In 2008, grassroots supporters of Barack Obama took huge efforts to push the candidate into office and become the first African American President of the United States. Among those marketing efforts taken by ordinary Americans – amongst t-shirts, posters, and more – was a Barack Obama action figure created by entrepreneur Jason Feinberg. The toy was popularized by news outlets around the world, driving Feinberg, who runs FCTRY with his wife, Alyssa Zeller-Feinberg, to even craft a Michelle figure to accompany his original design. Having deemed either the dolls or the presidency or both successes, Jason and Alyssa are hoping to do for Hillary what they did for Obama, with a clever and cute grassroots campaign.
Through Kickstarter, the duo is not only aiming to mass produce Hillary Clinton “ready-for-action” figures, designed by artist Mike Leavitt, but they’re also using the crowdfunding platform to urge Clinton to “Run, Hillary, Run”. While backers can purchase a Clinton doll starting at $10, every backer of the toy, from as low as $1, will have a postcard sent to Hillary asking her to run for president. This, they hope, will drive Clinton to finally announce her presidency.
So, where does 3D printing fit in? In addition to using the technology to prototype the original Clinton figure, FCTRY also published the designs for the toy on Thingiverse so that anyone can download and print her themselves. It’s an exciting way to show their support for the likely presidential candidate and Jason and Alyssa hope that they’ll be doing their small part to get the first female President of the United States elected.
With supporters like Jason and Alyssa, Clinton may just have a strong enough network to achieve a similar victory to that of her predecessor.
