The wit and wisdom of Kenneth Cole

For those of us who can't stand Kenneth Cole ads, this isn't too surprising. (Via Copyranter)

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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EH

I love this kind of “outrage one-upmanship.”
- benher
  
  Everybody has to get it out of their system from time to time. ;)
  
  But really, ads like the KC really make my eyes role – mostly because it’s an embarrassingly bad joke… that and people are hurting in Egypt. They’re dying over there in Egypt. Posting shit like that takes a pretty stone cold hearted mothuh.
Mark Frauenfelder

For decades he has been exploiting social causes to sell his shoes. Today he screwed the pooch.
- Zadaz
  
  Had he actually screwed a dog in order to sell shoes it would have been in vastly better taste.
RakelMusicbox

This is completely unacceptable. Someone should start a #BoycottKennethCole tag..
AdrenalineSleep

aaAAAaAAAAnd the apology
Anonymous

shit, both my favorite pairs of shoes are KC’s but I guess after this blunder i’ll be going back to cole haan.. in this economy its OK to have shoes that hold up for 4-5 years’ worth of daily wear anyway
Anonymous

When there is no love and respect for God, then there is no human dignity, then everything is material for a joke.
- EH
  
  Works for me.
Anonymous

The comment shows that keneth cole is interested in selling shoes- not human interests- that’s fine, but keep it in mind next time you are shoe shopping- maybe buy a pair of Tom’s shoes instead.
I would be sorry to if my comment had negative financial consequences to me.
saurabh

Wut? Seriously, what is the big fucking deal? People make jokes about all kinds of things – often serious things. Why is this “inappropriate”? Are we all just supposed to jump on the viral outrage wagon every time it clatters by?

It seems to me like, what Kenneth Cole says isn’t actually that important, and people on Twitter just like getting sanctimonious so they can feel like they are somehow helping the Egyptians out by lambasting him. But they’re not. Because he fucking sells shoes.
- Jack
  
  Wut? Seriously, what is the big fucking deal?
  
  Because he fucking sells shoes.
  
  Exactly. Who sells shoes and links their products to a social upheaval that is ripping a country apart? An asshole.
  
  If you still donâ€™t get it, how about someone in 1940 publishing a picture of emaciated concentration camp survivors and writing â€œStarving? Have we got just the meal for you ;)â€
  - Gloster
    
    That is:
    a) Really funny
    
    and at the same time
    
    b) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDW_Hj2K0wo
- takeshi
  
  I dunno. What are you accomplishing by being sanctimonious? Personally, I think some of the KennethColePR tweets are in even worse taste, but they’re NOT selling shoes.
  
  Frankly, I don’t think it’s a matter of people thinking they’re “helping out the Egyptians.” You denigrate every person who takes offense by saying this. Maybe you think you’re “helping out” Kenneth Cole? And who knows? Maybe that’s exactly what you’re trying to do. Sockpuppet.
  - saurabh
    
    Uh, no, I’m not a sockpuppet. You can click my link and read my blog, which has plenty of history documenting the fact that I care deeply about the kind of events happening in Egypt.
    
    If you still donâ€™t get it, how about someone in 1940 publishing a picture of emaciated concentration camp survivors and writing â€œStarving? Have we got just the meal for you ;)â€
    
    Except that’s not what he did – he made a joke about it, yes, but not at their expense, and not even really directed at them. And, yes, he did it to sell shoes, but so what? All he does is sell shoes. His life is about selling shoes. I’m not sure I see the equivalence, anyway. The Berlin Wall falling would be a better comparison, and I don’t see much problem with making a joke about that.
    - Jack
      
      Except that’s not what he did – he made a joke about it, yes, but not at their expense, and not even really directed at them. And, yes, he did it to sell shoes, but so what? All he does is sell shoes. His life is about selling shoes. I’m not sure I see the equivalence, anyway. The Berlin Wall falling would be a better comparison, and I don’t see much problem with making a joke about that.
      
      The issue is that is is indeed making a joke completely at the expense of the Egyptian people who are putting their lives on the line just so he can sell and market shoes.
      
      And this is not an issue of it being â€œtoo soonâ€ to joke about what is happening in Egypt. Heck people already have in the case of Anderson Cooper being attacked; donâ€™t touch his precious face! If it were 10+ years on, the â€œjokeâ€ would simply be hacky and racist. Simple as that.
    - Pantograph
      
      I don’t recall citizens and journalists being murdered during the fall of the Berlin wall.
    - takeshi
      
      You caught me. I really believed you were a sockpuppet. You miss the point entirely, genius. Does your blogging “[help] out the Egyptians”? Because if not, I have no interest in reading what you have to say.
      
      You were being sanctimonious in your quest to get others to be less sanctimonious. Unintentional irony, ur doing it rite.
  - saurabh
    
    You were being sanctimonious in your quest to get others to be less sanctimonious. Unintentional irony, ur doing it rite.
    
