Below The Beltway

With Inauguration Day only days away, Washington, D.C. is being flooded with efforts to cash in on the big event:

WASHINGTON — In the days leading up to President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration, his message of hope and change has become tangible — and commercial — here.

On the sides of buses, inside Metro stations and over the radio, Ikea promotes its home furnishings by proclaiming “Change Begins at Home.” In other Metro stations, advertisements using the words “hope” and “optimism” are splashed on walls and pillars — with the O’s replaced by Pepsi logos.

Around town and across the Internet, hope does not come free, and change will cost you.

Amy Fettig, a Washington lawyer who was out last Sunday buying a T-shirt from the Presidential Inaugural Committee’s store, said, “America is excited about Obama, so this all makes sense because when Americans want to express their excitement, they turn to merchandising.”

Among the Obama yo-yos and piggy banks, Ms. Fettig noticed the $70 tote bags by the designers Diane von Furstenberg and Tory Burch.

“I just wonder if this is part of the stimulus package,” Ms. Fettig said.

From mom-and-pop vendors to big-box retailers, an army of people are trying to make a bounty off of Mr. Obama’s inauguration next Tuesday, the culmination of his historic campaign. His impending presidency has taken consumerism to another level, even in this less-is-mandatory economy.

Even our local Harris Teeter has a table full of Obama and Inauguration Day-related items for sale.

And, there seems to be a commemorative item to suit everyone:

There are Barack Obama Inauguration Hot Sauce, sold for $6.99 by the Kentucky company TooDarnHot.com; a “Hope and Change” necklace for $24 at Chico’s, the women’s clothing chain; and Barack Obama Topps trading cards priced at $1.99 per six-card pack.

There is Obama toilet paper, a tribute that features his likeness, sold for about $8 by Jeremy Rupke, who lives outside Toronto. His advertisement says, “This roll would look great on the desk of any Democrat.”

The rolls are “very popular right now!” Mr. Rupke wrote in an e-mail message. (He warned that the paper is just for show. The ink is toxic.)

There are more than three price points on Obama soap alone: $20 Hope on a Rope soap; $9.99 for Obama Bars declaring, “This is our moment to clean up America”; and $44.99 for an inauguration gift pack sold by the Obama Bar online store. The pack, with eight Mini-Bama bars, is going fast, said a co-owner of the store, Salah Boukadoum.

(….)

Obama sex toys, which will not be described here, are available for $34.95 at one online company. At another, I ♥ Obama Classic Thong Undies are selling for $8.99.

Lynn R. Kahle, a marketing professor at the Lundquist College of Business of the University of Oregon, said, “People are looking for all sorts of things, even outlandish things, to show their support because they want to say: ‘I was there. I supported Obama in his historic road to the presidency.’ ”

Umm, exactly where do the sex toys and thongs fit into that theory Professor ?