Politically-themed products and campaign merchandise are a very popular means of advertising and revenue generation for political parties. However, political parties often attribute varying importance to promotional items. Below are some of our findings:
- In 2016, political promotional products and campaign merchandise worth $247.8 million were sold in the presidential election year, representing 1.2% of the promotional industry's revenue.
- Going by the last presidential election spend, Republican nominees tend to spend much higher on campaign merchandise compared to their Democrat counterparts. In the last presidential year, Donald Trump spent 9.8% on promotional materials, while Bernie Sanders spent only 6% of his total campaign funds on campaign merchandise.
- In 2012, campaign merchandise worth $582 million were sold to the public, accounting for 3% of the entire industry's revenue.
- Political spending in the 2020 election year is estimated to increase by 57% to reach $10 billion.