    Um, this seems to be some sort of double-bind, where I cannot criticize people for being sanctimonious without being labeled sanctimonious. Also, I’m not sure what exactly you intended by your ‘sockpuppet’ comment, if not to imply that I was a sockpuppet. Anyway, on to the meat:
    
    I don’t recall citizens and journalists being murdered during the fall of the Berlin wall.
    
    Maybe not, but this suggests that traumatic events are entirely above making light of – which I don’t think anyone would imply. And, plus, he didn’t say “People are dying in Cairo – dying to buy our shoes!”
Anonymous

Someday, my company will fuck up in public. When people start complaining, I will say “We’ve very sorry. You’re right, that was a stupid thing to say. The person responsible will be fired. The boss of that person too. Please accept our apologies. We vow to learn this lesson and do better in the future.”

THAT IS AN APOLOGY
Anonymous

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikest/5415067987/

This tweet found decal-ed onto their windows on one of their stores!
Antinous / Moderator

You’ll still have to pry my double-strap monks from my cold dead feet.
Mister44

Surprised we didn’t see a, “What? Too soon?” tweet from them.
mick travis

You have to admit the new collection is rather fetching…
Anonymous

I’ve called a boycott to ur brand. That was incrediblely bad taste.
jackm

I’m sorry folks. Bad taste perhaps, but lighten up. The man is simply attempting to prove he is the campest gay fashionista on the planet! ;-P
Jean-Luc Turbo

Maybe the real issue is that we continuously make jokes about the real struggles of the world due to our inability to emotionally and intellectually grasp these injustices.

Our bubble of safety within this westernized mindset is dumbing down our own humanity.
- Anonymous
  
  Of course, jokes about Hitler and the Spanish inquisition are widely considered funny. So the problem isn’t making light of the real struggles of the world, but failing to wait the requisite time period.
Grahamers2002

Second tweet “We didn’t mean to make light of the Egypt situation.”

No, that’s EXACTLY what you meant to do. What you should have said is:

“We didn’t realize that using the Egypt situation (one in which dozens, if not hundreds have been killed) as a means to market a luxury item like our clothing would be seen as horrible because we are all idiotic morons who have our heads so far up our marketing asses that we have lost touch with our souls.”
saurabh

Our bubble of safety within this westernized mindset is dumbing down our own humanity.

Err – making jokes about difficult situations is a hallmark of humanity. People seem to be saying that you can’t make a joke about something without also taking it seriously, considering it important, etc. That’s simply not true; never has been. It’s the same reason we’re able to enjoy people being murdered on the movie screen while being appalled by the same thing on the evening news.
- Jean-Luc Turbo
  
  It’s the same reason we’re able to enjoy people being murdered on the movie screen while being appalled by the same thing on the evening news.
  
  ERR…”being appalled by the same thing on the evening news” is congruent to being appalled by people making light of said on the evening news.
  
  ‘Specially in the case of Egypt where decades of poverty and police brutality have come to a cathartic head, those quick to poo poo it–for financial gain or emotional defensiveness–do so from the cushy and comfy confines of our taken for granted political stability and consistent internet connection.
Anonymous

Whoa, whoa. Egyptians need shoes, too.
penguinchris

I nearly laughed out loud when I saw the twitter screenshot here. It’s in such bad taste, *of course* it came from the social media marketing department of a semi-luxury fashion brand.

If the same joke had been made in a way that didn’t involve marketing luxury fashion items, it would have genuinely been funny (still in bad taste obviously), even though the situation is tragic and only getting worse as we speak.

I think there’s a subtle difference saurabh is missing, and that is that marketing people have no humanity.
Anonymous

This is a good miniature example of what can go wrong when a company employees the wrong kind of PR people who are desperate for exposure. Per #33, exactly, “penguinchris” understands this problem.
TheCrawNotTheCraw

This is funny…you have to really work at it to be this inappropriate, IMHO.
Anonymous

It’s shocking and not that funny. Evidently, people’s cursing is considered to be something desirable..
DeWynken

Who cares what he thinks?

I have a KC rain coat that is still stylin’ 10 years later. Well made and timeless. I care as much about his politics about as much as I care about the new CEO of Apple’s choice of sexual partners.
chrism

This was very quick, sick and funny: http://twitter.com/KennethColePR
- nerd
  
  Also, for a sampling of the ridicule rightfully heaped on Kenneth Cole, check out the hashtag #KennethColeTweets. Tell your mama!
ManOutOfTime

He should capitalize on this moment by marketing Kenneth Cole Douche. If he won’t do it, we should.
urbanhick

Christ, what an asshole.
- Tuff Luke
  
  that response will never get old
imag

FUKC