"Put a Bird on It!" and Sales Just Might Increase

From the to the misunderstood , it鈥檚 no secret that 爆料公社 and its readers welcome the sight of birds (whether they鈥檙e in our backyards or on ). But we can鈥檛 help but notice that our winged friends are popular with the non-birding crowd: Walk into any or and you鈥檙e sure to find a dozen products adorned with birds. With this trend in mind, Portlandia, a comedy on the Independent Film Channel, gave us 鈥淧ut A Bird On It鈥, a hilarious sketch about Bryce Shivers and Lisa Eversman, who put birds on things to 鈥渕ake it pretty.鈥


A purse with a bird on it. (Photo: Lynda Bayless' Etsy Shop)

In the sketch鈥攚hich aired a year ago鈥擝ryce and Lisa visit a boutique to put generic bird silhouettes on everything. 鈥淭heir refrain,鈥 explains Erin Keane on , 鈥溾楶ut a bird on it!鈥 pointed out just how painfully ubiquitous the bird motif had become.鈥 Keane herself admits to being embarrassed by owning things with birds on them:

鈥淚n a post-鈥楶ortlandia鈥 world, I couldn鈥檛 show up to a party of design-savvy women with a gift upon which someone had put a bird. What would that say about my taste?鈥

Despite Keane鈥檚 belief that the sketch irrevocably damaged our buying and selling habits, especially on sites like Esty, most artists and designers we spoke with on the e-commerce site say that their items with birds are their most popular.

鈥淚 think pretty much everybody loves birds,鈥 says , who adds birds generally help increase her sales. 鈥淚 thought my little black owl pill box would only sell around Halloween time," Albanese says. "But I had a few inquiries after the holiday so he is selling right through to spring.鈥


A painting with birds on it. Also a tree branch. (Photo: Laura Sue's Etsy shop)

Of all the nature-themed purses she sells on Etsy, also says birds are her biggest sellers. As a result of their appeal to potential customers, Bayless uses bird designs the most. 鈥淭his has encouraged me to produce many more purses with a bird theme than any other nature theme,鈥 she says.

Some sellers on Etsy even attribute their overall sucess to birds.

鈥淭he majority of our items have birds on them and I believe that has been a significant factor in the popularity of our shop,鈥 explains Amy Hudspeth of .

Rusty Richards says that his and his wife鈥檚 includes 30 different bird designs. 鈥淏irds ALWAYS sell,鈥 he says, adding the bird purse is the shop鈥檚 number two seller.

Though explains that her bird art is popular, she explains she doesn鈥檛 just use the design to increase sales.

鈥淚t鈥檚 purposeful,鈥 she says. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 just stick birds on everything just to have birds on things.鈥


A bird on a pill box. (Photo: Brooke's Albanese Esty shop)