BANGKOK (AP) — Images of the moment have already been released printed on the front pages of the world and covered many corners of the internet – former president donald trumpwith his ear bleeding, his right hand clenched into a fist above the Secret Service agents surrounding him after he was shot.
And now they’re available on t-shirts for just $4 on e-commerce platforms in China.
Over the weekend, Chinese retailers took action on Taobao and JD.com, the country’s two biggest e-commerce platforms, to cash in on images afterward. an assassination attempt on Trump at a rally on Saturday.
“Make America Great Again,” one t-shirt read, according to screenshots circulating online. “Shooting makes me stronger,” said another.
The shirts used a variety of photos that captured the moment, including one of the most indelible taken by Associated Press photographer Evan Vucci.
While people around the world may have recognized the power of images, Chinese manufacturers are particularly well positioned to quickly jump on something that’s trending and turn it into a product. It’s the factory floor of the world, and its highly competitive domestic e-commerce industry means its small retailers are poised to explore all kinds of consumer product trends.
As of Monday, many of the shirts were no longer easily found, with a search for “Trump shirt” on JD showing no results and Taobao showing other Trump shirts.
When questioned, however, some stores were able to provide hidden links to merchandise — and other shirts could be found by searching for a Chinese nickname for Trump for a time.
It is unclear why the shirts were hidden, but China’s domestic Internet, which is largely isolated from the global Internet, is controlled by an extensive censorship system that also monitors its online commerce sites. Use of images may raise copyright issues.
“The Associated Press is proud of Evan Vucci’s photo and recognizes its impact,” said Lauren Easton, AP vice president of corporate communications. “Furthermore, we reserve our rights to this powerful image.”
An AP journalist was able to order a shirt with the image of the moment for 61 yuan ($8), although the original link stated that the shirt was no longer available. A customer service representative said this violated regulations, without elaborating, but later provided a link to order the shirt.
Another store on Taobao offered five different T-shirts, all based on photos from Saturday’s rally, when asked if there were any that showed Trump being shot. They were selling for 34.9 yuan ($4).
For a while on Monday, searches that included “Trump Jianguo” turned up stores selling T-shirts with images of the rally — although this did less well as the day went on.
Trump Jianguo began to be used as a nickname on the Chinese internet when Trump was in office. Jianguo – which means “build a country” – was a popular patriotic name for men in the 1950s and 60s, when the Communist People’s Republic of China was young. The nickname is a mockery of people who thought some of Trump’s policies actually helped China, despite his sometimes inflammatory rhetoric.
Chinese businesspeople have long done brisk business in Trump’s name, as much of the candidate’s merchandise was manufactured in the Chinese wholesale hub of Yiwu during the 2020 election.
Alibaba, which owns Taobao, and JD.com did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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AP video journalist Caroline Chen in Beijing contributed to this report.
