Coronavirus merch is somehow worse than I expected

The merch machine can’t be stopped, even for coronavirus or COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. Coronavirus merch has arrived, and it’s somehow worse than I anticipated. The themes generally seem to be: jokes about China; the idea of survival against the virus; and general stock imagery of viruses with corona branding. The stores that sell the merch through Google Shopping are smaller sites, like Zazzle and Spreadshirt, although Etsy also sells some clothing, as does Amazon.

The existence of these shirts isn’t surprising. Whenever there’s an event, celebrity death, or meme, shirt shops spin up things to sell. It’s what they do. The same thing happened when disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein killed himself in jail. In...

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