With all the clout they carry, it seems surprising at first that more commercial entities (stores, corporations) don’t overtly display their political beliefs. I mean, if you had a lot of money and were buying billboards and magazine ad space, wouldn’t you use the opportunity with the audience to try and make a point?
It means more to most corporations to get hands on max money than to make a point, and that means being politically neutral. “Sure, I hate your politics. I’ll take your money anyway.” That’s why Howie’s clothing is so refreshing – nicely designed*, happily political, and not afraid to sell you something in the middle of the message.
*If you’re not Flash-averse, but that’s a topic for another day.
Music: Orchestra Baobab :: Doomou Baaye
I think it’s rather funny that they’re (1) selling a T-shirt that says “corporate bashing / hippy loving / cause fighting / organic eating / birkenstock wearing / campervan touring / life affirming / do fucking gooder / :)” in (2) Flash.
Nathan, I think I know where you’re going with this, but would be interested in hearing you say more. Please draw out the connection for us (I don’t want to put words in your mouth).
Hi Scot,
I think Nathan would prefer that Howie’s used an open, non-proprietary vector graphics format, like…ooh…SVG? ;)
I’ve trodden the path of principles vs what works, and you have to be a bit pragmatic on the web.
Suppose Howie’s *did* use SVG. They’d be saying great stuff, but no-one would be able to see/read it. Ergo, as a marketing message, it would fail miserably!
Yes, Macromedia are a large corp. Yes, Flash is a proprietary format, but the closest thing we have to a standard format for vector graphics.
Do you reckon Howie’s use Linux for their point-of-sale machines? Or something else *cough* Windows *cough*? Or even Macs, another proprietary, closed platform (devil’s advocate – I have a Mac).
Cheers,
Tim
Or perhaps political agendas can be found in what they do not do. Disney decides not to distribute Fahrenheit 9/11.
Or maybe a case where the desire to be neutral becomes political.