Thanks a Ton, Donald!

When you build a merch line but spooked consumers (generally) don't come

SHOCKER, HE WASN’T JOKING (Photo: The Economist)

I want to be exceedingly clear here at the very outset.

On the scale of problems facing our country right now, the status of the Evil MoPac Collection is firmly in the “no big deal, what are you bitching about?” camp. I get it.

Almost everyone is being pulverized by Donald Trump’s appallingly regressive and deeply painful policy shocks right now. The last 12 weeks have been an unmitigated disaster, and even the most leg-humping MAGA sycophants are contorting like pretzels to even begin to spin this. For example: “Retiring before 80 is unpatriotic, people!” Even with many tariffs being eased in slipshod fashion, the damage is already baked in.

But this is my little canary in the coalmine story, and I truly appreciate y’all being willing to listen to it, because if it’s happening to me, it’s happening to millions of others.

SETTING THE SCENE

Back in the spring of 2024 I was approached by the UT’s Moody School of Communications’ “The Lab” about a branding partnership, where students would function as a design and PR studio for Evil MoPac merch. After some back and forth, I took the leap, and over the fall, worked with these incredible young people to develop an Evil MoPac brand.

After a lot of behind the scenes work since the new year, I had my Evil MoPac Collection ready to launch two weeks ago—a fun, lighthearted merch suite with shirts, hats, mugs, bags, and other assorted products. My name is on it so it had to be good and I believe it is.

But, in a rather unfortunate stroke of whatever the opposite of luck is, mere hours before I went live, Trump decided to launch the most punch yourself in the nuts economic move in modern history

But, in a rather unfortunate stroke of whatever the opposite of luck is, mere hours before I went live, Trump decided to launch the most punch yourself in the nuts economic move in modern history, by instituting a series of hefty tariffs against rival and allies alike that was totally detached from economic reality.

Unsurprisingly, the stock market plummeted and has been on an anxiety-inducing roller coaster ever since with the Art of the Deal maestro caving on various tariffs at every turn. It’s a fucking slipshod disaster.

So, I was faced with the difficult choice between pushing through with my launch against this troubled backdrop or waiting for calmer seas that might never come. I agonized and chose the former. I would press on.

HOW IT’S (NOT) GOING

I launched and promoted on all of my social media channels, getting some robust sharing and traffic. And I’ve made a number of sales. That’s cool. But it has become clear to me that many folks are sitting it out when they otherwise wouldn’t have thought twice about buying. “Happy to share, but need to see how my bank account looks here going forward” has been a pretty common response.

Yes, there could be other factors like people being distracted by the robust waves of distressing information or me simply overestimating the appeal of my merch. But the market research I did, along with my own sense of my fans, lead me to believe that a solid market exists that has simply not connected yet.

Hey, could be worse

WHERE IT GOES FROM HERE

Again, I want to be crystal clear here: This is not me whining about people being overly cautious. There is no wrong answer here as far as consumer behavior with respect to my products. It’s your money. But it’s not lost on me that a few weeks ago this might have blown up and has (so far) been a relative shell of its potential.

To the extent that your decision to buy/not buy has been because you didn’t know about it, please consider this me reaching out and you can eyeball my merch here. I’d love to have you! If the time isn’t right, I 100% understand. I simply want to underscore that I’m here.

If any y’all have questions, please reach out to me at evilmopacatx@gmail.com.