Home Depot just taught the Florida GOP one costly lesson about playing games with their brand

The Florida GOP thought they had struck political gold with their latest fundraising scheme.

They rolled out merchandise playing off Home Depot’s famous logo to promote Governor Ron DeSantis’s new detention center.

But Home Depot just taught the Florida GOP one costly lesson about playing games with their brand.

Florida GOP tries to cash in on DeSantis detention center announcement

Governor Ron DeSantis made headlines last Thursday when he unveiled plans to convert the shuttered Baker Correctional Institution into a new immigration detention facility.

The “Deportation Depot” – as DeSantis dubbed the facility – will house up to 1,300 people and is expected to be operational within two weeks at a cost of approximately $6 million.¹

Located in rural North Florida between Tallahassee and Jacksonville, the facility joins DeSantis’s other controversial immigration center known as “Alligator Alcatraz” in the Everglades.

The Florida Republican Party saw dollar signs immediately after DeSantis’s announcement.

By Friday, they had launched a full merchandise line featuring “The Deport Depot” branding that mimicked Home Depot’s iconic orange and white logo design.

“DEPORT DEPOT – Where Florida gets more done! We won’t back down to the radical left. Stand with @realDonaldTrump and @GovRonDeSantis and take a stand!” the Florida GOP wrote.²

The merchandise included T-shirts, mugs, baseball caps, and beverage coolers priced between $15 and $28, with all proceeds going directly to the Republican Party of Florida as political contributions.

Home Depot’s legal department moves fast to protect their trademark

The Florida GOP didn’t count on Home Depot’s lawyers getting involved so quickly.

Home Depot’s legal team wasted no time contacting the Republican Party of Florida about their unauthorized use of the company’s trademarked logo and distinctive branding elements.

“We don’t allow any organization to use our branding or logo for their commercial purposes,” Home Depot spokesperson Sarah McDonald told reporters.³

The company was crystal clear that no political organization – regardless of party affiliation – could co-opt their distinctive orange square logo and blocky stencil font for commercial purposes.

Home Depot spokesperson Beth Marlowe confirmed that the company “reached out to the Republican Party of Florida to resolve this issue” after discovering the unauthorized merchandise.⁴

The retail giant’s swift action demonstrates how seriously major corporations take trademark protection in today’s political climate.

Florida Republicans forced to abandon entire merchandise line

By Monday morning, the entire “Deport Depot” product line had vanished from the Florida GOP’s online store.

The party quietly removed all traces of the merchandise after just three days of sales, though they haven’t issued any public statement acknowledging the trademark violation.

https://twitter.com/FaulknerFocus/status/1956395818937995453

Social media posts promoting the merchandise also disappeared from the Florida GOP’s X account, though one Instagram promotion reportedly remained visible until The Washington Post inquired about it directly.

The merchandise removal represents a complete reversal for the Florida GOP, which had been aggressively promoting the products as a way to “stand with” both Trump and DeSantis on immigration policy.

This isn’t the first time Florida Republicans have tried to monetize the state’s immigration enforcement efforts.

In July, they launched an “Alligator Alcatraz” merchandise line featuring T-shirts, baseball caps, and beer koozies emblazoned with images of giant reptiles patrolling a prison facility.

That fundraising push came right after DeSantis opened his Everglades detention center, which environmental groups have challenged in court over conditions at the facility.

Strategic miscalculation exposes GOP fundraising desperation

The “Deport Depot” merchandise getting pulled shows how hungry Republican fundraising operations are for the next big money maker.

Somebody at the Florida GOP should have asked whether Home Depot would appreciate having their logo tied to immigrant detention centers.

Home Depot’s quick response demonstrates that corporations don’t mess around when politicians try to hijack their trademarks for political gain.

This kind of fundraising backfire creates exactly the problems politicians want to avoid.

The GOP turned what should have been easy campaign cash into a public embarrassment that makes their immigration push look amateur.

The timing couldn’t be worse for DeSantis, who is already dealing with legal challenges to his Alligator Alcatraz facility and needs to demonstrate competent execution of his immigration policies.

Having his political allies botch a simple merchandise launch doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in their ability to manage complex detention operations.

The rapid merchandise pullback also raises questions about how thoroughly the Florida GOP vets its fundraising operations before launching them publicly.

Basic legal vetting would have caught the trademark problems with copying Home Depot’s logo and color scheme.

This episode shows what happens when political fundraising gets ahead of legal common sense – you end up with expensive lessons about intellectual property law.

¹ James Liddell, “Home Depot forces GOP to stop selling ‘Deport Depot’ merchandise,” The Independent, August 18, 2025.

² Florida GOP, X post, August 15, 2025.

³ Sarah McDonald, Home Depot spokesperson, quoted in The Independent, August 18, 2025.

⁴ Beth Marlowe, Home Depot spokesperson, quoted in Miami Herald, August 18, 2025.