Key Takeaways
• Drone sightings: The sightings in New Jersey and New York have sparked rampant media and public interest.
• Print-on-demand opportunity: Merch related to the “drone invasion,” including T-shirts, stickers and ornaments, is all over online marketplaces.
• Cause for alarm? Federal authorities maintain that there’s no evidence of threats to public safety, but that’s only served to heighten the mystery.
The drone invasion appears to be underway – and there’s merch to prove it.
We’re joking about the drone invasion. The merch, not so much.
These days, it seems that if there’s a significant societal or cultural phenomenon, a viral moment, then merchandise tied to it will swiftly follow.
The latest example of such moment merch stems from a strange case that centers on a mysterious spike in purported drone sightings in parts of New Jersey, New York and, less so to date, eastern Pennsylvania.
In New Jersey in particular, locals have been flooding in reports of drones flying through the skies. Regional news media has been reporting on the unidentified flying drones. National media has taken a keen interest. Social media is abuzz with speculation about the origin of the drones and what they’re up to, including a Facebook group, with nearly 80,000 members, that’s dedicated to solving the mystery.
Authorities are taking ample notice, too. The Federal Aviation Administration has temporarily banned drone flights over New York City, large parts of Southern New York and Long Island, and significant swaths of Central and Northern New Jersey.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Department of Homeland Security have said there’s “no evidence” that the drones are a threat to the public or being used by other countries to advance nefarious agendas. The Feds have said many of the sightings are likely manned aircraft being misidentified as drones.
“At this point, we have not identified any basis for believing that there’s any criminal activity involved, that there’s any national security threat, that there’s any particular public safety threat or that there’s a malicious foreign actor involved in these drones,” a DHS official said.
Still, such assurances have done little to cool the drone fever sweeping affected locales. And online merch sellers are proving keen to capitalize, especially with New Jersey-themed drone merchandise.
For instance, a Dec. 20 search for “New Jersey drone merch” on Amazon returned an array of results, especially T-shirts. There were shirts that said “Drone Wars 2024,” “Drone Hunting Club, New Jersey,” “I Survived the NJ Mystery Drones,” “New Jersey Drones Invasion Survivor” and “The Mystery Over New Jersey” – the final of those showing many drones filling the sky.
Over on Redbubble, another Dec. 20 search turned up products that included stickers and T-shirts themed around the drone sightings. The stickers counted among their number offerings that included the “New Jersey Drone Situation” and another cut into the shape of the Garden State depicting an alien with a drone in the background. One T-shirt read “New Jersey’s New State Bird” and showed drones.
On Etsy, products included T-shirts, sweatshirts, socks, stickers and more – even Christmas tree ornaments. To wit, one ornament cut into the shape of New Jersey read “2024 – The Year of the Drones.” There was a riff on Game of Thrones as well through a T-shirt that was printed with the message “Game of Drones.”
The list of examples could go on. They all highlight that when big happenings pervade the popular consciousness, there’s potential to capture the moments in merch – and maybe make a buck or two.
As ASI Media’s Theresa Hegel wrote recently: “Certain events in sports, politics and pop culture set social media alight, and savvy merch makers – leveraging print-on-demand and other technology – can latch onto those moments to create clever designs that capture online attention. It can be a delicate balance to distinguish between flash-in-the-pan phenomena and ideas that will truly resonate with your audience, but for those who are agile enough to react quickly when the time is right, the rewards are rich.”
