April 10th, One Day Without Shoes (or Comprehension)

Today is a day in which a company encourages you to go barefoot for a day (the website for this year has been mostly scrubbed of overt branding; criticism and backlash against this cynical corporate venture must be growing)  of in order to ‘raise awareness’ and ‘help children’ the world over.  Oh, and let’s not forget profit from the gullibility and ignorance of people.   I’ve discussed how Tom’s Shoes plays on peoples ignorance in a previous post and thus shall not linger too long on how despicable this ad campaign is.   I will repost a quick summary, just so we’re all aware of the how crappy this one-day nonsense actually is.

“Companies like Tom’s shoes take White Liberal Guilt and build a empire on the fuzzy feel good notion of helping others just by buying their brand of shoes.  Hey, what could be wrong with getting shoes and having another pair donated to a needy person elsewhere on the globe?  The notion of BOGO or “buy one, give one” is a cagey play by Tom’s as it exploits our altruistic instincts; we want to be good generous people, we want to be seen as people that help.  It is a nice feeling, but should nice feelings escape critical examination?  Of course not, especially when the noxious tentacles of greed are wrapped firmly around our feel-good assumptions about a product or service. NEWSFLASH – The poor of the world do not need more shoes!  Sustainable jobs, debt forgiveness, clean water (etc.) – hell yes, but shoes, unless they are edible are far down the frakking list.”

   Yah, you get to raise awareness.  Awareness of a brand of shoes that is playing you for your altruistic notions in order to flog their product.  So when you see the people walking around barefoot today make a note, these are also the same shallow people who do not bother with doing their research and as a result have wholeheartedly bought into the superficial lies of a misanthropic corporate entity.

Celebrate a day without shoes indeed.