Filed under: Retail, Holiday Shopping, Barack Obama, Products, Toys
On the website for Sears (SHLD), right alongside an inflatable clown punching bag and another with a specific clown (Bozo), is a third punching bag featuring the leader of the free world dressed as a boxer with a black eye.
It's the "Big Mouth Obama Inflatable 54-inch Punching Bag" and it's also available from Amazon.com (AMZN) with quick shipping. Big Mouth, by the way, is the manufacturer. The company calls it "Bop Obama."
'He Jumps Right Back Up'
Here's the sales pitch from Big Mouth Toys to retailers:
Big Mouth also sells Obama toilet paper, a coffee mug that looks like a toilet bowl and a device called "The Filthy Swearing Sound Machine.""Love him or hate him, your customers will go crazy over our hilarious 54 inch tall punching bag. Made from extra thick Vinyl, the Bop Obama ships flat. Whack him in the head, and he falls over, but he jumps right back up!"
While plenty of people have wanted to give the president a piece of their mind or perhaps a slap upside the head, is a presidential punching bag, well, presidential? Is it appropriate?
It all depends on who you ask. And perhaps your political leanings.
Mixed Reviews on Amazon
On Amazon, where the Big Mouth Obama inflatable is on sale for less than $16, the 70 comments featured mixed reviews -- 21 consumers give it one star, and 32 give it five stars.
Most of the negatives, though, are about the quality of the product, not the dignity of the person being punched through an inflatable surrogate. Some complain about having to fill it with water to hold it in place, while others complain about it rupturing.
A few expressed buyer's remorse. "I love Obama. I'm kicking myself for purchasing this," one reviewer wrote. "The fact that I spent money on something like this shows my lack of intelligence."
And some were angered by the idea of it. "What pure ignorance and disrespect to the President and his office," another reviewer said. "This isn't politics it's bigotry. Why in the world would any parent teach their child such hatred.SHAME!!!"
But others absolutely love it. "I love this punching bag me and my son start our day with a punch in his face," one man wrote. "When I think about the stupid $#!+ he had dine with this country it helps a little to just beat the $#!+ out of it."
A woman wrote just this week that, "It's going to be a white-elephant gift at our upcoming party, I will be fighting for it. It's hilarious and I hate Obama."
What do you think about the Obama punching bag? A great gift or a bad idea?
