While the big boys of direct marketing are careful to avoid controversy for fear of offending even one person in their customer bases, small DMers see an opportunity for profits from partisan politics, politicians and political parties. Multichannel retailer Star Spangled Ice Cream (www.starspangledicecream.com) offers the “sweet taste of freedom” with products that “contain no wacko liberal politics.” “Iraqi Road” and “Smaller GovernMint” are probably the best puns, if not flavors, but someone should figure out that as a joke “I Hate the French Vanilla” is well past its sell-by date. We prefer the gentle “Air Force ‘Plane’ Vanilla.”
At the other end of the political spectrum is the Unemployed Philosophers Guild, which informs us that no philosophers or artists were harmed in the making of its Web site, www.philosophersguild.com, something we can well believe. An example of the Guild's approach to politics is its “Axis of Evil” finger puppets of Saddam Hussein, the Ayatollah Khomeini, Kim Jong-il, and George W. Bush. We assume customers decide which puppet goes on which finger. Funnier, though considerably less political, are a pair of mules with Sigmund Freud on them, which are sold as Freudian Slippers.
Finally, ToyPresidents.com tries for a bipartisan approach, claiming it does not support one political side or another, but rather the political process itself. It offers more than 15 talking action figures of presidents from George Washington to George W. Bush, including both Roosevelts, Kennedy and Nixon, and Reagan and Carter.
