Enron is Back, Kind Of: A Company Bought the Toxic Brand’s Trademark and is Selling Merchandise
It’s the comeback story no one asked for – the resurrection of a brand so toxic it remains synonymous with corporate fraud more than two decades after it collapsed in bankruptcy. That’s right, folks: Enron is back. But only kind of.
A company that makes T-shirts bought the Enron trademark and appears to be trying to sell some merchandise on behalf of the guy behind the satirical conspiracy theory “Birds Aren’t Real.” The new Enron website is packed with stock art and corporate platitudes, including a link to job openings, employee testimonials, and a minute-long video titled “I am Enron.”
However, the site and its associated social media accounts are mostly fiction. Unlike the Enron scandal, this one appears to be little more than performance art designed to sell branded hoodies. The co-founder of the company that bought the Enron trademark, Connor Gaydos, is also behind the “Birds Aren’t Real” movement, which started as a joke and morphed into a Gen Z-fueled movement.
The new Enron site lays out its “bold new vision” to solving the world’s energy problems, including a commitment to “permissionless innovation,” aka crypto. An Enron-branded X account posted and later deleted a message teasing at a crypto offering, saying “we do not have any token or coin (yet). Stay tuned, we are excited to show you more soon.”
The main page on the Enron site includes a countdown clock, which shows 7 days and 17 hours to go until Enron has “something very special to introduce.” Meanwhile, you can tab over to the site’s “Company Store” page to browse a selection of Enron-branded merchandise, including hoodies, puffer vests, tees, baseball hats, beanies, and water bottles emblazoned with the slogan “you’ve got great energy.”
