In Columbia, Missouri they have vending machines in the building where various school supplies can be obtained. And among the latest batch of book cover/folders emerging from those machines were ones that proudly bore Barack Obama's eerie logo and campaign slogan. It happened at several other schools also. You can see what they looked like here on the right.Several students and parents found this a bit much. Even one of the principals has complained that such materials are inappropriate and she is lodging a protest with the suppliers. (“I just don’t want to get into that political arena at all.")
And Pencil Wholesale, the suppliers who have provided these political zingers to schools in the first place (including several elementary schools, by the way), are running for cover, claiming they aren't at all responsible. In fact, they're stretching the tale pretty thin by insisting that no one at Pencil Wholesale even noticed the Obama-themed goods. Hmm. So much for quality control.
Pencil Wholesale puts the blame instead on Harcourt Pencil Company out of Milroy, Indiana. Greg Jones, a sales representative for Pencil Wholesale (who stresses that he voted for John McCain) says the whole controversy is the result of Harcourt's art department “trying to be cutsie.”
Maybe. But Harcourt is no small player in the industry (the company has an annual revenue of nearly $10 million and a staff of 80 or more) and so it's hard to see their Obama materials being merely a "cutsie" stunt. Whatever it was, though, the decision to market goods with the Obama label wasn't a wise one. For not only is there the manipulation of school kids to answer for but, let's face it, after a year of bowing, blaming, bluster, and budget-busting bonehead moves, the Obama label just doesn't have much oomph anymore.
