Donald Trump Piñatas Sell Like Hotcakes - Would You Buy Them? [Poll]
If there's one thing people love, it's smashing a piñata resembling Donald Trump.
The GOP frontrunner has been steadily making anti-immigrant statements ever since he announced his presidential campaign, causing an outcry among immigrants and people from the Latin American region. Dalton Javier Avalos Ramirez, a resident of the border city of Reynosa near Texas, was no different. He was angry at the business magnate's statements, but he chose to apply a creative spin to the issue and made piñatas into Trump's image.
According to LA Times, Avalos Ramirez's piñatas turned out to be a huge hit that Mexican customers both from in and outside the border poured in. Many customers filled the Trump piñatas with candy and treats and happily beat his likeness at birthday parties and special events. Others, meanwhile, carried the piñata to protests and burned it.
Avalos Ramirez didn't expect that his piñatas would encourage imitations, which gave Mexicans a chance to express their distaste against anti-immigrant statements currently pervading the U.S. presidential campaign, LA Times wrote.
Selling Like Hotcakes
Trump piñatas are best sellers in U.S. cities with the highest percentage of Hispanic residents, Idaho Statesman wrote. Retailers in Santa Fe and Albuquerque said that Trump piñatas attract all sorts of customers and not just Latinos. Jose Carlos Andre, the 26-year-old manager of Mexican butcher shop El Paisano in Santa Fe, said whites also buy Trump piñatas.
The continuing demand for Trump piñatas is making sellers busy in the United States and in Latin America, the news outlet noted. Tai Ayers, 41, was among those who recently purchased a Trump piñata for her and her 4-year-old son's birthday party.
"I completely noticed the irony," Ayers said, as quoted by Idaho Statesman. "It actually made me feel good buying this because this is exactly who I want to give my money to -- a locally owned shop that services immigrants."
In September 2015, Marylou Hernandez, who owns the Cascaron Store on Austin Highway, said they make two types of Trump piñatas: an angry-faced Trump and a superman Trump, the Guardian reported. They also accept customization orders from customers.
"We get lots and lots of calls [about Trump piñatas]," Hernandez said, as quoted by the Guardian. "It's been very popular and very funny, the requests from the customers, they're just unique."
Last July, Ignacio Padilla, the Santa Fe County Republican Party's former treasurer, drove around town with a Trump piñata peeking out from his car's passenger seat, the news outlet wrote. The piñata bore a sign calling Trump a racist. Afterwards, Padilla invited residents to pummel the piñata in the town's plaza. The move, however, cost Padilla his position.