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Inevitably, the fight for the flag has had a commercial fallout. Flag manufacturers have doubled their sales in the past year, and some cannot keep up with orders. An entire generation of novelty and boutique entrepreneurs is outfitting the counter-culture with starred-and-striped pants, ties, ashtrays, shaving mugs, pillowcases, pens and even, in the most tasteless exploitation of all, toilet paper. Manhattan's Earthra Gift Shop does well with its Old Glory cigarette lighters (made in Japan). Jeans West, started 18 months ago, uses the flag motif on T shirts, vests and other items; the owners expect to gross $10 million in their second fiscal year. "Old Glory," says Vice President Ben Serebreni, "is here to stay." Thus far, Manhattan Clothier Steve Goldberg's Naked Grape boutique has sold 36,000 flag shirts to retailers across the nation. In a freeway dialogue, decals and bumper stickers are everywhere—LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT, AMERICA; IF YOUR HEART ISN'T IN IT, GET YOUR ASS OUT OF IT; THE FLAG, DEFEND IT, SILENT MAJORITY; AGNEW TELLS IT LIKE IT is. In rebuttal, flag users of a different persuasion have come up with PEACE NOW, GET OUT OF VIET NAM; MAKE LOVE NOT WAR, disarmament semaphores and ecology symbols.
One Detroit potato-chip manufacturer offers flag decals with his jumbo size. In Chicago, the Cubs announcer, Jack Brickhouse, appears in an ad with a star-spangled crone playing Betsy Ross. "I'm keeping busy," says Betsy. "I've got to get ever so many flags over to the American National Bank for their special holiday offer . . . Made of my best colorfast bunting, too." Gas stations pass out antenna flags with each purchase. In Atlanta, the Winn Dixie supermarkets offer flag pins with each $5 purchase—one to a customer. One Detroit department store is pushing a line of red, white and blue plastic dinner plates called Glory. Some concessionaires, such as the G.I. Joe hot-dog vendors in New York, are virtually forced by the company to display the flag.
Many well-known national firms—Pepsi-Cola, Mobil Oil and American Tourister among them—have long used red, white and blue in their trademarks. In view of the conflict over the flag, however, many advertising directors are beginning to shy away from the national colors. Says Charles Overholser of Young & Rubicam: "Overuse could easily offend consumers." The aesthetics of the flag as high fashion are also somewhat in dispute. "I just dig the colors," says a Berkeley coed with a flag knee patch. "And I love stars. The flag's groovy from an aesthetic viewpoint." Marget Larsen, a San Francisco graphic designer, does not agree: "The idea of stars and stripes is awfully self-conscious and precise. It's a little too busy, with too many stars crammed in the corner."
Plight of the Moderates