Dutch Word of the Day
failliet: failure
Product Rood was een faillet.
Product Red was a failure.
I called this months ago. Even as I called it, I secretly hoped I was wrong. But I was, unforunately, right. Product Red was dumb from the getgo. I mean, look at this racist cover featuring Kate “Cokey the Bear” Moss in blackface they used to promote it. It was doomed from the start. Especially since Bono’s aim was to help black people, this smacked of an irony that’s just too much to bear. Use a black African model, for heavens sake, not a painted drug addicted next to the words, “Not a fashion statement.”
I had a feeling that the overhead was going to in the way, too. I mean, eventually you’ll run out of self righteous people who want to show off that they bought a $40 shirt to support AIDS victims. The Product Red people are claiming that this isn’t true at all, but I really find this hard to believe. Between New York and Amsterdam I haven’t even seen a Product Red object (phone,credit card, iPod, shirt, shoe) outside of the store.
Now Project Awkward (coming soon to an Amherst campus near you) isn’t “designed to eliminate AIDS” like a Moto Razr phone dipped in red paint, but hopefully it will bring in a little extra for Tapestry Health. Even if you’re a huge celebrity with tons of clout and the best intentions, you need to start small, start specific, and then expand. And don’t use Kate Moss in blackface.
Amherstdam 