Anti-Bush shirts bring in cash flow

An enterprising group of students has found a way to make money and campaign against President George W. Bush at the same time.

"Disarm Bush" T-shirts have become an increasingly familiar sight on campus in the last two months. Since early July, the company -- run by Penn-affiliated entrepreneurs -- has sold over 21,000 shirts nationwide.

Ysiad Ferreiras -- the founder of the company and the designer of the shirt -- realized that he could combine political activism with commercial gain, and dropped out of Penn last year to focus his energies on the company and his other ventures. Prior to the end of the voter registration period in Pennsylvania, registration forms were given out along with the shirts. Ferreiras said the business has so far registered 5,000 voters.

"It's a way to participate in politics in an unconventional way," said College senior Ben Piven, who distributes the shirts at Penn. "It uses a radical icon to demonstrate the displeasure with the way the president has handled his office and affairs in the last four years."

According to the distributors, the appeal of the shirt lies in the simplicity of its design and the ease with which it conveys a strong dislike of Bush.

"I think its [popularity] is in what is says about George Bush," Ferreiras said. "People don't like this guy so much that they're willing to spend money to show that."

Some students who have bought the shirt agree that it clearly expresses their political views, but is also attractive enough to wear casually.

"It just reflects the mentality that no one thinks Kerry's amazing, but everyone thinks Bush sucks," Engineering freshman Lindsay Motlin said. "I went home one weekend, and I wore it home specifically because I thought my mom would get a kick out of it."

Ferreiras currently sells the shirts, pins and stickers from New York City, but there are distributors in colleges and cities across the nation. People from across the country can also order the shirts from the company's Web site, with all the shipping conducted from Piven's house.

Piven now spends much of his time planning strategies to raise sales, looking for places or events where the shirts will be in high demand. He did great business when Kerry came to Penn last month and during the Republican National Convention in New York in August.

"There are bursts of activity," he said. "In New York during the [protest] rally, it was crazy."

The Penn distributors said they believe that, while none of the profits are going to the Kerry campaign, they are still funding activism by promoting the anti-Bush message. They hope that the shirts will raise people's awareness of and interest in the current political situation.

"Some people have asked us along the way, 'Would you do an anti-Kerry shirt or pro-Bush shirt?'" Engineering senior and shirt distributor Matt Scullin said. "We tell them, no, we're not interested in being generic T-shirt vendors -- we want to spread a message that Bush needs to go."

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