Qingdao Wellpaper Industrial Co., based in north China’s Shandong province, told China Daily that sales of its Trump toilet paper have been rising since mid-February. So far the company has taken 50 orders—some for up to 5,000 rolls—for Trump toilet paper. In comparison, the Clinton toilet paper has attracted only eight orders.
Qingdao Wellpaper is not the only Chinese company cashing in on people’s feelings toward Trump, Alibaba.com shows. A search for “Donald Trump toilet paper” on the site reveals dozens of products, while a similar search for Clinton turns up only 16. (There appears to be no Bernie Sanders toilet paper for sale at all.)
These rolls sell wholesale for around $0.5 per roll, and appear to be purchased mostly by buyers from the US—who may be doing a savvy bit of sucking money out of their fellow citizens’ pockets, as well. Similar toilet paper rolls retail on eBayat around $10 a roll, though some eBay sellers claim theirs are made in the US. Apparently, many US citizens enjoy wiping themselves with Trump’s face. Prominent among them is US women’s national soccer team star Sydney Leroux. In May, Leroux posted her husband’s latest toilet paper purchase on Instagram.
View Comments
I like how this makes science feel less like a list of facts and more like an ongoing process of testing ideas. It’s also a good reminder that uncertainty isn’t a weakness in research—it’s often what leads to better questions.