Certain phenomena – the popularity of Crocs, for example – could lead one to believe that there is in fact no limit to the idiocy of the American consumer; that your average nitwit will buy pretty much anything, however worthless or even destructive that item might be. But, there does, after all, seem to be a bottom line below which most people refuse to sink – and Chad Johnson has found it:
Looking at the list of the top selling jerseys on NFLShop.com, where the league’s public tally comes from, you’ll see the usual names: P. Manning, E. Manning, Brady and Romo.
A name you won’t see in the top 100 best-selling jerseys since the NFL’s new fiscal year began on April 1 is Chad Ochocinco. That’s of course the name of the Cincinnati wide receiver who changed his given name of Chad Johnson last August.
Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) and Chris Jackson (Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf) changed their names because of religion. It seems like the eccentric wide receiver just did it as a longer lasting joke.
“Chad is a creative guy and I think did this to be a little different,” said his agent Drew Rosenhaus. “I don’t think he did it purely for marketing reasons and I don’t think he views this as something permanent, either.”
It’s always possible that, as the season nears, enough people will experience an overwhelming need to procure an Ochocinco jersey to shoot it up the list. But, I choose to have faith in the American consumer, and believe that they have seen through Chad Johnson’s ploy. Only ironists and people who haunt clearance racks will be found sporting Ochocinco threads.
Now if we could just get folks to see the light about American Idol, Chicken McNuggets and Dan Brown, we might be onto something.
Tags: chad johnson, drew rosenhaus, ochocinco
