Vote At Your Nearest Retailer

Peanut butter and jelly. Gisele and Victoria's Secret. These are things that just automatically go together. You wouldn't question a delicious pb&j sandwich or a beautiful pajama set worn by Gisele in a Vicky's catalog. But you might retract a bit (in horror even) at the pairing of retail and politics. That's a whole other ball game. With such a tense political climate, and the election nearing ever closer, most retailers are keeping their distance.

A couple of retailers, however, are braving the scene. They are putting it all out there, and with some pretty positive results.

Convenience store giant, 7-Eleven has decided to conduct its own political poll with its to-go coffee cup promotion. Customers in search of their morning coffee fix can now also make a political statement, by choosing either red for McCain or blue for Obama.

A coffee cup "vote" can be made right up until election day on November 4th. While at first glance this might seem like a silly (and fun!) way to engage the public in both a product and an election, it also holds some merit. According to a story in The Dallas Morning News, for the past two elections, 7-Eleven has used this promotion and reported up to 6 million "voters." In both the 2000 and 2004 elections, the coffee cup votes were almost as accurate as the election itself (Bush brought in 51 percent of the vote, Kerry 49 percent).

If the above trend continues to hold true, then John McCain better start packing his bags now. Current results show Barack Obama leading the way at a whopping 60 percent, compared to McCain's 40 percent. 7-Eleven just might be on to something. While it's far from scientific, past results seem to indicate it's a noteworthy way to gauge the country's feelings.

Another retailer is Urban Outfitters, who has had huge success with their Obama tees, hoodies, bobble heads, mugs and more. Okay, the bobble head is a little much--who even buys those things?! But, I digress. The t-shirts and hoodies are actually worth paying attention to, especially with adorable taglines like, "Barack Your World" and "Barack & Roll." Can you even say that out loud without cracking a smile? I think not. No one can resist that amount of cuteness.

The rest of retail land, though, is keeping quiet. What do you think about the retail and politics pairing? Leave your thoughts here.

Oh, and if you know of other retailers with a political slant, be sure to tell us about it! 

--Heather Strang