Invitation to brainstorm: election justice movement's Beanie Baby ?

I think we need a way for masses of people in this country to show they think the election was bogus, something that's visible and countable but doesn't take a lot of effort on the part of the couch potatoes of the nation.

What can we count on people in the U.S. to do? Buy stuff.

So I think it could be useful to design, produce and sell a product people can buy that means, "I think the election was stolen and it's not okay with me." (We'd take some time to figure out exactly the right message, but that's the gist I'm going for here.) Somethink like "electoral hygiene spray," or "election in a box" ("The last election was bought, now you can buy one for yourself!"). This concept would work best if it has cult "pet rock" or "Beanie Baby" sort of appeal. Sales could be tracked as one objective measure of growth of awareness of the stolen election. And, weird as it is, this sort of thing might even get MSM coverage!

I think this would work best if the item people bought was something they used publicly, so others would see it, ask about it, want to get their own.

Other important features:
-easily recognizable symbol
-inexpensive
-easy to mass-produce, ship and market
-environmentally friendly
-profit margin that could fund election justice efforts (a la Newman's Own)

I invite you to brainstorm this idea with me, including offers to take on this project, ideas about who could do product design, production and distribution.

Not sure where to go with this one. But it's a thought.

It's little, easy to distribute, could appeal to youth, has humor going for it...

Do you think you could actually get it to *work?* (Just kidding.)

"Activate the secret code and become President!"

ballpoint pens with the Phrase: Paper Ballots not Vapor Ballots...

well...maybe not. *sigh* In a fever state right now -- not thinking all that clearly.


a bit of a plug:
We do have a startup laser engraving business -- (though hubby thinks I'm a little cracked on this election stuff, but I can get things wholesale, and if it's not a huge amount of stock, could get him to donate some or all of the engraving time) -- though if we can get it cheaper elsewhere (depending on what it is), that's cool too. We could sell the election stuff on cafepress (? -- is that what it's called?)

One of our suppliers is here: http://www.laserbits.com/ (though we have other suppliers as well). Any of the products listed there we can engrave.

We can do glass! (Such as wine glasses, mugs, etc.).....

Just some thoughts.

at your supplier's site, also the idea of doing something in glass for "transparency" of elections. But glass is so hard and expensive to ship. And I'm really concerned about use of natural resources particularly for the metal and plastic items.

Still thinking. We could use some more brains on this. Do you think the subject line for this thread is strong enough?

"Don't Drink the Kool-Aid" --

But I guess first we need to come up with an idea of What our focus will be --

if it is the election -- we need to think of what we want to convey to the "masses" that would engender conversation... (I would think -- though we could go to extreme product/statements too).

From there -- the best/most cost effective medium for that message to be displayed.

From there -- capital to purchase the stock and find a place to produce it.

I'm not so good with Subject lines usually -- something with this type of flavor might work--

Wake up the Masses: Let's find a product to blast our message.

I'm thinking a small box, like a kleenex tissue box, painted black, white lettering that says "Place your democracy here" with a universal poison symbol printed on the side.

Bumper stickers. Buttons. Hats even.

...shows a touchscreen voting machine with two candidates listed, Kerry and Bush. Hand enters the image with finger pointing, approaches Kerry button, pushes Kerry button, hand withdraws, and as it withdraws, Kerry vote changes to Bush vote.

A rigged or riggable game: Monopoly type board game called "Democracy" in which, no matter how you play it, Bush wins (and the trick becomes avoiding chance cards that say things like "Deploy to Iraq.").

Or, deck of political Playing cards that has extra Jokers with images of Bush and computer voting machines.

Toy Robot: Touchscreen on its chest rigged to vote Bush, no matter how many times you push Kerry, and when it changes the vote, robot arm does Nazi salute, and says "Hail to the thief!"

A mechanical Pet Goat that Eats Votes.

Some riff on the Wizard of Oz, or Alice in Wonderland--both of which contain perfect metaphors for the current fascist delusional state we are living in. (--including the Wizard himself, creating an illusion of authority with the whiz-dings behind his curtain--"Don't look at the man behind the curtain!"; and, in Alice, many things--such as the Queen of Hearts ordering all the white roses PAINTED red.)

A Mad Magazine comic based on the movie "Matrix" but entitled "Votrix." (Or a TinTin comic in which a mad scientist invents "Votrix" to take over the world.)

An S&M doll whose name is "Votrix" or "Votrixia." Or a cartoon, or a video game, featuring such a character.

Did you ever see the '70s animated feature "Bambi meets Godzilla? (It's very short.) That's the kind of "instant recognition" humorous hit we want. The Decoder Ring still takes the prize, and with today's electronics, yes, it could be made to do anything (even elect you President).

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All of these ideas are free for the taking. If you are a whiz-ding maker, cartoonist, toy manufacturer, or whatever, go for it!

turn e-votes, into me votes
Clean Slate in '08

helium balloons,or regular balloons take a marker and write "stop secret vote counts" with a few websites on it,and let e'm rip .Till every one in the country says ,hey what the hell are all them orange balloons I keep seeing.

case a few million balloons might save the environment.The good they could do would outweigh the bad.

Years ago a cooperative bakery in my city used to include tiny flyers about community events (quarter-page size) in its bread packages. What if we could get companies to do something like this with little tidbits of information about the stolen election? It could even have a game aspect to it, like those fast-food scratch-off things. Collect all ten and put them together into a puzzle or something that would get people buying the product, creating buzz and creating the increased sales that might make a company interested in sponsoring something such as this despite the political risk.

We never wanted W. We didn't vote for him. We didn't elect him. So let's boycott him, in the form of his oh-so-famous middle initial. Insist that he resides in Ashington, D.C. Ash your hands before you come to the table. Ish upon a star. Elcome people to your house. Rite bumperstickers with * in them instead of W. Blog the high*ays. People will wonder. Then *e'll tell them *hat it's about. Oh, *rite letters to the editor of ne*spapers.