Doja Cat is one of the biggest pop stars on the planet right now. Her newest album “Planet Her” just came out last month, and topped charts across the world.
But, fan devotion and album quality doesn’t make up for sub-par merchandise, especially in the age of e-commerce where artists are selling their merchandise online as much if not more than at concerts these days.
After the artist dropped her “Planet Her” Collection, some fans took to social media to voice their disappointment in the quality and price of the merchandise.
“I ain’t buying a hat for THIRTY FIVE dollars … nawt me sorry bae,” one Twitter user posted.
A little while later, Doja Cat herself quote-tweeted it, responding, “I understand.”
“Who is designing this new batch of merchandise lol” another wrote. Again, Doja Cat responded, saying she doesn’t know.
It culminated in this tweet, implying that the artist had little to no input on the creative direction of her promotional apparel.
https://twitter.com/DojaCat/status/1418796562453434369
Musician merchandise has reached new heights in creativity within the last few years. That trend only continued during the pandemic, when artists had to rely on their commercial output instead of tours. They also used their merchandise drops as album bundles to help their sales numbers, so they had to create something to really appeal to fans.
The Doja Cat “Planet Her” collection includes three T-shirts, a hoodie, sweatpants, shorts and a hat. The most expensive item is the hoodie, which is listed for $65. It’s not an outrageous cost by modern music merchandise standards, but when it amounts to just a little planet logo with “Planet Her” written above it, you can see why fans were expecting a little more pageantry or design.
This is a good lesson in promotional branding. Doja Cat has countless fans all over the world, but fandom (which is really just brand loyalty to some extent) only goes so far if the product is lacking.
Thankfully, this is just one capsule drop, and we’d bet that her team is already planning another. The current trend of relatively small capsule drops, modeled after hyper-exclusive streetwear brands like Supreme, allows for smaller merchandise assortments and, therefore, a lower risk. Since the artist herself said that she’s “aware” and not to worry implies that her team is already working on more.
So, this one was a swing and a miss, for the most part. If the artist whose name is on the shirt is saying so, then there’s certainly room for improvement.
And, it just goes to show that you can never phone it in when it comes to merchandise design. You can be a gigantic name in pop music and riding a career high, but people don’t want to buy a $40 T-shirt if it’s not well designed.
