Posted by By MJ on July 29th, 2008

Tee Politics: How Far Is Too Far?

The presidential election is still pretty far off, but that hasn’t stopped some from working hard to influence voters.

It’s not the candidates themselves behind this initiative, though- it’s ordinary American citizens, driven as much by their desire to make a quick buck as by their impulse to exercise their right to free speech. And this time, the slogans seem much more likely to incite violence than a discussion.

In fact, that’s exactly what happened when a customer wore the Obama Is My Slave shirt from Apollo Braun. After the customer was shoved and spit on for choosing to wear the shirt, she’s threatened a lawsuit. So far there are no similar stories involving Tiger Cage Crazy’s Songbird of Saigon shirt, but I think that wearing a shirt that proclaims a former prisoner of war to be a snitch is a risky proposition at best. The interesting thing about these shirts is that, unlike most of the genre, any humor seems to be an afterthought- the goal isn’t to laugh at the candidates, the goal is to get people to question their worth.

For their part, the actual candidates are keeping their consciences clean and producing shirts more in tune with the classic optimism of the shirts showcased at Retro Campaigns than the searing commentary noted above. If only more of their followers chose the high road as well!

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