Author’s Note: This is an article done as a partnership with Oba, a growing community for creatives who want to network, get support, and get their project on. This is also an opinion piece from the author that was originally posted to RaggedRiches.com.
Imagine the following situation: you are a creative artist who wants to make some new merch with your newest designs. To kick off your work sesh, you decide to open up your business emails.
You click open an email from your go-to merchandising manufacturer, and get an email that is so bizarre, so self-victimizing, so oddly political, you think it’s a disgusting, unhinged spoof. The company is also touting right-wing talking points to you, an LGBT creator.
You check the email closely. It’s signed by the co-founder. The email address is legit. Your jaw hits the floor. You feel grimy reading this email. You log out and decide to look for a new manufacturer.
That is precisely what happened last week with many, many creatives who were subscribed to Sticker Mule.
This is an actual screenshot of the email that Sticker Mule’s cofounder sent out to his thousands (or possibly even millions) of subscribers on Monday. It quickly made its rounds on social media, particularly Reddit’s r/Sadcringe because of how absolutely absurd it is.
Where do we even begin with the absolute dumpster fire of a marketing email this is? I mean, in terms of dumpster fires, this is like looking at the Sistine Chapel. It’s a masterpiece of crap, a dumpster fire so impressive, it makes one want to sip a fine wine while you admire it.
Where do we begin with the mistakes? Let me count the ways:
The letter is incredibly poorly written, with a greeting that seems like it was written to a person you’re angry with. The “Hi” just comes across as terse, annoyed and unfriendly at best. At worst, it reads like someone who was 14 (or under the influence) wrote it.
It starts off with a divisive topic, then makes the writer appear like a whiny victim. What is really, truly spectacular about this is that Trump’s assassination has literally nothing to do with him. He wasn’t in the crowd. Moreover, a study from ResearchGate notes that Republicans are significantly more aggressive than Democrats, so his fears are unfounded.
He’s calling for political hate to stop. Uh, my dude. Your stupid shooter was a Republican-registered voter, per the BBC. This bizarre cry for “no hate” is so left-field, it’s not even funny. You’re a sticker company, not a political hothouse. Make stickers, not politics.
For reasons unbeknownst to anyone not under the influence, a random tee shirt special is shoehorned in after a call to end hate. It’s followed by yet another bizarre plea to “buy one supporting Trump,” because it’s totally not common knowledge that most creatives vote blue.
He also cryptically begs people not to end friendships over support for Trump. I’m not sure how to tell him this, but people generally don’t take kindly to people voting for individuals that promise to take away their rights. People have a right not to support people or businesses that support causes that actively hurt them.
But wait, there’s more!
Just in case he didn’t do enough to make himself look like a Sticker Ass instead of a Sticker Mule, the cofounder also tweeted this on Elon Musk’s platform.
Uh, Anthony, are you okay?
As a copywriter, I can’t help but notice how completely and totally unhinged this email reads. It reads like a prolonged haiku of desperation, self-pitying, and political brainwashing. It also does not inspire confidence in your services because it’s obscenely unprofessional.
If I heard that my boss (in any company) were about to publish an email like this, I’d politely pull him aside and ask what’s up. It’s not like Sticker Mule is hurting for money. It’s a major name in the arts world, so it’s not quite like my quit notes after my businesses crumpled explaining the situation and my hiatus.
It’s something worse. This is a sign that the individual in question needs to take a step back from work, get some help, and realign themselves with their purpose. It’s also a warning sign that the cofounder doesn’t seem to know who their target audience is or what they want in a manufacturer.
Creatives and indie business owners are not primarily right-wing voters.
From personal experience, most of the creatives I know are deeply diverse and almost entirely left-leaning. It makes sense. The arts industry has always been left-leaning, even during the 1930s. Artists and theater geeks were, after all, the inventors of “lavender speech,” also known as the “gay vernacular.”
Business owners, as a whole, may be more male and conservative, but that’s changing. Brookings noted that entrepreneurs are increasingly diverse — with black and Hispanic business owners taking up a much higher percentage than previous years.
Sticker Mule did not get the memo that business is changing. The company is actively alienating that growing sector, which will eventually become the new normal as more and more minorities get sick of being treated like shit (or dealing with a glass ceiling) by corporate America.
Good one. Nothing works well for business like having a deranged, self-victimizing political platform baiting the fastest-growing sectors of the business world, I suppose.
I don’t think Sticker Mule got the press they wanted to from this rant.
I mean, far be it for me to say so, but I am pretty sure both GOP and Democrat clients read that and reconsidered their business relationship. Democrats are likely to drop them because funding pro-Republican businesses is a way to eat away at human rights.
Republicans? Well, I assume they probably have a modicum of common sense when it comes to their businesses. Even if you share the same political beliefs, seeing something this unhinged that uses a presidential assassination as a reason to promote cheap tee shirts in a weird way is not a good look.
If I was a GOP voter, I’d read that email, question the founder’s sanity, and decide to take my business elsewhere because I couldn’t trust them to be professional about it. But then again, that’s just me.
The golden lesson learned here is that you shouldn’t alienate your client base.
Politics, particularly aligning yourself with politics that bashes one side, is a good way to do that. There are other ways Mr. Constantino could have phrased it. For example, he could have said something along the lines of:
“We understand the stress and fear our clients feel as a result of the recent assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump. At Sticker Mule, we believe in going against politically-based violence and welcome clients of all political platforms to our doors. Please take time to stay safe and love your neighbors during these tough times. We love each and every one of our clients.”
Or, you know, he could have done something smarter and just talked about his stupid tee shirt sale. Instead, he now has a bunch of remarks from clients who both unsubscribed to his mailing list and refuse to work with Sticker Mule.
Oh well. Some folks never learn.
I have no idea how this person thinks that any "kind, soft-hearted person" would support Dump.
Anytime the words, "I", "support", and "Trump" appear in the same sentence without ending with "going to prison and learning how to gamble for honey buns and ramen soup," it's an automatic end to communications.