Ah, but you see, it's really an instance of meta-irony! The first level of irony is the disconnect between the shirt bearing a faded "Salvation Army" logo and its $34 price tag, but under that lie the deeper ironies: Is a person who buys the shirt supporting the Salvation Army and its cause? On the surface, it's an advertisement for the product, but spending $34 on a t-shirt because it's from Urban Outfitters clearly is at odds with the values of the Salvation Army. But what if the brand-loyalty is not to Urban Outfitters, but rather to the Salvation Army? After all, someone who buys this shirt is paying $34 to advertise for the SA, while the UO affiliation is visible only to those looking at the label inside the collar. And the person who buys the shirt, which looks kinda dingy and not fashionable, is clearly willing to sacrifice his or her fashionableness (despite being a person who shops at Urban Outfitters!) in order to display the large SA logo. On the other hand, could the purchase be simply a mean-spirited slap in the face of the poor, by spending $34 frivolously and helping a large company whose products are not accessible to the poor? Or is it a more underhanded criticism of the fashion industry: Look, I paid $34 for this t-shirt and I still look like a loser? The shirt is--to use a cliched metaphor but in a context to make it seem as if I do not realize that the metaphor is cliched (provided that you omit the clause offset by dashes)--a veritable onion of meaning, with the pulling back of each layer leading to yet another layer, until the layers becomes so fine as to make it impossible to discern individual ones--(et alors! The shirt has occasioned yet another instance of meta-irony!).
Or perhaps the intent is for the owners of the shirt to eventually chuck them over to the Salvation Army, which will make a profit equivalent to maybe 3% of what UO made, while the final wearer will be the only person completely removed from the cloud of irony.
Wow. I received this message at about 10 am, and it totally made my day. My hat off to you, Jason. :-)
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Wow. I received this message at about 10 am, and it totally made my day. My hat off to you, Jason. :-)
Reply
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