Barack Obama can sell. He can sell himself -- he was Ad Age's Marketer of the Year in 2008, and rightly so -- but he is also a mammoth merchandising proxy. Newspapers figured it out on the last day of his election, after his thrilling speech in Grant Park: The more newspapers we can get Obama's face on, the more we sell. Commemorative versions of historic Obama newspapers have sold like crazy. In fact, we're pretty sure that's what's keeping the Sun-Times afloat.
Of course, Jerry Reinsdorf is a businessman, too, and when he sees a business opportunity, he takes it. Thus, the Barack Obama White Sox cap:
The club has developed two prototype designs of its club hat with Obama marks on the side and back. The hats have been approved by MLB Properties, and the White Sox now are awaiting a formal blessing from the Obama administration before league licensee New Era goes into production. Both designs will be made if accepted by Obama. “We’re very excited. This is somebody who’s obviously a White Sox fan, but more importantly, really embraces and embodies the attributes of our brand: the notions of pride, passion and tradition we rally around. He’s made it hip to be a White Sox fan,” Boyer said.
What, it wasn't hip to be a White Sox fan before? We thought the White Sox were the chosen baseball team of hipsters everywhere. The Cubs are for mainstreamers, bro.
It should be noted here that the proceeds from these sales would go to the White Sox's various charities, specifically the ones surrounding U.S. Cellular. So it's not a blatant money-grab at the popular President's coattails, but a celebration of all that is White Sox Pride. Hey, that's more than we can say for the newspapers.
