CNN Throwing Away Best Shirts
CNN.com's business of selling t-shirts is starting to gain some traction and go viral, even after the network closed a security hole that let you write whatever headline you wanted. Obama supporters flocked to buy the "Obama Makes History" headline on a shirt last week, breaking sales records. Another boost came when Anderson Cooper said he wanted Donna Brazile to be his "boo," and people flocked to buy a shirt reading, "Anderson Cooper, ‘you're not my boo.'" It's now the number-three all-time bestseller. But, in true mainstream media fashion, CNN is doing its best to thwart its own online success. The network selectively blocks some of the best headlines, like "Grizzly Victim: 'He's eating my brain!'" There's now a whole website dedicated just to non-shirt-eligible headlines, like these:
Since you can't buy the best headlines, like these, total CNN.com shirt sales are stuck at "north of one thousand" shirts, a CNN spokeswoman told the Times.
Come on, CNN, give in. You're already publishing the headlines, why be so ashamed of some of them that you prevent yourself from making some residual bucks? Besides, if you don't start pandering now, Fox News will beat you to it, then you'll just end up giving in and sinking to their level anyway. Just ask MSNBC.
