at the new batch of items the Clinton campaign hopes will get its supporters to disclose just a little bit more about themselves.
Grilling with Clinton
Forget “Kiss the Cook”. “Grillary Clinton” is all the rage among aprons in 2015. “If you can’t take the heat, back away from the grill,” reads the description on the campaign website.
The lucky guy in the apron, it turns out, is Ian Sams – Clinton campaign spokesman and part-time model. Prior to his current stardom, he was a regional press secretary of the Democratic National Committee and worked as a staffer for Delaware senator Tom Carper.
In addition to modelling the merchandise, Sams also promotes it online, tweeting: “Just an everyday cookout, with some everyday grillin’. Buy your summer swag now!”
Just an everyday cookout, with some everyday grillin'. Buy your summer swag now! https://t.co/uhPs5lneqc
— Ian Sams (@IanSams) June 29, 2015
Got a beef with Hillary? Brand it with this spatula bearing Clinton’s logo. Even your burgers can be partisan.
It wouldn’t be a proper cook-out without some cool refreshments.
“Be the coolest person at the party (with the coolest soda),” reads the description of the “Chillary Clinton” beer/soda koozie pack.
Where are the veggies? This “sweet tee” is covered with sweets and burgers. The first lady, Michelle Obama, who spearheads the Let’s Move campaign to fight child obesity in the US, might be disappointed.
For the GOP voter: anti-Hillary swag
Clinton’s campaign is not the only one with a sense of humor: Rand Paul’s team are using theirs to attack Clinton while making money.
“Hindsight is 20/20” warns the mock-up eye chart sold by the Paul team, whose candidate is also an ophthalmologist.
“So folks, let’s not let our country make the same mistake twice. We saw what happened in Benghazi and we know how Hillary operates. We can see clearly now and the real vision for our country belongs to Rand Paul.”
If there is a topic that Clinton has been grilled on again and again, it is Benghazi and her use of a private email server while secretary of state under President Obama. Paul and other Republicans are unlikely to let these issues go. And so, the Paul campaign is selling a limited edition Clinton hard drive.
Warning: this is not a functioning hard drive.
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