Florida GOP forced to remove schlocky Deportation Depot merch
Nobody bothered to ask Home Depot what they thought about having their brand linked to Florida's immigrant prison camps
No sooner had Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced plans to create yet another prison camp for immigrants—this one to be nicknamed “Deportation Depot”—than the Republican Party launched a campaign to cash in on it.
On Twitter, currently known as X, the party posted this:
DEPORT DEPOT - Where Florida gets more done! We won't back down to the radical left. Stand with @realDonaldTrump and @GovRonDeSantis and take a stand.
That accompanied an ad for merchandize modeled on the Home Depot signature orange logo. The GOP was hawking shirts, hats, cups and other schlocky merchandise selling from $15 to $28.
The sales effort mimicked similar lines of merchandise the party has sold around the “Alligator Alcatraz” monicker DeSantis has given his Everglades prison camp in southeastern Collier County.
Small problem with the Deportation Depot merch, however:
Nobody consulted Home Depot on this, and the company wasn’t happy about linking its name with efforts to capitalize on human suffering. Especially since I.C.E. agents like to hang out near the home improvement stores to snatch day laborers.
On Saturday, Home Depot demanded the ads and merchandise be removed. As the Miami Herald reports:
Home Depot spokesperson Beth Marlowe said late Friday that the company had not approved the party to use its branding or logo.
“We have reached out to the RPOF (Republican Party of Florida) to try to resolve this issue,” she said in an email.
Shortly after the Herald published it’s story about this, the Republican Party removed the merchandise.
J.C. Bruce is an award-winning journalist, columnist, and author. He holds dual citizenship in the United States of America and his native Florida.
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