I had to do some quick shopping to pick up a few winter essentials, and I thought, what the heck, I’ll give the local version of a big box store, one run by our terrible fundagelical brethren, another try. They can’t be that bad, can they?
Then I saw this wall of goods, and decided there was nothing I needed from them that badly.
Yeah, no, nope nope nopitty nope-nope.
Brian Wright says
Which big-box store is it? I’ll make sure to never go there!
ajbjasus says
Oh dear.
I have no idea what a big box store is, or why it would have pillows in boxes.
stroppy says
He’s been running commercials on TV, whining about how cancel culture has hurt his business and won’t you please buy his pillows at a reduced price along with all his other wonderful products?
Nope indeed.
Artor says
I needed a dress shirt for a friend’s wedding. I went to one store and saw that they were carrying the Trump brand. I bought my shirt elsewhere.
PZ Myers says
It’s “Homestead”. It’s an entirely local place owned by a creepy church near here.
kingoftown says
I don’t know who this is or why you’d buy a pillow in a box. What I do know is that that moustachioed weirdo is fucking that pillow.
kingoftown says
And that he’s weirdly possessive of it.
stroppy says
Mike Lindell, Trump loon/advisor.
https://s3media.247sports.com/Uploads/Assets/804/882/9882804.jpg
Akira MacKenzie says
The best takedown of Mike Lindell of all:
https://youtu.be/E63v1vD1XWw
microraptor says
PZ @5: So, a box store that manages to combine the worst aspects of Walmart and Hobby Lobby?
nomadiq says
The grift is so transparent. All this Trump bullshit is about making money – Lindell complains about cancel culture but his pillows are now in more stores than ever. He is not canceled. He is milking Trumpism. It’s easy to believe in anything if you can make it fit your true belief of ‘what ever is good for me is the only thing that matters’
christoph says
@ajbjasus, #2: Well, the pillows are in BIG boxes.
notaandomposter says
the invisible hand of the market is a thing
@11 ” pillows are now in more stores than ever.” -I disagree; however, I haven’t done a comprehensive analysis – but Costco, Bed, Bath & Beyond, and Target no longer carry his products – those retailers say that they dropped the line because they didn’t sell (or didn’t generate enough profit per square foot per day) . From what I understand, outside of their cult appeal and ‘virtue signaling’ MyPillow retail sales had dropped off everywhere (even before Lindell got loud in politics) – they were expensive and no better (or worse) than competitive products- folks were paying $35, $20 for the box that contained a $15 pillow, other folks just bought a competitor’s $15 pillow. (Still, WalMart sells MyPillow online but not on the shelves in my neck of the woods) I’m also not sure how relevant retail is at all anymore (Amazon still sells them)
(the direct online MyPillow store has steady year over year growth, except for a dip in 2019 likely due to the pandemic- but still something like $100M/year in recent years )
Products WILL sell around a person’s cache- that’s what designer goods are, but the market is fickle. Things go out of fashion. and fads come and go.
Lindell is (I agree) all about the grift – he might actually believe in what he’s selling- but he’s selling it (and profit is primary). The pillows, the propaganda, the hate- all products to be marketed
rockwhisperer says
Weekend before last, my husband and I were working in the same room, and he had the TV (actually a DirecTV box attached to a monitor) on, playing one of those Discovery-type channels that does pseudo-reality shows, following the exploits of crews mining gold in Alaska, families homesteading in some remote place where you can barely get a 4WD vehicle in, and so on. In the middle of all that stuff were the Lindell commercials about how he’s a victim of Cancel Culture, he appreciates the viewer’s support, and hey, he’s putting stuff on sale to show his appreciation. Something like that, I was editing some writing and only giving the noise a passing listen.
I laughed out loud. It also made me wonder about the viewership for these shows. My husband is a reasonable person whose politics are less progressive than mine, but he’s very, very far from the crowd who support Lindell. Then again, he’s also relatively immune to TV advertising.