Fine – but if it doesn’t cost CL anything and makes a hundred people happy, where’s the downside?
Which I think would be an improvement. I’m not a fan of most Vatican art, either. How much gets used for album covers, where the real art is?
The thing is that Ed is thinking SD and you are thinking SDMB. With neither one being more valid than the other. The usual SDMB member is not as tied to Cecil or Slug and the usual SD reader. Ed, for obvious and valid reasons, is more interested in promoting the SD brand than the SDMB. Meanwhile, most of the people asking for t-shirts are thinking SDMB. This is the fundamental disconnect, I think.
Makes sense.
I don’t think that’s it. I think Ed is basically a print guy and thinks in print terms. You or I could whip up a Cafe Press boutique in 15 minutes. Ed isn’t comfortable with Web 2.0 and would have to spend a day or two learning how to do it, then he’s have to spend a couple of weeks finalizing a design because, again, he’s not thinking of this in the “It’s free, throw a few designs up there and see what sells” way that modern Web businesses typically do, but in the old- fashioned “Let’s run this past a few layers of corporate middle-managers and make sure we have buy-in at all levels” way that he’s used to. You might get him to realize intellectually that there’s no overhead, no inventory, and no upfront expense, but you won’t be able to overcome the gut-level instinct of “This is a big project and requires a slow and cautious approach.”
Of course, almost no web sites are actually making money with new-fangled Web 2.0 thinking, but then, almost no Blue Chip corporations are making money these days, either.
Yeah, well I’m still a little confused.
I get that the message board people aren’t as connected to the drawings as the readers of the magazines are, but who cares as long as you make a profit from the sale of a t shirt?
Simplify it to just the mast head image if that would please more people, but to say we can’t use any of the trademarks, that’s a pretty silly suggestion, in my opinion. What kind of business model is this anyway? How is promoting readership of the website not a good thing?
While merchandise sales in the past have produced little profit, they would rather pass up sales, (that are literally banging on their door), than acknowledge that staying married to the hideous illustrations, (which I find amusing and apt in print), is the real reason.
Also, I am in the camp that believes for everyone who has spoken up to say, “I’d buy one of those!”, there are probably many more who feel the same. Exactly how is the profit from the sale of a few hundred t shirts not a step in the right direction? People ask us about our shirt, we gush about this great spot we found on the internet, they stop by, numbers go up. Isn’t that our goal?
Colour me confused. Yeah, yeah, they need 31million. Ever stop to think that they are maybe in that position because they weren’t interested in the small change, all along, only the big bucks?
I can confirm there are those of us who would love to have a shirt with the SD masthead that haven’t and weren’t considering posting here. I just figured I’d chip in. I was actually going to look for something like that the other day, unfortunately I wasn’t impressed with the current mechanise.
I even love the colours. I can see it now, dark blue at the top half, dark red on the bottom half, maybe. I’d wear it to the church that has roped me into playing piano for them. That’d show 'em. :dubious:
The current tshirts are apparently being closed out but here’s what we got:
https://securesite.chireader.com/cgi-bin/dopestore/buystuff.bat#tshirt
Just a thought, but you might want to think of this from an advertising point of view. I don’t know how much you think about the marketing side of your business, but even if the T-shirts make no profit you’ll still be advertising the SD.
You’re not making any money now because, lets face it, the design sucks. The current shirt has an odd ball feel to it. Not many people will buy a shirt just to let everyone know that they are a weirdo. They usually want to get noticed in a good way.
It’s not easy to make clothes that people will actually want to wear, but if you can pull it off then you’ll expose a lot of new people to the Dope.
Companies like Jagermeister just give out shirts for free. And in Jagermeister’s case just about every college kid thinks a Jagermeister shirt is the coolest thing ever.
The SD has devotion. That doesn’t exist that often in business. The people that like the column or forums are proud of it. If you make stuff that looks halfway decent (like mugs, pens, whatever) then people will buy it. They’ll do it so that people can comment on their mug and then they can show off by telling people that they know of a cool new website that not many people have heard off.
Most businesses don’t make merchandise because no one cares about them. People care about the SD and yet you’re not helping them spread the word.
“Stupidity, I Smack Thy Face”? Is that what that picture is supposed to be? I’ve been reading this for a long time, and I never knew that, nor have I ever seen that illustration on anything other than the shirt. (Yes, I have one.)
When people asked me what it was about, or why Cecil was wearing a paper bag on his head, I never have an answer.
But, as Confucious says, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
Or, as my sainted mommy always reminded me, “Save your pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves.”
Because his real identity is the subject of endless debate.
Ed says if I take care it of I can work with you folks to get you some Straight Dope-themed merchandise.
So I’ll be posting an announcement in a few minutes about this very subject. Y’all can tell me what you want and help with art and etc and we’ll go to Cafe Press and get this stuff happening.
Management still has to approve themes and merchandise (I suspect those of you who crave Straight Dope lingerie and jimmy hats will be disappointed – or what the hey, maybe not) and they’ll be setting prices but let’s see what we can come up with.
I have already asked for the right to use just the Straight Dope logo by itself so that is pending. But the idea is more to have other things that are not trademarked (like the logo) or requires more complicated rights/compensation (like Slug’s artwork) so outside of that sort of thing it’s what y’all want, or the majority of you anyway.
Announcement pending. So start thinking about what you’d like to see and what you’d buy. And let’s do it.
I would like to nominate the following shirt: a 1920’s style death ray shirt
All you’ll need is a pic of a death ray(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_56C-ixCTGN4/RtCvLLDjIgI/AAAAAAAAAmM/jHtAZN9JbQU/s400/Deathray.jpg) and the caption reads “1920’s style death ray: get’er done: with style” Have the part after the colon in a different font, perhaps something 1920’s in style (http://www.fontspace.com/category/1920s) Or we could go with a more modern slat, with something like the font for D.A.R.E. in the 80’s.
As you might remember I’m quite partial to the death-rays of the 1920’s, there is a thread (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=202225) already on that subject that contains a wealth of details in regards to these awesome weapons. At the time of it’s closing it was the longest thread on the SDMB which leads me to think there is quite a bit of interest in the idea. Lets celebrate the best of our collective genius and get these shirts made.
Also, something about horny goats would be cool too 
Damn I’m good.
(Yeah, yeah, I wasn’t even the first person to mention Cafe Press – but still, I’m gonna take a soupcon of the credit for this.)
Great news! Thanks for agreeing to spearhead this, TubaDiva.
This! Please! I really, really want a shirt that says “Cite?” on the back.
How about at football jersey with FIGHTING IGNORANTS as the team name?
Wouldn’t that sound like you are a fighting ignorant?
I’ll buy one. Medium.