The Etch a Sketch is back and on the campaign trail

Who still has fond memories of playing with their Etch a Sketch? I certainly do, and like many of my young brethren spent many hours doodling away with it.



I also didn’t initially realize you could create really great art with it if you were clever enough, and I had a friend who could draw the Star Wars logo with it.

Of course, I also remember hearing stories of people gluing the knobs of their Etch a Sketches, so their works of art couldn’t get erased.

With the upcoming election, Etch a Sketch is on a lot of people’s lips these days because of Mitt Romney’s spokesperson, Eric Fehrnstrom, comparing him to the toy. 



And as The Daily Beast reports, with this funny quote all over the news, Etch a Sketch sales have reportedly gone through the roof.

The toy is manufactured by the Ohio Art Company, and the day the quote hit the public consciousness, calls came in to the factory, with reporters asking for comments, and people asking how they can order one themselves.

The Etch a Sketch made a big leap on Amazon, going up 1,200 spots, making it Amazon’s 110th most popular toy, and maybe some of the sales have come from the Gingrich and Santorum camps. One of Santorum’s aides handed out Etch a Sketches to reporters at a press conference that afternoon, and Gingrich was also seen holding one and grinning on TV.

It’s been a long time since I myself have thought of the Etch a Sketch, maybe my brain got shook up like the toy too many times and erased most of my memories of it, but the little toy company in Ohio that makes it is amazed at how fast it reached the public consciousness, and got sales going again in the age of viral marketing. 



Still, they reminded the Daily Beast that the Etch a Sketch is essentially a toy, and they’re staying out of the political debate, so Democrats and Republicans alike are all welcome to buy one and have fun with it.