By now, I think it’s safe to say that most Americans are aware of those yellow Lance Armstrong bracelets that help fund cancer research. They’ve grown into something of a trend, and I guess rightly so, because supporting medical science is a good thing. But now the fad has outgrown its original concept, and plenty of imitators have entered the market. Pretty much any bumper sticker sentiment that you can think of has been stamped onto a crappy rubber wristband, from “Tsunami Relief” to “Support Our Troops.” There’s “Hope Faith Love,” “God Bless America,” and the ever-so-trite “United We Stand.”
I guess those are worthy causes, and I can see why people would want to advertise them on their wrists, but couldn’t we have just let Lance have his own thing? Was it really necessary to cheapen the symbolic impact of the Livestrong band? I’m a little turned off by the fact that so many entrepreneurs have seen it fit to cash in on the success of Armstrong’s wristbands.
I have this image in my mind of the first guy that decided to rip off the wristband idea. He was right in the middle of conning an old lady out of her life savings with a bogus sweepstakes scheme when inspiration suddenly struck him, and he compromised his mark when he jumped up excitedly to exclaim, “Hot damn, I’ve got it. I’LL COMPETE WITH CANCER!” Then he clubbed the old lady unconscious and picked her pockets before racing home to work out the details on his wristband operation. And before you know it, we’ve got red, blue, and pastel wristbands coloring the vast landscape of American forearms.
God bless you, Lance. You tried to do a good thing, and look what they did to it.
No. What pisses me off so badly is we sell those stupid little yellow rubber bracelets at work that say “Livestrong” on them, but I don’t think they’re the official Nike bracelets. And you know what? $1. 99! WTF. I was SO FUCKING pissed. Do you honestly think an 8-year-old kid donated money to some poor cancer victim. I wanna yell at them and say “And how much do you wanna donate to the Cancer Foundation for this bracelet little boy?”. It’s not about being a decent human being and helping each other out. It’s to look cool. It sickens me that companies will exploit something like this and that people are greedy and uncaring enough to actually buy it to look cool and not to help out people in need. Bah, makes me so mad!! >< And now we have bracelets that say "Princess" and "Spoiled Brat". Please, you guys. Don't buy that crap. Don't help endorse this kind of thing.
Oh, it’s get’s worse. According to this article from Slate, only a small portion of the money from the imitators is even going to the causes. Sad.
I don’t like how some people are mass buying the bracelets (thereby creating the current 3-6 week backlog on orders) and then auctioning them off on ebay for a higher price. These bracelets were to raise money and show support, not line other people’s pockets.
I do have both the livestrong and the susan g. komen breast cancer foundation one, directly from their organization’s website. I suggest that others that want to show their support do the same.
And the rainbow, black, and other ones are way out of line.
I support capitalism. What’s wrong with making a buck? No one’s being forced to buy them.
I wonder how much money an attorney will make in a capitalist society….
Oh sure. I’m young and opinionated, therefore, I must be shortsighted and hypocritical. You’re missing the point, Darren.
I’m not opposed to capitalism or commerce. I’m stating an opinion on what I think is a tactless moneymaking scheme. “What’s wrong with making a buck?” you ask. There’s nothing wrong with making money as far as I’m concerned, but that doesn’t mean we’re all entitled to ignore the written and unwritten rules of fair play. For example, slavery was a great thing for capitalism, but it was an abhorrent abuse of human rights. And what about child labor? