John McCain’s campaign is jumping on the green wagon. Right now, they’re pushing supporters to buy “McCain Eco-Friendly Items” from the campaign store. In addition to trying to tap into a market that McCain hasn’t necessarily been able to draw a lot of donations from, I think the campaign is trying to sell McCain as an ‘eco-friendly’ candidate.

The store is offering up the following items for purchase:

• Go Green McCain Embroidered Polo Shirt with New Recycle Logo ($50.00)
• Go Green McCain Ladies Embroidered Polo Shirt with New Recycle Logo ($50.00)
• Go Green McCain T- Shirt with New Recycle Logo ($25.00)
• Go Green McCain Ladies T- Shirt with New Recycle Logo ($25.00)
• Go Green McCain Visor with New Recycle Logo ($15.00)
• Go Green McCain Hat with New Recycle Logo ($15.00)
• Go Green McCain Onesie with New Recycle Logo ($15.00)
• Go Green McCain Tote Bag with New Recycle Logo ($20.00)
• Go Green McCain Note Book with New Recycle Logo ($8.00)
• Go Green McCain Travel Mug with New Recycle Logo ($15.00)

I’d say that I’ve never seen a more thrilling list of green products, but I’d be lying. Aside from the fairly awkward names these items are listed under, the McCain campaign could probably make these products a bit more appealing to their target market in several ways.

First of all, they could be a little more precise about just how eco-friendly these products are. Sure, all the apparel is labeled as “100 percent organic cotton product,” but that says nothing about the conditions under which they were produced. Beyond explaining how the products were made, it might be in the campaign’s best interest to explain why they’re producing green products right on the product page, rather than relying on buyers to hunt around to find the page on McCain’s site that lists off why he’s such a great friend of the environment. (It’s located here, by the way — and it’s got lots of buzzwords and flashy graphics, although, even after reading it, I’m not entirely sure of just what McCain’s plan is.)

Despite all these nifty eco-friendly products that McCain’s campaign is working on selling, I think they’re missing the biggest opportunity: why not take their entire line of products green? If you go through the store, only the eco-friendly products are labeled with materials. No one’s going to believe that McCain has really committed himself to environmental issues if only a fraction of the items in his store are ‘eco-friendly.’

McCain’s campaign is targeting what they see as niches in an effort to get support from people whose votes they aren’t certain of — they’ve developed products for groups like “Armed Forces” and “Parents for McCain,” as well. But I think they’ll need to tweak their plan a bit.

Photo — Soggydan