Anna Raccoon the Mug

by Matt Wardman on August 27, 2011

Would anyone like to buy an Anna Raccoon mug to support the site?

There’s a bit of a story here – the first experiment in an idle moment was with a mug using the slogan “Phil Woolarse MP”, after an article published here late last year.

[Update: I have been summarily corrected in the comments, and suitably grovel in apology, it was actually *this* article by Daedalus X Parrot which coined “Phil Woolarse MP”, and inspired the original thought. My pathetic excuse is that “Woolarse” did not come up in an archive search.]

We experimented with a mug from Spreadshirt, who are a European company, but the Phil Woolarse MP slogan was refused (my account of that is here) on the basis that it might offend somebody. Amongst others, Fleet Street Fox uses Spreadshirt.

Calling MPs arses from time to time is a necessary, honourable and public-spirited activity in any democracy; therefore we are now with Zazzle.

The cost of the mug pictured is £12.80 plus p&p, but ‘classic white mugs’ (not dissimilar to Starbucks mugs if you’ve seen those in the past) are currently £11.30. On a mug you get not one, but two Raccoon logos.

: Anna Raccoon – Responsible Raccoontage

And if you are so inclined, you can apply the design to everything from a teeshirt to a mousemat.

This mugs can be purchased here, and any suggestions, comments, ideas or raspberries can be made or blown in the comments.

We also have a version without the slogan:

Anna Raccoon mug by politicsshop
View more Anna raccoon Mugs

There is also the original Phil Woolas mug at the site, but that is now part of history.

If you do visit the shop, please follow the referral links from this article, as it is worth an extra 15% of the selling price for the website.

{ 15 comments }

1 Span Ows August 27, 2011 at 13:27

I will be back in the UK next month and will endeavour to buy 2 mugs (I won’t do it now as I’m between jobs/houses/countries).

I presume you will add a link in the sidebar making the offer available later?

2 Matt Wardman August 27, 2011 at 13:53: Thanks.

Yes we will create a ‘Shop with Anna’ page (if I can call it that without being beheaded).

We’d agreed to try mugs, but Anna is back in hospital for a couple of days for follow-up treatment – so we’ll see what she says when she’s out again.

3 Simon Cooke August 27, 2011 at 14:51

Done!

4 Unrepentant Self-Publicist August 27, 2011 at 16:12

Tsk, tsk. The reason that your own design was rejected was that you didn’t use this far superior Woolarse Mug design:

Woolarse Mug by Daedalus Parrot Potteries

which was designed by the world’s greatest mug, I mean mug designer, I mean mug designer of mugs, Daedalus Parrot.

5 Matt Wardman August 27, 2011 at 18:41: * grovels in the dust *

You are exactly right, that piece was the inspiration, and I owe you an apology.

That article was indeed the starting point, and I commented in the thread.

My only excuse is that the phrase “Woolarse” didn’t appear in the text, so my search didn’t find it.

6 Matt Wardman August 27, 2011 at 19:10

I’ve added a “Shop” page here , and included it in the main menu, using an edited copy of this article.

7 Ed P August 28, 2011 at 19:18

£6.98 for shipping a £12 mug is a rip-off, so I’ll struggle on without one.

8 Jabba the Cat August 28, 2011 at 19:53

Have to concur with your comments, those prices are taking the piss. You can buy a hand painted bone china Dunoon mug for that money.

If the mugs were a fiver each with p&p at a couple of quid I would buy a few.

9 Matt Wardman August 28, 2011 at 20:59

I’m afraid there’s not much we can do about that.

The costs work out at roughly £9-10 basic + margin + pp, and we get the margin plus 15% for sending the visitor.

Spreadshirt are no different, except pp is cheaper but they charge £3 for putting a design element on the mug, and they don’t do affiliates in the same flexible way.

Checking out Dunoon, their online offering seems to be £13-15 for a screen-printed china mug + £3.99 pp within the UK.

Special offers (eg currently 50% off express delivery) and buying several may sometimes save about a third on the overall package (say to £14), but that’s the best it will go.

Sorry.

10 Matt Wardman August 28, 2011 at 21:39

Poking around, I don’t see how we can routinely get that to your door for below £14, even if we switch supplier, go for plain white + logo mug, and take only £1 for the site.

Open to suggestions, though.

11 Jabba the Cat August 28, 2011 at 22:15

I guess we won’t be buying any of the mugs then?

12 Matt Wardman August 28, 2011 at 22:51: Not you and Ed P by the sound of it . Others have though .

Ce n’est pas possible – no one out there to my knowledge who will do custom mugs at a near ASDA price unless you buy hundreds. Even Ms Raccoon is not that dedicated.

If I sell you the cheapest white mug I know about from an online source, don’t add anything for the site, and you paint a Raccoon on it yourself, it will cost about £9 plus postage. So not a runner at the price you think it is worth.

Anyhoo, since we’re on mugs, and you mentioned china ones, what would you consider a reasonable price for a handpainted China one with a similar AR design on it?

Note – not printed China a la Dunoon – *handpainted*.

I happen to live near a pottery (Denby) that used to do such a service – a gorgeous handpainted breakfast set for my niece a few years ago. You went in with your own picture and their artist painted a near copy on the crocks.

I might have a speculative word to see if they still do it and see how it would work out.

13 Saul August 29, 2011 at 00:32