This is why we can't buy nice things; or, how my cultural studies degree ruined me FOREVER
So for my birthday, and in need of summer footwear a bit less claustrophobic than my beloved army of chelseas and cowboy boots, I bought myself a pair of Toms shoes in appropriately flash Vince-Noirish mirrorball silver. And my shoes arrived in the post today, hooray! I'm totally wearing them about the house and feeling a little fabulous.
If you haven't heard of Toms shoes, here's the basic idea. Instead of just buying a pair of $60 flats, where the $60 goes to the good people who made the shoes and the good people who sold them and it ends there, Toms donates a pair of shoes to children in need for ever pair they sell. A little karmic bonus, as it were. It's also a bloody brilliant marketing scheme. This article has some interesting things to consider on the matter, pointing out that for the $60 you've spent on your shoes, the same amount of money might have gone considerably further than one pair of shoes if donated directly.
Basically, it's a kind of bonus allows the consumer to feel really good about themselves and their positive impact on the world without any effort on their part. It's also a very conspicuous act of consumption. The sides of the shoes have a little "Toms" tag sticking out, and the heel has an even bigger "Toms" logo sewn on. Even if you didn't notice these details, the Toms shoe is made in a very distinctive style. Wearing these shoes tells other people that you're a really good person who cares very deeply for the welfare of others less fortunate, or it might tell other people that you're the type of person who wants other people to know how much you care for the welfare of others less fortunate, as a means of publicly assuaging your middle-class liberal guilt.
Well, colour me middle-class, liberal, and guilty then, because I'll likely be wearing a lot of these shoes over the sweaty months. Fuck.
What got me really thinking about the shoes, though, was what they came with when they arrived today. In the box along with the pair of shoes was a largish sticker simply bearing the Toms logo, with instructions on the back for how to "spread the word" by affixing it somewhere prominent (like on a laptop or car window), hosting a Toms shoe decorating party for your friends, and hosting a screening of the Toms shoes documentary. The shoes were also accompanied by an even larger flag, also bearing the Toms logo, which you are encouraged to hang somewhere prominently, and share your photo of the flag waving proudly with the good people of the internet. Which is all great and stuff, but also makes me feel like they're blatantly trying to get me to do all their advertising and marketing for them. Which, I mean, it's better than being a walking billboard for Monsanto, but I still feel weird about it, because they're not strictly a charity, after all, they're a shoe manufacturer. And if there wasn't some financial incentive in it for the people making these shoes, I doubt they would be.
I'm not saying they're bad - better I spend the money I have on something where someone in need does also benefit than not, but it's always more complicated.
And that's why it's damn hard to have a cultural studies degree, because no matter what you do, there's always a reason it ends up making you feel like shit.
If you haven't heard of Toms shoes, here's the basic idea. Instead of just buying a pair of $60 flats, where the $60 goes to the good people who made the shoes and the good people who sold them and it ends there, Toms donates a pair of shoes to children in need for ever pair they sell. A little karmic bonus, as it were. It's also a bloody brilliant marketing scheme. This article has some interesting things to consider on the matter, pointing out that for the $60 you've spent on your shoes, the same amount of money might have gone considerably further than one pair of shoes if donated directly.
Basically, it's a kind of bonus allows the consumer to feel really good about themselves and their positive impact on the world without any effort on their part. It's also a very conspicuous act of consumption. The sides of the shoes have a little "Toms" tag sticking out, and the heel has an even bigger "Toms" logo sewn on. Even if you didn't notice these details, the Toms shoe is made in a very distinctive style. Wearing these shoes tells other people that you're a really good person who cares very deeply for the welfare of others less fortunate, or it might tell other people that you're the type of person who wants other people to know how much you care for the welfare of others less fortunate, as a means of publicly assuaging your middle-class liberal guilt.
Well, colour me middle-class, liberal, and guilty then, because I'll likely be wearing a lot of these shoes over the sweaty months. Fuck.
What got me really thinking about the shoes, though, was what they came with when they arrived today. In the box along with the pair of shoes was a largish sticker simply bearing the Toms logo, with instructions on the back for how to "spread the word" by affixing it somewhere prominent (like on a laptop or car window), hosting a Toms shoe decorating party for your friends, and hosting a screening of the Toms shoes documentary. The shoes were also accompanied by an even larger flag, also bearing the Toms logo, which you are encouraged to hang somewhere prominently, and share your photo of the flag waving proudly with the good people of the internet. Which is all great and stuff, but also makes me feel like they're blatantly trying to get me to do all their advertising and marketing for them. Which, I mean, it's better than being a walking billboard for Monsanto, but I still feel weird about it, because they're not strictly a charity, after all, they're a shoe manufacturer. And if there wasn't some financial incentive in it for the people making these shoes, I doubt they would be.
I'm not saying they're bad - better I spend the money I have on something where someone in need does also benefit than not, but it's always more complicated.
And that's why it's damn hard to have a cultural studies degree, because no matter what you do, there's always a reason it ends up making you feel like shit.