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January 28, 2021

Bernie Meme Merch Raises $1.8M for Charity

The Vermont senator went viral when his Inauguration Day pose – in mittens, mask and parka – was pasted into incongruous photos. Moment merch quickly followed.

By  Theresa Hegel

The mittens that spawned a million memes have also helped to raise well over a million dollars for charity. At President Biden’s inauguration last week, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders was spotted in a parka, mask and upcycled mittens, his arms and legs crossed. The pose quickly reached icon status, with the Vermont lawmaker’s image pasted onto movie posters and album covers, in TV shows and landmarks … just about anywhere Photoshop can go.

As with anything that goes viral, the image was quickly translated into moment merch. Sanders’s team pasted the “Chairman Sanders” image on T-shirts, sweatshirts and stickers for sale on his campaign website. The first run sold out in less than 30 minutes, according to Sanders. More merch was added the weekend after the inauguration, and was sold out by the morning of Monday, Jan. 25.

Bernie Sanders wearing mittens on black sweatshirt

This 100% ringspun organic cotton crew sweatshirt is made in the USA and union-printed. It was being sold on Sen. Bernie Sanders’s campaign site to benefit Vermont Meals on Wheels.

“Jane [Sanders] and I were amazed by all the creativity shown by so many people over the last week, and we’re glad we can use my internet fame to help Vermonters in need,” Sanders said in a written statement.

Merch sales raised $1.8 million, which will go to a slew of Vermont charities, including Meals on Wheels, Feeding Chittenden, Chill Foundation and senior centers in the state.

The memes also sparked an interest in Sanders’s upcycled mittens, which were made by a schoolteacher named Jen Ellis. The sustainable mittens are made from repurposed wool sweaters and lined with fleece made from recycled plastic bottles. To further the charitable giving, Ellis was auctioning off three pairs of her mittens to benefit Outright Vermont, a nonprofit that supports LGBTQ+ youth. As of Jan. 28, the mittens had a top bid of $5,000, with just over a day left on the auction.

Tobey King of Corpus Christi, TX, was inspired to crochet a Sanders’ doll, an impromptu project that took her about seven hours. When she found out Sanders was selling sweatshirts to raise money for charity, she decided to put her doll up for sale on eBay.

“He’s so down-to-earth and just somebody that I admire for his goal of really trying just to help people. It’s very inspiring,” King told Reuters.

The winning bid was for $20,300, and eBay matched the sale price, so that a total of $40,600 went to Meals on Wheels.

The Bernie meme also got the bobblehead treatment. The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum is selling a Sanders bobblehead, featuring the senator in his face mask, mittens and winter coat, sitting in a folding chair on the white podium base. Available through the museum’s online store, the bobbleheads are available for preorder for $25 and expected to ship in May.

Bernie Sanders mitten meme bobblehead

The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum is selling this Bernie Sanders Inauguration Day bobblehead, based on the meme that took the internet by storm.

“As soon as one of our employees alerted us to the viral pictures of Bernie, we checked out Twitter and knew we had to get to work,” said Phil Sklar, CEO and co-founder of the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum. “We think this will be another fun bobblehead to put a smile on people’s faces.”

Within a week of being posted, the Inauguration Day bobblehead has become the museum’s second best-selling bobblehead of all time with 18,000 sold, trailing only Dr. Fauci bobbleheads, which are approaching 50,000 sold. Bernie bobbleheads have already been sold to customers in all 50 states and nearly a dozen different countries, according to the museum. The bobblehead museum is also getting in on the charitable action, donating $10,000 to Meals on Wheels Vermont in honor of the viral meme.

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