Guest Columnist

Urban Outfitters Pimps Obama, Your Love

by Alex Jung

Photo credit: Urban Outfitters

Political accoutrements are nothing new, but it seems particularly prevalent among today’s youth whose political activism often consists of wearing buttons, stickers, and rubber wristbands. Cure Cancer! Save Darfur! If anything, such paraphernalia can act as a barometer of the (dis)affections of today’s youth. At Urban Outfitters, the pioneer of desperately ironic t-shirts, Obama, unsurprisingly, leads with four t-shirts, ranging from the cheeky (Obama For Yo’ Mama) to the creepy (you know that giant tri-color shot of Obama’s face with PROGRESS written underneath?). Clinton inspires more of a mixed bag: there are two firmly pro-Clinton shirts ¬like “Hillary is My Homegirl,” a sarcastic, “Bill for 1st Lady” tee, and a cruel “Dirty Politics” toilet brush with a grip in the mold of the former first lady. All McCain can muster is a sad “McCan’t” coffee mug.

Liberal politics and mass consumption are difficult, if not impossible, to reconcile. Gap launched its (RED) campaign while also exploiting the lives of Indian children. So it should come as quite a bore to learn that Urban Outfitters, is actually run by an evil conservative genius named Richard Hayne, who takes the 28 bucks you spend on an Obamaniac shirt and parlays it into a fatty donation to the Republican Party. Beneficiaries have included former Senator Rick Santorum. How truly ironic! Capitalism: 1, Liberals: 0.

Posted at 1:49 PM, May 27, 2008 in Pop Culture | Permalink | View Comments