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News November 06, 2018

Frank Ocean Offers Free Merch To Midterm Voters

The swag from the music star was available at four pop-up shops – one each in Dallas, Houston, Atlanta and Miami.

By  Christopher Ruvo

Another pop culture persona has used branded merchandise to motivate people to get to the polls for the midterm elections on Tuesday.

We recently reported on the free-swag-if-you-vote initiative from Brendan Fowler and Denim Tears by Tremaine Emory.

Now, rapper/singer/producer Frank Ocean has launched a campaign that seeks to incentivize people to vote by offering free imprinted shirts. This week, Ocean announced pop-up shops in Miami, Houston, Dallas and Atlanta would be giving out the swag to individuals who vote.

To score the shirts, Ocean’s team was asking merch hunters to present pictures of themselves at the ballot box to prove they voted. After it was pointed out that such pics at the ballots could be illegal, proponents encouraged the swag seekers to snap selfies outside polling places instead.

The tees – and the locations they were being offered in – were intended specifically to support Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, U.S. Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke in Texas, and Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum.

The shirts’ messaging encourages people to “come out come out come out” to vote and references the 42% -- a nod, it seems, to the percentage of eligible voters in America who do not vote.

Some were definitely digging the Frank Ocean merch.

Others weren’t really vibing the tees.

As promotional products professionals, you have to view these merch-for-voting campaigns with interest, regardless of your political persuasion. They’re compelling testimony to the power of promotional products – and the expanding role swag has in political campaigns.