Cashing in on Hope & Joy.

Be careful where you’re sending your money when you buy that kick-ass piece of Harris or Walz campaign Merch. You may feel good wearing it, but has any of your $$ gone to the campaign?

I’m impressed and delighted that Kamala Harris, and more recently the Harris/Walz campaign, has raised over one-half billion dollars over the past month, since Joe Biden bowed out as head of the Democratic ticket for 2024.

I’ve made three contributions myself since Kamala became the candidate, splitting one with Gabby Giffords anti-gun violence organization, making one directly to the Harris Presidential campaign, and with another donation purchasing a “White Dudes for Harris,” baseball cap, immediately following the Zoom call with tens of thousands of white “dudes.”

I purchased the baseball cap right away because I wanted to wear it proudly into Trump country on a trip to Southern Florida, and an upcoming trip to another red state, Utah. Even though the cost for the cap was $35, I was happy to pay it since the event organizers were clear that all of the proceeds went directly to the Harris campaign. That was my one requirement for purchasing any “merch.”

In the meantime, we’ve been getting bombarded with a barrage of emails, Facebook postings, and Instagram ads, from nearly two dozen websites and digital storefronts hawking Harris headgear, clothing, stickers, signs and other campaign merchandise. Only the official Harris campaign sites — KamalaHarris.com, and “Kamala HQ” confirm that your “purchase is a donation to the Harris Victory Fund.”

I did a bit of investigating of many other swag pushers and the results were startling:

First, despite selling every imaginable piece of Harris/Walz merchandise, very few of the companies gave ANY proceeds to the Harris Walz campaign.

Common among many of the 21 sites I researched was the ubiquitous and meaningless statement that “every purchase supports the cause and helps keep the conversation going.” Huh? None of those said how they did that.

Presumably, the purchaser is supposed to feel good about “supporting the cause” by wearing some clever statement or graphic on a tee-shirt or hat, which, “helps keep the conversation going.” You expected more, like maybe your money helping Harris win? Among those entities making that donation-less boast were: Wearsalive, Justnowmn, Strostrke, & OESOWNACCORD. Most carried the exact same merchandise, and some can be found right now by simply opening up your Facebook Page and scrolling for 60 seconds.

Secondly, and just as smart to avoid, were the sales-heavy sites which simply used a popular Kamala hat image, or Walz camo garb, and gave you a link to click on. Included among those were: Our Strong Voices, Dem Days (yes, it was really their name and had absolutely NO connection to the Democratic Party or Democratic campaigns), Trendlifts, Assessmeny, Hear Our Voice (or HOV) Store, Red, White & Blue, and two others that could pass for subdivisions of each with similar logos Shop Blue Wave, and Blue Wave. For all anyone knows, some of those sites could be owned by the Trump Organization to capitalize on the overnight outpouring of support for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. Again, no proceeds of any sales were pledged directly to the Harris/Walz campaign, or any Democratic campaign.

In the third group of gold graspers, were a few that smelled like Act Blue merchandising arms. Anyone who has contributed to any Democratic political campaign since 2004, when Act Blue was founded, is familiar with Act Blue. My “favorite” part of the Act Blue donation form comes at the end of your contribution line where the company has the audacity to ask for an additional “TIP” of 10% of the donation for simply processing your gift. Such shameless chutzpah, especially to expect a “handling fee,” from small dollar donors.

Get ready to accept the new political merchandise middle men, who allegedly pass on “100 per cent of proceeds to Act Blue.” Those include Fairyootd, KeepAtt, and a mixed bag from Structurlly, which in some promos says that “100% of its profits on shirts goes to the H/W campaign” and in other promos says “they support Act Blue.” The link inside Structurlly’s home page which leads you to Harris/Walz campaign stuff, is headed: “VOTE BLUE.” No where on its site does it state how much of the proceeds actually go directly to the Harris/Walz campaign, and how much is paid to Act Blue, or if it includes a “tip” for their services.

The fourth and final circle of Harris hot-merch hawkers is nothing short of astonishing to behold, simply on the basis of their flagrant sleight-of-hand and flim-flamming of Harris/Walz fans.

One, with the appealing political name of “Balance of Power,” claims to be a progressive leaning site which states, in print, that “all of it’s employees are die-hard Democrats.” When I asked, via a chat service, how much of their proceeds goes directly to the Harris/Walz campaign, Balance of Power’s representative replied, “We are committed to Kamala as President. Our Facebook page is devoted to promoting her. We encourage you to donate as much as you can, too.” Then they referred me to the kamalaharris.com site.

I responded that “I’ve already donated to the campaign three times. I want to know how much of YOUR proceeds are donated.” In response they referred me to a section of their website, which admitted that NONE of their proceeds from the sale of Harris merchandise goes directly to the Harris/Walz campaign but that “As private citizens we also donate to the Presidential Campaign and several Democratic campaigns.” Kind of like trickle down economics; the more they make, the more they can give. Progressive?

Still, “Balance of Power,” wasn’t even the most unabashed abuser of the Harris/Walz Merch wave, nor the most deceptive marketing I found. That distinction belonged to an entity named, “Democratic Merch Shop,” which uses the capital “D” in a circle logo of the Democratic National Committee to reel in its politically unconscious fashionistas. I became curious as to what kind of “official” site this was when I read it’s marketing statement on Facebook: “Freedom is important, but freedom in style is even more important.” Somehow, I didn’t think that was what Beyonce meant when she wrote her “Freedom” anthem, that’s become the theme song of Harris’ campaign.

I clicked on the “chat” button, and was surprised to get the person who told me he (or she) had “recently bought the store.” I asked the owner of the “Democratic Merch Shop,” if the site was the Official Merchandise site of the National Democratic Party.

The response (which I took a screen shot of) again, surprised me: “I am not a part of the official merchandise for the DNC. And yes, I am genuine in doing promotions for her (Harris’) campaign. I just launched my store 2 days ago.”

To clarify my confusion, I asked the owner of the Democratic Merch Shop: “Why do you use the official Democratic “D” logo if you are not the official Democratic Merch site?”

The owner insisted that the logo was “not copyright protected,” while “this image may still be subject to other restrictions.”

“Has the DNC given you their permission to use it?” I asked.

“I don’t need their permission,” the owner of the Democratic Merch Shop, said to me via Chat. “I’m only following the liberties given to me by the USA.” (Smiley Face).

I’m guessing the “Smiley Face” makes it all Ok.

We finished our Chat, and I wondered how much money had been contributed to the Harris/Walz campaign from the proceeds of the tons of Harris/Walz merchandise being hawked relentlessly by a gaggle of digital bootleggers, betting that with only 70 days left in a whirlwind Presidential campaign, no one was coming after them.

The KamalaHQ site may not have the hippest looking merchandise to show off your support for the return of hope, joy and sanity to the country. Still, the phrase “Purchase is a donation to the Harris Victory Fund,” should be all the pizzazz you need, if you’re serious about getting the Harris/Walz ticket elected, and saving Democracy.

Or, you could just be interested in Stylin’.