BANGKOK – Images of the moment have already been splashed across the world’s front pages and papered many corners of the internet — former President Donald Trump, ear bleeding, with his right hand clenched in a fist above the Secret Service agents surrounding him after he was shot.
And now they're available on T-shirts for as little as $4 on China's e-commerce platforms.
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Over the weekend, Chinese retailers leapt into action on Taobao and JD.com, the country’s two biggest e-commerce platforms, to profit from the images after an assassination attempt on Trump at a rally on Saturday.
“Make America Great Again,” read one T-shirt, according to screenshots that circulated online. “Shooting Makes Me Stronger,” read another.
The shirts used a variety of photos that captured the moment, including one of the most indelible made by Associated Press photographer Evan Vucci.
While people around the world may have recognized the power of the images, Chinese manufacturers are particularly well positioned to quickly jump on something trending and make it into a product. It is the world’s factory floor and its highly competitive domestic e-commerce industry means its small retailers are poised to exploit all sorts of consumer product trends.
By Monday, many of the T-shirts were no longer easily found, with a search for “Trump T-shirt” on JD showing no results and on Taobao showing other Trump T-shirts.
When asked, however, some shops were able to provide hidden links to the merchandise — and other shirts could be found by searching for a Chinese nickname for Trump for a time.
It's not clear why the shirts were hidden, but China’s domestic internet, which is largely isolated from the global internet, is controlled by an extensive censorship system that also monitors its online commerce sites. The use of the images could raise copyright concerns.
“The Associated Press is proud of Evan Vucci’s photo and recognizes its impact,” said Lauren Easton, AP’s vice president of corporate communications. “In addition, we reserve our rights to this powerful image.”
An AP journalist was able to order a shirt with an image of the moment for 61 yuan ($8), even though the original link said the shirt was no longer available. A customer service representative said it violated regulations, without elaborating, but then provided a link to order the shirt.
Another shop on Taobao offered five different T-shirts, all based on photos from Saturday’s rally, when asked whether it had any showing Trump being shot at. They were selling for 34.9 yuan ($4).
For a time Monday, searches that included “Trump Jianguo" turned up shops selling T-shirts with images from the rally — though that worked less well as the day went on.
Trump Jianguo began being used as a nickname on the Chinese internet when Trump was in office. Jianguo — which means “build a country” — was a popular patriotic name for men in the 1950s and 60s when China's Communist People's Republic was young. The nickname is a jibe from people who felt some of Trump's policies actually helped China, despite his sometimes fiery rhetoric.
Chinese entrepreneurs have long done brisk business on Trump’s name, as much of the candidate’s merchandise was made in the Chinese wholesale center Yiwu during the 2020 election.
Alibaba, which owns Taobao, and JD.com did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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AP video journalist Caroline Chen in Beijing contributed to this report.