Conversation pieces

In case you wondered, Staples did sell out of the awkwardly large desktop organizer that contestants on "The Apprentice" designed for the office-supply chain -- and now has a waiting list for the next batch.

You could take it as yet another example of the selling power of TV. But, as Ryan Underwood notes at Fast Company Now, it's probably more an illustration of a much older cultural imperative:

It is one of the most remarkable conversation pieces I've ever had. It's way more effective than my old Balinese rosewood nameplate (now de-commissioned), more approachable than My Pet Fat or the Life-Saver candy dish. So forget the water cooler, having a physical artifact tied to a popular show around which we can gather with corporate chums and shoot the breeze is genuinely a marketing revolution in the making. I can see it now: The Tony Soprano Desk Chair, The Desperate Housewives' Pen Collection, The Survivor Desk Tiki Torch. ...