I’ve been contemplating buying a pair of Nike Frees since they hit shelves. I don’t exactly know the dynamics of how they work, but since there is a relaxed sole the shoe helps build balance and leg muscle while walking – two vital things any athlete needs. The problem with them (being as I am fashion conscious) is that they’re a shoe predominantly for the gym. You’d look somewhat ridiculous wearing them to the bar, beach, or even on your friend’s patio in summer heat.In a recent ad I glanced at in Surfer magazine there were a pair of shoes boasting the same dynamics as the Free but in an ultra cool relaxed way that you could easily pull off wearing regardless of circumstance. They were aptly titled The Kerouac (after famous beat generation writer Jack Kerouac) and made by Sanuk Shoe Company.
I was immediately sold and have scoured skate/snowboard shops for them ever since with no success. When I read Christina Harold’s article “Pranking Rhetoric: ‘Culture Jamming’ as Media Activism” I immediately realized how easily I was sold off on a pair of shoes with a clever name.
Harold writes, “The Gap's infamous appropriation of the likenesses of counter-culture heroes Jack Kerouac and James Dean to sell khaki pants inspired a similar response from the adbusting community. To the Gap's claim that "Kerouac wore khakis," a group of Australian subvertisers responded with the likeness of another 20th century icon who wore khakis as well - Adolf Hitler. As such, Gap khakis were recoded as a means not to rugged individuality but genocidal totalitarianism - the conformist impulse writ large.” (Harold)
Once again as a consumer I have sold myself short just because an admired writer has had a shoe named after him that has absolutely nothing to do with him. I’m not familiar with the ad campaign that Harold writes of, and I’ve always worn khakis, but I would probably be tempted to pick up another pair now knowing film legend James Dean and writer extraordinaire Jack Kerouac wore them. The sad thing about Harold’s article and the Aussie subvertising campaign launched to ridicule khaki wearers everywhere by stating Hitler wore them too is that I just don’t care. I’m sure 95% of consumers don’t care… in fact; when I read that Hitler famously wore khakis I thought to myself, “Hitler was responsible for the deaths of millions of Jews, but at least he looked good doing it.” The same applies for the Kerouac shoe I’m so hard pressed to find. They’re probably manufactured in sweat shops in Thailand for all I know, but the fact remains for me and other consumers that they exist and are there to be bought.
The same applies to ad campaigns to counter smoking. I have smoked off and on since grade 8, and the first time I picked up a cigarette was because I wanted to be the rebel. I’d read a bit of Hemingway, everyone was always smoking, I’d seen a few James Dean movies, and I wanted to be a trailblazer just like them and become the first kid in class to smoke. You will also notice the Jack Kerouac picture at the top of the page depicts him smoking a cigarette as he contemplates something deep. As Harold states, “Smoking is what distinguishes you from the pack. It is what makes you a rebel.” (Harold) The desire to be the individual is what drives everyone in consumerism and that drive will always be there, there is no changing it. I’d seen antismoking ads prior to my first cigarette, I knew the risks, but I also knew while every other kid was eating their dunkaroos and salami sandwiches they’d say, “Guys check it out… Pritchard’s over behind the portables hacking down a dart. Whoa, he’s bad ass. I wanna be bad ass too. Let’s start smoking.”
In conclusion, while some may be swayed by pranking rhetoric and subvertising, the general public and consumer population is not so easily affected. I’ll still be buying my Kerouac’s regardless of how they’re made just because of a clever title. I still smoke from time to time no matter how many times I’ve visited stupid.ca or seen one of their ads. The desire for individuality just won’t be crushed by an ad campaign. Consumers are much more easily won over than anti campaigners may realize. Needless to say, if anti campaigners win over the few then good for them, some is better than none. I just hope I don’t get an anti-campaign launched against me when my Hemingway hiking boots with a lighter and bottle opener and corkscrew in the sole launch next fall.
Works Cited
Harold, Christine. "Pranking Rhetoric: 'Culture Jamming' as Media Activism." http://www.informaworld.com.cerberus.lib.uoguelph.ca/smpp/section?content=a713696057&fulltext=713240928 September 2004
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