Print-on-demand company Sticker Mule made a wave of headlines in July following a failed assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump. The company sent out a blast message to its mailing list and social media platforms claiming that “the hate for Trump and his supporters has gone too far.”
The email and social media messages offered a $15 off deal on T-shirts to show support for Trump, as well as a call for less rancor against the former president and his supporters.
“People are terrified to admit they support Trump,” read the email, which was signed by the company’s co-founder Anthony Constantino. “I’ve been scared myself.”
The message was met with an avalanche of anger from liberals and centrists who thought it was a ridiculous and unprofessional move by the company to promote a political message over its business channels.
Now, Constantino claims that the company is in hot water on Reddit.
It isn’t.
The company started posting again this month for the first time in seven years and had some of those recent efforts removed from some subreddits.
Constantino says that could have a big effect on the company’s website traffic.
“Google uses Reddit as a major search signal. A Reddit ban kneecaps our ability to rank well in Google and thrive financially. This ban is another example of discrimination against Trump supporters,” Constantino claimed in a video the company posted across their social media pages.
Earlier this year, a Google executive acknowledged (then later deleted) that Reddit posts do tend to rank highly in Search.
Constantino said that the ban was a particular shame because Sticker Mule worked with Reddit in the past to print sticker merch for the company.
But his video is more bluster than sincere concern.
Constantino didn’t immediately respond to questions from the Daily Dot.
Its account had been dormant since 2017, when two weeks ago it tried to post in r/Stickers, a 57,000-member subreddit that had a Sticker Mule rule in place since the first pro-Trump posts by the company.
“Due to the recent behaviour and controversies over at StickerMule, we will no longer be supporting their content and advertising to the subreddit. Alternatives can be found in [the] sticky thread,” the forum’s sidebar reads.
Sticker Mule’s post was removed by moderators, alongside similar posts in subs like r/startups, r/NewYork, and r/Albana
Subreddits, though, are self-policing, with esoteric rules and regulations for posting on each one. If a user or brand is kicked off one, it is not banned from the entire site.
“Posts about Sticker Mule were gathering a lot of violations and constantly being flagged for moderation,” explained r/Stickers mod u/DATDude245 to the Daily Dot. “The ban came as a result enforcing rules and trying to restore some normalcy rather than their support of Trump. They were fine to post until their latest marketing efforts began having a very detrimental affect on the user experience here.”
u/DATDude245 said Constantino hadn’t reached out to them directly and the SEO hit for the company was news to him.
“The account that was banned was dormant for seven years prior to posting,” they explained, “and our ban doesn’t extend outside of the subreddit, so they should still be able to advertise elsewhere on the platform. That burden has no business being on our shoulders.”
Sticker Mule’s account is still live on the site, indicating it hasn’t been banned.
Since going political in a big public way in July, Constantino has posted a steady stream of pro-Trump content on the company’s social media pages, including a statement after the most recent assassination attempt against Trump in September.
In that post, Constantino called on Hillary Clinton to apologize for calling Trump voters deplorables, and Joe Biden to apologize for the “Fine People Hoax.”
“The sooner people come forward and issue statements to apologize for and explain that they provoked anti-Trump hate on false pretenses, often for their own benefit, the faster we’ll fix the problem and have a happier USA and world,” Constantino wrote, after reeling off a long list of celebrities he said should apologize to Trump.
At the beginning of September, Sticker Mule also released an official Sticker Mule endorsement, writing that Trump is the “max global happiness President.”
“One of the biggest tragedies of the last 8 years is that millions of people missed out on a chance to laugh along with the funniest president of all time while enjoying a rockin’ economy, global peace, and many other benefits,” Constantino wrote.
And while some posters are showing support for the pro-Trump turn, not everybody in the comments has been appreciative.
“I’m sure this will help him get in the office. Hey the number 10,000 sticker company in America endorses Trump,” replied one person. “All the while, all politicians ever are getting their campaign stickers made in China.”
A PR representative from Sticker Mule also reached out to the Daily Dot to clarify that they’re “by far, the largest and most successful sticker company on the Internet,” but declined to share any information about their revenue.
This post has been updated with comment from r/Stickers and Sticker Mule.
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