ASI’s Top 10 Wildest Presidential Primary Promo Products

TREVOSE, PA – September 15, 2015 – The Advertising Specialty Institute^® (ASI) today issued a top 10 list of the wildest promotional products available in the campaign stores of candidates running for U.S. president, including the NSA Spy Cam Blocker and Chillary Clinton Koozie Combo.

Click here for a Late Show with Stephen Colbert video on ways candidates like Donald Trump are using promotional merchandise to fund their campaigns.

There are currently five Democrats and 16 Republican candidates in the primary race leading up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election. According to a new CNN/ORC Poll, billionaire Trump leads the pack for the GOP nomination, followed by former neurosurgeon Ben Carson and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is the leading declared Democrat, followed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

The top 10 products on ASI’s list are easily branded by candidates to help raise campaign funds. While campaign caps, T-shirts, signs, buttons and pins remain the most popular campaign goods, creativity is rampant.

 ASI’s top 10 list of presidential primary promotional products:

•          Jeb Bush’s “Guaca Bowle” guacamole bowl, because “Jeb and Columba love whipping up
           guacamole on Sunday Funday”
•          Rand Paul’s “NSA spy cam blocker”
•          Bernie Sanders’ “Feel the Bern” mug
•          “I Got a Fever” T-shirt (and the only prescription is more Carson), from Ben Carson
•          Rand Paul’s “Hillary’s hard drive” with wiping cloth
•          Rand Paul face cut-out on a stick (set of 12)
•          Ted Cruz coloring book
•          “Grillary” Clinton apron
•          Hillary Clinton’s “everyday pantsuit” T-shirt
•          Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” mini megaphone. 

“There’s no better way for a candidate to grab the public’s attention, especially in a crowded field, than with clever, catchy campaign gear designed to stick in the mind of voters,” said Timothy M. Andrews, president and chief executive officer of ASI.

Political advertising is forecast to hit a record $11.4 billion in 2016, 20% more than the last comparable presidential election year of 2012, according to research firm Borrell Associates.

In 2012, ASI estimated total election­related promotional products spending at $870 million.

About ASI

The Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI; www.asicentral.com) is the largest media, marketing and education organization serving the promotional products industry, with a network of over 25,000 distributors and suppliers throughout North America.