Obama desperate wedding registry fund-raising strategy not a hit with brides

President Obama’s bizarre marriage-theme fund-raising scheme — where he asks couples to request campaign donations from their guests in lieu of wedding gifts — has been a total flop.

The desperate initiative, dubbed “the Event Registry,” is being mocked by event planners and couples — and shows how desperate the Obama campaign is to keep up with GOP contender Mitt Romney’s fund-raising.

Campaign officials launched the initiative in late June, the same month Obama raised just $71 million compared to Romney’s $100 million.

So far, “the Event Registry” has been all but ignored on social-media sites — even though Facebook, Twitter and other networks have been a strong suit for the Obama campaign.

“The number of links and stories about the announcement is very low since the news went live on June 22,” said Meredith Klee, a spokeswoman for the social-media tracking firm Topsy.

Her site’s latest data show 1,137 posts on Twitter about the registry.

And only a few hundred links to the registry have been shared on Facebook — even though Obama has more than 27 million fans on the site, according to Topsy.

“It’s a gift that we can all appreciate — and goes a lot further than a gravy bowl,” said campaign staffer Laura Wilson while announcing the initiative.

The Obama campaign didn’t return requests for comment.

But wedding industry pros called the ploy tasteless and divisive.

“This is absurd. Republican or Democrat, you shouldn’t bring politics into a wedding,” said Kristin Koch, a senior editor with weddingchannel.com. “We found that nearly everyone found this to be a bad idea.”

Brides-to-be commenting on her site’s message board called the initiative “gross!” and “tacky” — with one writing, “Hell no!”

“Politics and my personal celebrations should not be mixed,” another bride wrote.


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