Reader Response on the Question of Lawfare Swag

My personal favorite response to our reader survey came from a "government lawyer" in response to our question of whether we should make Lawfare-branded merchandise available. "You are right to be sensitive," wrote this person. "It is in bad taste and a bad idea. That said, if it were available, I would buy lots of it." The comment sums up our own mixed feelings on the subject. We've gotten a lot of requests for merchandise over the nearly two years of the blog's life. But Jack and Bobby and I have always been reticent about any step that would smack of commercialization of the site. Our brief attempt to create a revenue stream for charitable purposes using advertising raised so little money that we pulled the ads down. And we have since rejected all efforts by third parties to advertise on Lawfare. That said, the steady stream of people attracted to the small number of Lawfare mugs I had made up for gifts caused me to include a question on the reader survey: "We occasionally receive requests from readers to make available branded merchandise (mugs, t-shirts, etc.) but we have always been sensitive about any commercialization of the site. Would you like to see Lawfare-branded products?" The results were striking: Only 11 percent of 290 respondents checked the box "No, it's in bad taste." By contrast, more than twice that many (26 percent) checked "Yes, bring on the swag." And nearly half of respondents checked what we might call the shrug box: "I wouldn't buy any, but I wouldn't be offended either." Others responded with jokes or suggestions that we should be tasteful about it and not go overboard. The survey results leads me to conclude that a moderate number of readers actually would like branded merchandise, most readers don't but don't mind the idea either, and a small number find it crass and commercial. So here's what we're going to do. I have created a Lawfare Store on CafePress.com with, right now, two products--a mug and a bumper sticker. All proceeds which we receive will be donated to charities to be determined at the time of the donations, as will the tiny revenue streams we receive from Kindle subscriptions and a syndication service that carries Lawfare material. We will not market these products on Lawfare itself--other than to note their existence. But if readers want other branded merchandise added to the Lawfare Store, CafePress has a wide range of such products and we are happy to make them available.