Chia Obama Pulled From Walgreens Shelves
Sorry, folks, you'll have to go elsewhere than Walgreens to purchase your "Chia Obamas," as headquarters has asked local stores to remove the item, saying they felt it was bad for their corporate image. This perhaps marks the first time anyone has said, yeah, that's probably not a good way to commodify the Barackster. The Chia Obama comes in two formats, "Happy Chia Obama," and "Determined Chia Obama," sporting either a smile, or steely resolve, respectively.
'Chia Obama' booted from local stores [FOX 13] (Thanks to Chester!)
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Comments:
Aww, it was fun to toss these onto the pavement...
Crap, I wanted to get one of these too!
Does it say "Ch-ch-ch-change we can believe in"?
Instead of banks passing out credit cards, they should pass out piggy banks with the words "Change we can believe in."
Wow, and I actually always said his hair looks like a chia pet....
Wow, I'm surprised that made it all the way to production. Regardless of whether or not it should be a big deal, the fact is someone will make it one.
Reminds me of such other "I can't believe they made that" items as the Mattel Vibrating Harry Potter Broom and Nerf Oozinator squirt guns, but with far less of a sexual undertone.
Harry Potter Broom story (Potentially NSFW):
Oozinator commercial:
Hilarious!
Chia prez!
I wonder if those that made it to customer hands will be $$$$.....
Cha-Cha-Cha-Change! The national debt that grows!
OMG, I'm laughing so hard. In total disbelief. Although I'm totally believing Walgreens pulled the product. Unbelievably tacky and very potentially offensive product. But "commodify" is an awesome word.
Now all we need is a Bob from That 70's Show.
Wait, wait, wait.....you didn't hear the sell pitch www.chia.com
They need to make one with a bust of the Jolly Green Giant (in green ceramic, of course). That growing green "hair" would be awesome on him!
Sounds like they pulled it not because of any real complaints, but because somebody somewhere might possibly be offended.
I don't understand what could be offensive about it in the first place, and I'll never understand how some people can be so afraid of those that make a habit out of searching for things to get offended over.
@Con Seannery '09: Illegal in 1 Giz: Don't say things like that or you'll have secret policemen, I mean secret service agents, knocking on your door.
So, why doesn't the president have to sign-off on the use of his name and likeness on products?
The face doesn't even look like Obama!
@easy2panic: Hehehehe.
I guess you're talking about "pre-approved" credit cards. I'm willing to bet those cards are cheaper to make than a plastic piggy bank, and cheaper to ship.
Whose photo of Obama was ripped off to create the image?
@Micromegas: Lots of presidents have had big hair, but none of them got a Chia pet.
Surely it's only coincidence that the one president with black heritage gets an Afro Chia Pet. /sarcasm
It appears Obama is in illustrious company. Chia has deemed animals, inanimate objects (like a lovely Christmas tree), and cartoon characters important enough to become CHIA.
Really stinks since Easter is so close, what with Barry being the Second Coming and all.
Actually I find the image hilarious but I can see why they pulled it (someone would complain about growing your own Afro on a caricatured Barry)
Like I always say. Crack a book people. Look into how presidents were portrayed in the past, along with a whole bunch of other things. Look into how the constitution was used. When it was first put out, it was on PLACEMATS along with other things. Back then people were proud of this, they showed their pride in things. Now everythings too PC. You just can't call a spade a spade. And now that's not derogatory. It's about a shovel! But try and get the idiots to believe it.
BTW Obama is a public figure, and has no say what so ever on how his image is used.
If I had known that the Chia Obama was at Walgreen's, I definitely would have picked one up.
Instant collectors' piece.
@Trai_Dep: Even though its price is probably prohibitive due to the incredible manufacturing costs needed to produce a chia pet of such enormous size.
Hey-O!
I know I shouldn't, but I really want one. LOL.
Ha, got one! My Determined Obama arrived in the mail a couple of weeks ago. Ordered it from Drugstore.com right after the election...
@marcelebrate: I know. I saw the commercial and was waiting for it to be fake...until the end when it said they were at Walgreen's. Then it was like, "Really??? These are a real product???"
@Yamunation: It's not even close.
They should have pulled them just because they were flat out wrong in appearance.
Obama should call Chia out on this. Specifically, he could use this item as an example of why people should exercise sound personal finance management and quit buying worthless novelty shit using their maxed out, high-interest rate credit cards.
@MooseOfReason: Yes? What does an Obama chia say about the president? It's not really making fun of him, nor would a Bush chia be making fun of Bush.. it's just a silly gag.
Curiously, the Chia Pelvic-Area Obama, with its lush foliage, still sells like hot cakes.