Where does Barack Obama rank in the rolling league table of global celebrity? A little above Sting, but some way below Madonna? Higher or lower than Michael Jackson? Is he a Marilyn or a Mandy Rice-Davies?
According to canny marketeers, he's right up at the top and there has been a scramble to trademark his name, and variations on it. Here are a few product names currently waiting for patent approval in America, according to our friends at The Smoking Gun.
Bearak Obama: a bear
ObamaLlama: needless to say, a llama
Broccoli Obama: frozen vegetables (?)
Obamajamas: pyjamas, differing from normal pyjamas I don't know how
Obamaland: a company establishing itself to flog "educational publications and guides"
And a t-shirt carrying the slogan: "Who's Yo'bama Now?"
Some - perhaps hoping that they'll have better claim to it this way - have gone for OBAMA acronyms: "Officially Bridging America Motivating Americans" and "Our Best Answer For Managing America," are just two of them.
In this spirit, a challenge for LiS readers: whose stardust would you like to borrow and to sell what product?
