From ComedyCentral.com’s shop:
Colbert Nation: WristStrong Bracelet
Expected Release Date: Aug 21, 2007
Order this item now and we will ship it to you as soon as it is available.
GET YOUR WRISTSTRONG BRACELETS HERE!Hey Nation! Don’t let the severity of wrist injury go unrecognized. Show your support with your very own WristStrong bracelet!
WristStrong bracelets are printed on high quality red rubber. One size fits most.
$5.00
List Price: $9.99
Save: $4.99 (50%)
And if you want to live the magic of when Stephen Colbert first talked about this bracelet, here’s the video where it all began.
Thanks to ColbertsMyHero for the tip!
Oh :( Comedy Central doesn’t deliver to international addresses….damn, I guess there arn’t many TCR fans in the UK. I wonder if I can get one off Ebay!
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
I feel you’re pain, Sazzrah. But I figure I’m famous enough that if I wait someone with a bracelet will come to Rome and have to pass it on to me… lol.
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
5 bucks? Dayum…. *Adds to Cart* :D
I hope/wish some of the proceeds will go to charity.
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
He didn’t say whether or not the proceeds were going to the Americone Dream charity, but IMO they should.
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
It would be nice if they proceeds went to the Walter Reed charity, like the money that will be earned through the eBay auction of his cast.
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
I would just like to take this moment to express my views on the wristStrong bracelet:
1) How hard would it have been for Comedy Central to have these ready to go and made to go up for sale the day after Stephen first mentioned it? It won’t even be available until the 21st? Stephen’s wrist will probably be healed by that point. We’re talking rubber bracelets, these things CANNOT be difficult to get made.
2) The price is *beyond* ridiculous. And it was supposedly supposed to be $10 (I have long since thought that this is a mental trick on CC’s behalf, they want to make you think you’re saving tons of money, when in fact the item was never going to sell for that much), but $5 is an absolute robbery. And it seems like it won’t be going to charity, which is completely ridiculous. People would gladly pay $5 to know it’s going to go to a charity, but otherwise it just seems like pure greed. CC is just lining their pockets with a gigantic markup, these bracelets probably cost pennies to make in some factory in Japan. And what’s even worse than the price is the shipping, which appears to be $5.40. So the shipping is more than the product. This is ridiculous. It would scarcely cost more than sending a letter to shipping these out..
I’m pretty sure I had more to rant about but my disgust with Comedy Central has forced me to forget. I am yet again very much NOT surprised by the epic amount of fail on behalf of CC. They have bungled yet another merchandise item and are still failing to provide us with anything decent to buy. If they want to make money, they need to get with the program and realize that fans DO want good, quality merchandise (not stupid ass paperweights) and have disposable income to buy trinkets related to their favorite show. And while they’re at it, if they bring the price down to only “slightly ridiculous” they will move more items as well. Think about it, they obviously haven’t.
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
@Caitlin
100% in agreement with you.
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
Now the expected release date has been pushed back to Sept. 4!
And, yeah, $5 is too much. I agree that part of it should go to charity and that that should be pointed out, but otherwise I’m not paying $5.
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
@ Caitlin:
love the Strangers/Wigfield/trifecta in general “Think about it, [I] haven’t” reference!
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
It really hurt my feelings to hear some of you people complaining about how expensive this is. It’s five dollars people. You don’t complain when you go to a fast food joint and pay more than that on a burger and fries. This is for the soldiers and their families. I myself am a soldier and I’m currently deployed for the second time in Iraq. I intend to buy at least one of these bracelets and possibly more for family and friends. Let’s honor those that have fallen protecting this country the best way they know how. I will…how cheap have we become that we wont support those that sacrifice for us? If you have any problems with my statements then shoot me an email at jeremy.d.fay@us.army.mil I wont be back on here.
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
@Jeremy:
I, and most of the Colbert Nation that I’ve spoken with, has absolutely no problem with the $5 for the bracelet, with the proceeds going towards the Walter Reed foundation. The issue that people were having is the fact that shipping for each bracelet was over $5. I know for the two that I bought, shipping was $7 on $10 worth of bracelets.
At the time of this post, and at the time of the comments, there had been no announcement by Stephen Colbert or Comedy Central that the money from the bracelets was going to charity. When this post was written, this was all that was said about the bracelets on the Comedy Central shop site:
GET YOUR WRISTSTRONG BRACELETS HERE!
Hey Nation! Don’t let the severity of wrist injury go unrecognized. Show your support with your very own WristStrong bracelet!
WristStrong bracelets are printed on high quality red rubber. One size fits most.
$5.00
List Price: $9.99
Save: $4.99 (50%)
Once it was announced that the proceeds for the bracelet were going to charity, the members of the Nation were much more accepting of the cost. Charity is always a good thing, and the Colbert Nation is more than welcome to give for a good cause (and it doesn’t get much better than the Yellow Ribbon Fund), but it’s frustrating being forced to give over $5 to Comedy Central’s shipping department simply to donate $5 to a worthy charity. That was the issue, not the $5 for the bracelet. Many fans have actually sent money directly to the Yellow Ribbon fund in lieu of paying for a bracelet, so that the charity gets the full chunk of the money donated instead of simply the “proceeds”, minus the shipping. Having WristSTRONG support the Yellow Ribbon fund has brought tons of attention to that charity, and the Nation is fully aware of that and does its best to support the charitable causes that Stephen brings to light.
I hope that makes you feel better about the Colbert Nation and the post where you left your comment.
Shout Out (Hey!):
0