Cashing in on Obamamania

Source: Xinhua  |   2009-1-21  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

CHINA'S Guan Yanhui is not interested in politics, and he's not particularly a fan of Barack Obama. But he knows a business opportunity when he sees one.

The 28-year-old says he has made a lot of money with the self-made Obama T-shirts that he sells on Taobao.com.

"There have been so many Chinese talking about his campaign that I couldn't wait to make a profit," Guan said.

When Obama won the US presidential election, Guan began selling T-shirts bearing Obama's likeness and campaign slogans for about 40 yuan (US$6) each.

"They sold well," said Guan.

He is far from alone in cashing on Obamamania.

Typing in the key word "Obama" produces more than 8,000 items for sale on Taobao.com, China's biggest online shopping Website, including shoes, hats, clothes, toys, books and videos.

Guan took little economic risk to cash in on the Obama fervor compared with the Law Press, which decided to publish Obama's autobiography in 2007 when the US Senator's prospects in the campaign were unclear.

The Law Press bought the copyright for Obama's autobiography, "The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream," at the end of 2007.

"His autobiography is beautiful," said Han Manchun, an editor at the press, "and it demonstrates Obama's ability to take greater responsibilities. But to be frank, even I didn't think he would win."

But the deal proved to be a wise choice. Some 35,000 copies of the first edition of the Chinese version were sold out as soon as they hit the shelves, and the book has been reprinted five times and more than 100,000 copies have been sold to date, said Han.