Twenty-three-year-old New Yorker Maurice Harary had dollar signs in his eyes last Sunday, after hearing the news of Osama bin Laden's demise. The opportunistic entrepreneur immediately created a website, Osamadeadtees.com, which he had up and running by 3:30 A.M. Monday. By Tuesday night, the dude had already sold over 10,000 tees at twelve bucks a pop.
It may be cynical cashing in, but it's also smart. Some of the celebrating may be overzealous, but no one's going to get jumped for wearing a t-shirt that trumpets the death of a national enemy. And people made money off the death of Mother Teresa as well. The almighty dollar has no truck with ideology. So one can proudly express their wish that bin Laden "rest in piss." Or if that's too crude, you can just rock a basic "Obama killed Osama" tee, and rile up your Republican friends.
A more established website, Zazzle, which allows customers to customize their own items, like t-shirts, mugs, and buttons, has reported handling thousands of bin-Laden-related orders this week as well, including one that was placed almost an hour prior to President Obama's official announcement. (Jesse Ventura shops on Zazzle?) Zazzle Marketing Director Mike Karns said, "It's been boiling up for ten years and this is the moment where people can finally express this sentiment."
