October 09, 2020
VP Debate Fly Prompts Biden Fly Swatter Merch
The “Truth Over Flies” Fly Swatter was already sold out as of this writing.
Joe Biden is hoping to fly into the White House, and there’s ample buzz over a new cheeky bit of “moment merch” that aims to raise funds to help him get there.
It all started with what’s currently the most famous fly in America.
The fly landed on Vice President Mike Pence’s head during the vice presidential debate between he and Democratic VP hopeful Kamala Harris on Wednesday, Oct. 7. The fly went viral, spurring an outpouring of comments, puns and image/video shares on social media.
Swats away flies and lies. Get yours today: https://t.co/ehsECKfDPO pic.twitter.com/oVLHHmq85c
— Team Joe (Text JOE to 30330) (@TeamJoe) October 8, 2020
Seeing an opportunity, the Biden campaign instantly turned the buzz into a tangible product – a fly swatter – that folks could buy to help support the former vice president’s bid for the White House. The “Truth Over Flies” Fly Swatter was selling for $10 in Biden’s web store. A campaign staffer said on Twitter that 15,000 had sold within hours of release. By the morning of Oct. 8, they were reportedly sold out.
Lots of buzz about our fly swatter, we’ve already sold 15,000
— Zach McNamara (@zpmcnamara) October 8, 2020
Pitch in $5 to help this campaign fly. https://t.co/CqHAId0j8t pic.twitter.com/NbkPl0a8HV
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 8, 2020
The fly in Pence’s hair might have been responsible for a jump in searches for the term “fly swatters” on Google, as the below data suggests:
Interest in fly swatters also increased in the promo products industry. There was one search for the term fly swatter on Oct. 6 in ESP, ASI’s database of products from across the North American promotional products industry. That increased to four on Oct. 7 and then soared to 72 on Oct. 8 after the debate. While the raw numbers aren’t large, the Oct. 8 number is a 7,100% increase from Oct. 6. Similarly, searches for fly swatters went from 0 on ESP Websites on Oct. 6 to 15 on Oct. 7 to 51 on Oct. 8 That’s a 240% jump from Oct. 7 to Oct. 8.
President Donald Trump, whose “Make America Great Again” hats are viewed by some as the single most successful promo product of at least this century, has proved a master of using branded merchandise to offer timely comment on buzzworthy issues, sometimes mocking rivals through the messaging on such products and always leveraging the items to stir support among his base.
Still, the Biden campaign has started landing some mocking merch blows of its own. In addition to the fly swatter, Biden recently released buttons that said “I Paid More In Taxes Than Donald Trump” after a report from The New York Times alleged that Trump had paid just $750 in taxes some years and none in others.