The Great Depression: A New Fad for Marketers

[Diamondback]

...I find it to be relatively offensive when someone tries to market tragedy for profit.

Take this for example: Say there were another terrorist attack in America. And say some clever welp decided to start marketing "9/11 themed wallets" or anything to that effect. Would we nod our heads and say, "Great idea! People were strong during 9/11, thus we can now buy up 9/11 themed merchandise," or would we just shake our heads in disgst? [huh]

Well said, sir--as an ex-journalist, I can tell you that one of the first things taught is how much more the product sells when you mix blood, sweat and tears--specifically, someone else's--in with the ink. This is half of why I left the game... offtopic:the other half being someone I once loved but now would rather forget if I could, for the curious.)

edit: BRS, I know not all of our mutual gig (well, your current/my former) are like that, but it's still way too many. Not trying to pick a fight.

 

[warbird]

Reminds me of the early '70s, when stagflation helped to spark a polyesterized revival of 1930s fashions.

.

Egads, We don't need that again. I remember all those awful clothes. Polyester, so uncomfortable. And it didn't breathe.

 

[Diamondback]

Polyester, so uncomfortable. And it didn't breathe.

Worse yet, so flammable... lol

 

[warbird]

Worse yet, so flammable... lol

Yes very true. lol

 

[Foofoogal]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/fashion_week_day5;_ylt=Ary7sP2TNJIsKpX5iKvaVenBaMYA

A new twist on things. :eusa_doh: What to wear to the new depression.

 

[Burnsie]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/fashion_week_day5;_ylt=Ary7sP2TNJIsKpX5iKvaVenBaMYA

A new twist on things. :eusa_doh: What to wear to the new depression.

Huh. I think I'll stick to the fashions of the old depression!

 

[ET]

That dress was just homely.

 

[kiltie]

...I find it to be relatively offensive when someone tries to market tragedy for profit.

Take this for example: Say there were another terrorist attack in America. And say some clever welp decided to start marketing "9/11 themed wallets" or anything to that effect. Would we nod our heads and say, "Great idea! People were strong during 9/11, thus we can now buy up 9/11 themed merchandise," or would we just shake our heads in disgst? [huh]

This already happened during the time following the 9/11 attacks, but mining everyones' newfound patriotism .

It does bring to mind a story and a way to offer another perspective. I work at a firehouse downtown right behind the Alamo. Every day eleventy-billion people stop in for directions and kids come walking by in their coonskin caps, etc... and the sight of the Alamo becomes less than interesting even to a hearty, flag-waving Texan.
We also get other firemen from around the country and the world that want to see the station ( a WPA project, itself...). One day, this fireman retired from New York City comes up to the house. He introduces himself and jerks a thumb over his shoulder: " I just had to get away from that place," indicating the Alamo. We chuckle, thinking it's Saturday and there's a bumload of tourists over there and make a remark to that effect. He tells me and the other guys it's not that, it's something else. He actually starts to well up as he describes the impression he's taking home from the Cradle of Texas Liberty, and I hope I never forget what he said.
He said he was in the Shrine, looking at the names of the heroic and honored dead, reading the various descriptions of acts of valor or gruesome death and it struck him like lightening. Just outside, there's a souvineer shop making money offa these guys. There's a whole industry based around these guys; the heroes of the Alamo. Men who died in a war. And the retired fireman thought, "How long will it be before this is happening in New York?" That some day he'll go into a store on the old WTC site and see "Ray Downey action figure" or some other face he knew, killed in the attack.
We all have a place in our hearts for the Alamo, but we're removed from the immediacy by history. Somehow, this guy made a connection with the men who died there.

The point is, it's just a matter of how close to a thing you are. If you're a million miles seperated; by history, distance, culture, economic comfort, etc... you can't intentionally be offensive if you're entirely ignorant. I think most people simply have NO concept of a great depression. Like inner city people calling their neighborhood "the ghetto". You mean like the Ghetto where someone can come into your home and summarily execute you, or put you on a train to a gas chamber or labor camp? That kind of Ghetto? You don't have any clue what "the Ghetto" is.
People haven't a clue about how to get a clue anymore. this article is a very small symptom. I don't think it's callousness. I think it's NOT thinking at all in the first place.

 

[Diamondback]

Bravo, Kiltie. Well said, from both you and your retired colleague from NY!

I'm descended from one of those names on that wall, and the total lack of respect from the tourists for the fallen paired with the blatant commercialism struck a nerve when I visited.

 

[AmateisGal]

This already happened during the time following the 9/11 attacks, but mining everyones' newfound patriotism .

It does bring to mind a story and a way to offer another perspective. I work at a firehouse downtown right behind the Alamo. Every day eleventy-billion people stop in for directions and kids come walking by in their coonskin caps, etc... and the sight of the Alamo becomes less than interesting even to a hearty, flag-waving Texan.
We also get other firemen from around the country and the world that want to see the station ( a WPA project, itself...). One day, this fireman retired from New York City comes up to the house. He introduces himself and jerks a thumb over his shoulder: " I just had to get away from that place," indicating the Alamo. We chuckle, thinking it's Saturday and there's a bumload of tourists over there and make a remark to that effect. He tells me and the other guys it's not that, it's something else. He actually starts to well up as he describes the impression he's taking home from the Cradle of Texas Liberty, and I hope I never forget what he said.
He said he was in the Shrine, looking at the names of the heroic and honored dead, reading the various descriptions of acts of valor or gruesome death and it struck him like lightening. Just outside, there's a souvineer shop making money offa these guys. There's a whole industry based around these guys; the heroes of the Alamo. Men who died in a war. And the retired fireman thought, "How long will it be before this is happening in New York?" That some day he'll go into a store on the old WTC site and see "Ray Downey action figure" or some other face he knew, killed in the attack.
We all have a place in our hearts for the Alamo, but we're removed from the immediacy by history. Somehow, this guy made a connection with the men who died there.

The point is, it's just a matter of how close to a thing you are. If you're a million miles seperated; by history, distance, culture, economic comfort, etc... you can't intentionally be offensive if you're entirely ignorant. I think most people simply have NO concept of a great depression. Like inner city people calling their neighborhood "the ghetto". You mean like the Ghetto where someone can come into your home and summarily execute you, or put you on a train to a gas chamber or labor camp? That kind of Ghetto? You don't have any clue what "the Ghetto" is.
People haven't a clue about how to get a clue anymore. this article is a very small symptom. I don't think it's callousness. I think it's NOT thinking at all in the first place.

Well said.