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| Yo-Bonic Presidential Blo-Yo of the United States |
| Exhibit #4055 |
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| Type | Production |
| Shape | Modified |
| Axle | Fixed |
| Color | Translucent blue |
| Packaging | Carded |
| Construction | Multi-piece plastic |
| Response | None |
| Gap | Fixed |
| Condition | Mint in Package |
| Date | 1998 |
| Owner | Rick Brough |
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The Yo-Bonic Presidential Blo-Yo of the United States was a racy yo-yo released during the last yo-yo boom in the late 90s. It included cartoon caricature drawing of Bill Clinton on one side, and Monica Lewinsky on the opposite side. In 1998, US President Bill Clinton was involved in a much publicized sex scandal with Lewinsky, a White House intern.
The dark blue translucent yo-yo was made from polycarbonate and used a brass, fixed axle.
As with some other Yo-Bonic yo-yos in their product line, the text printed on the front and back of the mounting card was part entertainment (in this case Super Spin Meister, Top 10 Dirty Office Tricks, and Yo can do it to, It's a one hand job! [sic]; their regular yo-yo mounting cards say For ages 100 and younger) and part deliberate (Everything we do is just for you!). The upper-left corner on the front of the card has a charicature drawing of the Yo-Bonic's CEyO Maria Carilyo.
Yo-Bonic later released this exact same yo-yo but with a much tamer generic Yo-Bonic card that said "Get wound up on Yo-Bonics" in place of where the yo-yo name was suppose to be.
In trying to understand why this kind of yo-yo was released in a market that primarily targeted children and youth, Maria Carilao, founder of Yo-Bonic Yo-Yos in Seattle explained it this way on Entrepreneur.com in April 20, 2006.
"[Maria] makes up for a limited marketing budget with energy, vision and raw nerve…"
Carilao has become a master of attention-getting. She drives a psych-"Yo"-delic Volvo station wagon covered with hundreds of colorful yo-yos; dresses as "Yo-Yo Girl" for store appearances; and peppers her conversation with "Yo speak," a hip play on words. (For example, she calls herself the world's first CEyO.)
"I didn't have money for a marketing campaign when I started, so I had to be really out there and in buyers' faces to get attention," says Carilao. Not all the attention has been positive, though. Her limited-edition Presidential Blo-Yo, sold briefly last fall, featured caricatures of President Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky in packaging that played off of Zippergate.
"Not everyone thought the Blo-Yo was in good taste," says Carilao, "but sometimes you have to take a chance and be in the public's face in a bold way in order to be seen."
What makes her marketing madness work is that it's more than just hype. Says Carilao, 'I know I have a solid product to back up my aggressiveness.'"
(Haupt, Jennifer. "That's Outrageous!" Entrepreneur, Entrepreneur Media, Inc. 20 April 2006, https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/21676. Accessed August 31, 2020.)
See also the Yo-Bonic Condomini Yo.
Original retail price: $10 US. | |
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