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Markets in Everything: Hurling Shoes
At least one stimulus plan appears to be working.
The shoe hurled at President George W. Bush has sent sales soaring at the Turkish maker as orders pour in from Iraq, the U.S. (!, AT) and Iran.
The brown, thick-soled “Model 271” may soon be renamed “The Bush Shoe” or “Bye-Bye Bush,” Ramazan Baydan, who owns the Istanbul-based producer Baydan Ayakkabicilik San. & Tic., said in a telephone interview today.
“We’ve been selling these shoes for years but, thanks to Bush, orders are flying in like crazy,” he said. “We’ve even hired an agency to look at television advertising.”
Hat tip: Mahalanobis.
Posted by Alex Tabarrok on December 20, 2008 at 12:29 PM in Current Affairs | Permalink
Comments
Now if we can get someone to throw a Chrysler Sebring at Bush, we'd be all set.
Posted by: Ted at Dec 20, 2008 3:28:16 PM
It's good to hear that all it took to get these shoe orders off and running is to have a former Baathist turned Sadrist working for a pro-insurgency news organization to throw his loafers at the POTUS and then be portrayed as an average Iraqi who just had enough.
It's also good to hear that this is, even now, "real news" and an important event.
Posted by: MM at Dec 20, 2008 4:57:38 PM
Absolutely amazing. ;-)
Posted by: Speedmaster at Dec 20, 2008 4:59:19 PM
Perhaps they could assist with the shoe thrower's legal bills....
Posted by: Steve at Dec 20, 2008 4:59:32 PM
Why does it surprise you that people in the US want it? As soon as the incident happened I started receiving chain forward e-mails encouraging me to mail my old shoes to the White House or Bush's Presidential Library.
Posted by: Jacqueline at Dec 20, 2008 5:00:03 PM
"Now if we can get someone to throw a Chrysler Sebring at Bush, we'd be all set."
LOL
Posted by: babar at Dec 20, 2008 6:48:54 PM
MM,
I'm not being sarcastic here. Are you saying that it's not true that many Iraqis were proud of that guy? E.g. are these shoes being ordered by a few hundred insurgents and their radical supporters? (I know it sounds like I'm being sarcastic, but I'm not. I hadn't heard the claims you made here, so I'm wondering if you think this "non-story" is being manipulated too.)
Posted by: Bob Murphy at Dec 20, 2008 8:23:51 PM
Although I have flung plenty a shoe at bush myself, metaphorically anyway. I have to admit, I have grown a modicum of respect for bush in one respect at least. As an exemplar American in his defense of the act as a form of speech. No doubt it was an assault, but during bush's rambling post assault musings on the subject, he was able to distinguish for the audience that the audacity to throw a shoe at him implies a level of freedom.
My conclusion was that everyone was a winner out of the whole incident, besides the secret service of course. Shoe thrower, for sporting some really big kahuna's and yes MM he is a turd!. The Iraqi, people for getting to vent an innocuous bums rush to the most powerful guy on earth, and, especially GW Bush, who demonstrated aplomb under fire, and that freedom of expression was alive in Iraq...or the green zone of Iraq. I really resisting the suspicion that the whole thing was staged
Posted by: nyongesa at Dec 21, 2008 12:27:42 AM
