Hopping on the bandwagon
I really am not a fan of fads. If someting is popular, I am likely to stay away from it, out of a kind of principle. I think some people would call this being curmudgeonly, but I call it "thinking for myself."
Consequently, I grew rather annoyed with the rise of the rubber "cause" wristbands, that arose out of the Lance Armstrong "LiveStrong" campaign. Now I actually liked the original campaign. In typical Nike style, it was a brilliant piece of marketing. Lance Armstrong is a compelling and inspiring story, the yellow (in addition to being the leader's color at the Tour) is a eye-catching color, and the LiveStrong motto had so many nice meanings.
Add to this the fact that the money was going to support cancer research (being opposed to this is about like being opposed to babies and kittens), and it was a campaign that was hard to dislike.
Of course, the yellow wristbands soon became a fashion accessory and lost most (if not all) of their meaning. Everyone else started jumping on the bandwagon, so that there were wristbands in every color of the rainbow -- or more accurately, every color of the Pantone color wheel (since there are only seven colors in the rainbow). Pick your cause, and there was a wristband to match it.
Opposed to genocide in Darfur? Get a green one. Want to promote debt relief for third-world nations? Get a white one. Do you want to raise breast cancer awareness? Wear one in pink. And so on and so forth.
It all reminded me of the W.W.J.D. wrist bracelet fad of the late 90s, or the colored ribbons worn on lapels to support causes from AIDS awareness (red) to bringing the troops home safely (yellow -- not to be confused with Lance Armstrong Yellow).
I remained above the fray. Until last Friday, that is, when I went to the blood drive at Barnard to donate blood. They gave me a reddish "Give Blood" wristband, and to my mixed shame and pleasure, I've been wearing it occasionally.
I am a huge fan of donating blood. I don't do it often enough, but I really think it's something that should be emphasized more. It's easy, relatively quick, and relatively painless. It saves lives. And they give you free snacks afterwards. What more could you ask for?
So now I'm a part of the fad (although I think the fad has mostly played itself out). They always get you in the end, ya know?
donate blood, livestrong, armband
Consequently, I grew rather annoyed with the rise of the rubber "cause" wristbands, that arose out of the Lance Armstrong "LiveStrong" campaign. Now I actually liked the original campaign. In typical Nike style, it was a brilliant piece of marketing. Lance Armstrong is a compelling and inspiring story, the yellow (in addition to being the leader's color at the Tour) is a eye-catching color, and the LiveStrong motto had so many nice meanings.
Add to this the fact that the money was going to support cancer research (being opposed to this is about like being opposed to babies and kittens), and it was a campaign that was hard to dislike.
Of course, the yellow wristbands soon became a fashion accessory and lost most (if not all) of their meaning. Everyone else started jumping on the bandwagon, so that there were wristbands in every color of the rainbow -- or more accurately, every color of the Pantone color wheel (since there are only seven colors in the rainbow). Pick your cause, and there was a wristband to match it.
Opposed to genocide in Darfur? Get a green one. Want to promote debt relief for third-world nations? Get a white one. Do you want to raise breast cancer awareness? Wear one in pink. And so on and so forth.
It all reminded me of the W.W.J.D. wrist bracelet fad of the late 90s, or the colored ribbons worn on lapels to support causes from AIDS awareness (red) to bringing the troops home safely (yellow -- not to be confused with Lance Armstrong Yellow).
I remained above the fray. Until last Friday, that is, when I went to the blood drive at Barnard to donate blood. They gave me a reddish "Give Blood" wristband, and to my mixed shame and pleasure, I've been wearing it occasionally.
I am a huge fan of donating blood. I don't do it often enough, but I really think it's something that should be emphasized more. It's easy, relatively quick, and relatively painless. It saves lives. And they give you free snacks afterwards. What more could you ask for?
So now I'm a part of the fad (although I think the fad has mostly played itself out). They always get you in the end, ya know?
donate blood, livestrong, armband
posted by N at 3:09 PM
1 Comments:
i too have succumbed to the pressures of rubber wrist bands! But at least i can say that my bandwagoning was mandated by work!
;P
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