Sadly, There Is Alligator Alcatraz Merch Including a Branded Bucket Hat

When it comes to merchandise, there are countless examples of inappropriate branding that one could argue shouldn't be sold.

For example, the Museum of Death has an online store that sells all manner of things featuring the museum's name alongside some of the world's most infamous killers. If you're looking for Heaven's Gate gear, this is your spot.

One of Philadelphia's best places to tour is undoubtedly Eastern State Penitentiary. The former prison opened in 1829 and housed some of the city's most dangerous criminals, including Al Capone, who spent eight months there.

Once you're finished wandering its stone halls, you can pop into the merch store for a baby onesie featuring a drawing of a former canine inmate.

With this in mind, it's unsurprising that Alligator Alcatraz would peddle its own merch. Let's take a look.

In case you're wondering, Alligator Alcatraz is the official name for the immigrant detention center meant to house 3,000 detainees. Jeremy Redfern, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier's spokesman, confirmed this in an email to the Tampa Bay Times.

Republicans in Florida couldn't make merch fast enough. Evan Power, Chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, told Fox 13 News, "When you sell merch, you get names, you get emails, and then you make some money off of all of it."

Uthmeier is also selling merchandise on his own website. Much of it is branded with the facility's name, but one t-shirt reads, "Nowhere to Run. Nowhere to Hide," with an alligator graphic. It's unclear what Uthmeier will do with the money he makes, but Power told Fox 13 News that all of their profits will go back into the Florida GOP.

Power claims the goal is to "raise awareness to what the policy is." It's unclear how alligator cartoons will accomplish that.

One Alligator Alcatraz merch website is hocking shirts, buttons, bucket hats, bumper stickers, coffee mugs, and more. Under the best-selling section, there are three images featuring models wearing merch.

None of the models are white, and one is a little girl. It's unclear if these are AI-generated images, but these choices feel intentional in a cruel way.

Not everyone is on board with the facility or the merch. "This is a stain on the conscience of Florida," said Hillsborough County State Rep. Fentrice Driskell, the House Minority Leader. "You really have to ask yourself, where have we gone wrong as a society if it's at the point where people are making fun of other families’ heartaches and pain," she asked. "I never thought I'd see the day in America where people are profiteering off of effectively what could be a concentration camp."

News of the Alligator Alcatraz merch has reached social media, where one person posted on X that folks are also selling it on Etsy.

"I've been almost exclusively shopping with you for the holidays, but I'm not interested in a site that is OK with glorifying concentration camps," wrote @katiiemb. Plugging Alligator Alcatraz into X's search bar yields both criticism and other merch stores.