The world lashed out at Kenneth Cole. How dare a company use marketing ploys to promote its new Spring collection?! The tackiness! Let’s boycott. (If you just google “kenneth cole offends” you’ll get a full rundown and timeline of the back and forth tweets and analysis).
But is it really? Is it tacky or is it smart? Or perhaps the question should be, is it responsible? I am no fashion history buff, just a sporadic shopper (great shoes!), but KC is actually one of those companies that put their famous name along the lines of do-good messages hidden behind edgy ad campaigns. (I saw an interview of Kenneth Cole, the individual, once.) I would call these messages the silent advocates, but advocates nonetheless. So what if they sell a watch or a bag while they are at it? They wouldn’t be able to communicate to the masses that otherwise would keep to their oblivion, without those sales.
I very strongly disagree that being socially and humanly responsible while being famous (for something else), is an oxymoron. Would you know of the existence of P.E.T.A. if it wasn’t for Pamela? Sadly, I’m afraid that many in the US may not have paid too much attention to what was going on in Cairo, until they heard about the daring tweet. Was it tasteless? Was it bad PR? Well, someone like me, a nobody really, is talking about it, and so do/will the other masses. Go Egypt!
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