When former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt stated “It is not the critic who counts,” he certainly wasn’t referring to Merch By Amazon.
And it’s a good thing he wasn’t because that quote would have to be revised to make the opposite point today.
You see, the critic definitely counts in POD — especially when it comes to tshirts for “critics” or folks who are just plain critical, cranky, or accustomed to things the way they like them.
You can’t take a gander at any mainstream newspaper, magazine or blog without encountering someone who is a food critic, movie critic, TV critic, music critic, and so forth.
In reality, of course, we are ALL opinionated critics. And many of us are proud of the fact that we are, for example, “coffee critics” — individuals who always evaluate cups of coffee for quality and prefer certain beans and brews as so-called “coffee snobs.”
Tshirt messaging related to critics and connoisseurs have performed exceedingly well for me. In truth, I’ve only scratched the surface of what’s possible with this tactic — a tactic that could be used to inject some personal relevance, sarcasm, humor, or enthusiasm into just about any niche you can find. For example (not checked for compliance):
• I’m a Coffee Critic: I’m Very Critical When I Don’t Have Coffee
• I’m a Chocolate Critic: Whoever Takes My Chocolate Ends Up in Critical Condition
• Will Critique Donuts for Free Donuts
• Proud Pizza Critic: It’s Cheesy Work But Somebody’s Gotta Do It
The bottom line is that “critic” shirts are a highly underutilized approach to some of the best and most bankable niches in existence and can breathe new life into many genres of humorous apparel unlike anything else presently available in them.
