Back in 2015, when Donald Trump, the then-“Celebrity Apprentice” host, joined the likes of Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton at the starting line of the 2016 Presidential election race, the soon-to-be President of the United States had a grand total of 19 companies that were all using his name and his lifestyle to create a bunch of merchandising products. business was thriving back then. But that’s all changed now that he’s put his business endeavours and entrepreneurial efforts onto the backseat in order to focus on running the United States into the ground.
It’s hard to believe now that he’s the most controversial American President of all time and he has policies and political agendas that have divided the nation like never before, but back when he was just a reality TV star – the cultural equivalent of Snooki or Lauren Conrad or Simon Cowell – there was a huge demand to look, live, dress, smell, eat, and drink like Donald Trump. The guy used his name to sell kinds of merchandise, from deodorant to vodka to shoes to ties to steaks. He even put his name on a urine test!
There was even a Trump-branded urine test
Lord knows why, but the Donald Trump merchandising brand even once extended to using his name to market a urine test. You don’t see any Jimmy Carter-branded urine tests or Barack Obama-branded urine tests or even George W.
Bush-branded urine tests. There have been many records broken by Donald Trump. He’s the first US President to be elected with absolutely no political background whatsoever. And he’s the first US President to have used his name to hawk a urine test.
Now, this should come as no surprise, given the controversial nature of the President’s politics and rhetoric, that the Trump name is no longer as hot or popular in the merchandising world as it was a few years ago.
No one wants to buy shoes from a guy who will happily bomb Syria at the drop of a hat and then brag about it or snidely go about banning a large chunk of the world’s Muslim population from travelling to his country. And that’s why 17 of those 19 companies have stopped paying Trump to use his name on their products in the years since he began running for office in the White House.
In a study published by the Washington Post, the obvious connection between Trump’s burgeoning political career and the failings of his merchandising empire was made. Either way, we’ve discovered a new reason that the President’s net worth is rapidly dropping every years, hundreds of millions of dollars at a time. The study also found that Trump’s business enterprises – operations of which he handed over to his two sons when he took political office – have suffered from the public response to his Presidency.
Trump steak marketing: ‘The meat category represents Mr. Trump’s power’
Back in 2009, long before all the anti-Mexican prejudices and Muslim bans and border walls came to the surface and shaped his new characterisation in the public eye, Trump merchandising products were reported to have brought in a worldwide revenue of a whopping $215 million.
This figure was reported by Trump himself, but it was at a time when he had no reason to lie to the public. But now, all these years later, that annual total has dwindled down to practically nothing.
When the Trump-branded steaks were first released, the then-business mogul’s licensing boss explained exactly why they had been made: “The meat category represents Mr. Trump’s power.” There was also Success, the Trump-branded aftershave, which was described in its marketing as a “masculine combination” of scents that gives off “a powerful presence throughout wear.”
