The Man Who Put Donald Trump’s Face on Toilet Paper

 


The Trump years were flush times for Yaniv Graif: In the lead-up to the 2016 election, the now 37-year-old, who lives in Tel Aviv, Israel, started manufacturing what he believed to be the world’s first—and still, according to him, bestselling—toilet paper printed with Donald Trump’s face on it. The product had a good run for the next four years, but it being 2021, Graif agreed to speak to Slate to address the obvious: Now that the Trump administration is over, are sales in the crapper? According to him, no, but he’s always innovating—and on that note, he asked me to mention the Trump toilet paper NFT he recently created. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Heather Schwedel: I was looking at your company’s website, and it looks like Trump toilet paper was your first product?

Yaniv Graif: My brand, Gagster, it started on Trump toilet paper. And it was a gamble because we started doing this when Trump was considered a joke nominee in the primaries for the Republican nomination. Nobody thought he was going to win. But then I noticed that when you type “Trump” on Amazon, the auto-complete is “Trump toilet paper.” And there is no such product. So we started with this one product, and a bit after that, he won the Republican nomination, and it really boomed.

Where were you in your life that you were in a position to start manufacturing Trump toilet paper?

I was kind of starting out as an entrepreneur. I used to be a copywriter for a bit, after graduation from college. Then I just started playing with e-commerce with eBay and Etsy, and then Amazon started really booming. So I created a camping gear brand. I was pretty new at this, and then my second idea for a brand was this. Back then, I was creating a product that was, let’s say, a camping spoon. And I would order a thousand units, and it would take me a few months to sell it. And when I started the Trump toilet paper, I bought a thousand. It sold out within a few days. And then you realize, OK, this is a different business. This is the real deal.

After you saw that initial success with the first 1,000 rolls in 2016, did you figure, “OK, I have a few months of this, and then probably he won’t win?”

That’s exactly what I thought, and then he won. Things were crazy when he won. When he was initially elected, and then every December, every Christmas, was crazy. I mean, probably over 80 percent of sales are in November and December.

You’re in Israel. Why were you the one to make Trump toilet paper? Do people in Israel normally pay a lot of attention to American elections?

First of all, yes, people in Israel know what goes on in the U.S. elections. I mean, maybe they don’t know everything about the U.S. politics, but they know about the [presidential] election. And Trump was actually very popular in Israel, because he moved the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, which is something that right-wing Israelis really want. He is like Bibi Netanyahu’s BFF.

But the majority of your sales, are they coming from Americans?

100 percent almost. A bit from Canada, maybe a bit Mexico.

Maybe you can sell it forever.

Let’s say that now, we are seeing the first signs of the decline in the last few months. It can go either way now. I can’t really predict it. A lot of it depends on Trump himself.

So for you and your business, would it be ideal if he ran again in 2024?

That’s my dream. That would be my dream come true.

https://slate.com/business/2021/05/donald-trump-toilet-paper-joe-biden-history.html


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