If you shudder at the thought of a housing bubble or you just want to make fun of the real estate frenzy, there’s now a T-shirt for you. And a coffee mug. And a mousepad or a baseball cap.
T-ShirtHumor.com, an Austin, Tex.-based Internet manufacturer, recently debuted products featuring a design centered around a smiling house called Mr. Hou$ing Bubble. The same design can be found on mugs, caps, posters, mousepads, and T-shirts.
On a pink background with several soap bubbles, a nod to the original Mr. Bubble bath product logo, is a smiling Mr. Hou$ing Bubble saying, “If I pop, you’re screwed.” And underneath the heading “Take a bath in the real estate market with Mr. Hou$ing Bubble” is an offer of “Free balloon mortgage inside.” There’s also a disclaimer: “Not affiliated with Mr. Internet Bubble.”
Several hundred Mr. Hou$ing Bubble products were sold in the first three days after their August debut, said Anthony Phipps, T-ShirtHumor.com’s communications director.
“The idea came to us like many others, from the headlines,” Phipps told The Real Deal. “The concerns and the debate over the current housing market was an obvious choice for us.”
The T-shirt may also serve a practical purpose, said Mr. Hou$ing Bubble’s creator, John Baynham, should the real estate good times go suddenly bust.
“If and when this bubble pops,” Baynham said, “a lot of people are going to take a bath and they’re going to need an affordable shirt to put on afterward.”