Just 10 days after former US president Donald Trump narrowly dodged an attempted assassination, the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum released two new Trump bobblehead dolls, citing requests from his fans and collectors.
One shows the Republican presidential candidate with a bloodied ear and a defiant raised fist, capturing the drama of the July 13 attack at a rally in Pennsylvania. The other bobblehead has him sporting a white bandage on his ear, which was nicked by a bullet.
Phil Sklar, co-founder and CEO of the world’s only bobblehead museum, which opened in 2014 in Milwaukee, reported a “flood of requests” for these figures, describing them as “images that are sure to be among the most iconic moments in history”.
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Sklar said that since Trump hit the political scene in 2015, he has “consistently outsold” every other politician when it comes to bobbleheads, racking up more of the collectibles “than any other president or presidential candidate by a long shot”.
Given that bobbleheads are mass-produced items, it’s no surprise that they are manufactured in China, and while the “made in China” label is sometimes stigmatised in US political discourse, it usually isn’t enough to drive consumers away.
“At this time, all bobbleheads are manufactured in China,” Sklar said. His museum works with several different factories in Xiamen, China. “The production has always been more economical in China for at least the past 30, 40 years,” he added.
But the popularity of Trump bobbleheads means his fans would stand to lose if his tariff threats of 60 per cent or more on all goods from the country were in place now.
“Yes, it definitely would lead to an increase in the price. It would also significantly limit the number of promotional bobbleheads produced for stadium giveaways,” Sklar said when asked how Trump’s proposed tariffs might affect the business.
His museum has sold over 1,000 Trump bobbleheads in presale at US$30 each, with shipment expected the month after the November 5 election.
In the past six months, the museum has sold a total of about 2,000 Trump bobbleheads compared with about 250 of US Vice-President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, and 100 of President Joe Biden.
A new limited-edition series features Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
Warren Royal of the Royal Bobbles, which has been in the business since 2008 and sells to presidential libraries and museums across the US, said “we see a big spike as the campaign season gets under way” and Trump has emerged as a bobblehead favourite this season, just like the past two election cycles.
“The last couple of months, Trump was outselling Joe Biden 10 to 1,” he said, but added that since Harris became the presidential nominee, “we have seen a spike in Kamala Harris too”.
After the assassination attempt, Royal Bobbles began production on a Trump bobblehead with a fist-up pose, but did not produce a version featuring a bloody and bandaged ear, despite receiving requests.
“We just thought it was too much,” Royal said, adding that “we always try to accentuate the positive.”
All Royal Bobbles figurines are also made in Chinese factories.
“The labour costs are much better in China, the pool of artists and technicians that know how to make these types of products is much better in China. We do all our design here in the US, but it’s not cost effective to produce them here,” Royal said.
There are several fan-run sites dedicated solely to Trump bobbleheads, which also sell on e-commerce platforms.
Among them, the “The Trumpinator” available at US$25 by Proud Patriots, a US company, currently ranks as the most popular “sports fan bobblehead” on Amazon.
Inspired by the iconic action film The Terminator and its star Arnold Schwarzenegger, it blends politics with a touch of Hollywood flair. A hands-crossed Harris bobblehead is ranked the 220th most popular among collectible figurines on Amazon.
The collectible dolls are typically about 6 to 8 inches (15-20cm) high, with an oversized head attached to the body with a spring.
According the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum, “Chinese nodding-head figures are documented in England and Continental Europe as early as the 1760s.”
In the 1780s, these dolls were imported into Europe, England and America from southern China, and interest in them grew in the early 19th century with King George IV’s fondness for Chinese decoration.
In the US, bobbleheads gained popularity in the 1960s with the release of figures depicting baseball stars Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Willie Mays.
Figurines of the four Beatles later became the most popular collectibles. Political bobbleheads appeared around the same time, with a figure of president John F. Kennedy.
The profit margin for the dolls, according to Sklar, is between 40 to 50 per cent. This depends on the production volume, with no import tariffs currently affecting the cost. But if Trump’s proposed tariff on all Chinese imports is implemented, a substantial price increase is expected.
“It could push prices up by 30 to 60 per cent, depending on whether factories can lower their costs to partially offset the tax,” Sklar said.
Royal said: “Whether it’s a price increase caused by inflation or a price increase caused by the pandemic, or price increase caused by tariffs, anything like that is definitely going to affect the consumer”.
While most bobblehead producers clearly state that the items are imported from China, some Trump fan-based websites do not mention where they are manufactured.
Proud Patriot brands itself as a “private American company with American workers based out of Orlando, Florida, with warehouses in Michigan and New York”.
Proud Patriot did not reply to an email asking if its bobbleheads are imported from China. Some buyers’ reviews on Amazon, however, said the product was labelled “made in China”.
Saying American manufacturers were being hurt by cheap goods imported from China, Trump in 2018 imposed US$300 billion in additional tariffs on Chinese goods.
Biden has largely maintained the tariffs on products including apparel and footwear, leading retailers to pass costs onto consumers and industry groups to condemn them as harmful to both manufacturers and buyers.
The share of US footwear imports from China dropped from 53 per cent in 2018 to 40 per cent in 2022 as companies sought alternatives.
For bobbleheads, Sklar said that China would remain a preferred source and that there was no plan to diversify “unless there are major issues that impact things like huge tariffs or trade bans”.
More from South China Morning Post:
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- The US-China trade war has become a forever war, but at what cost?
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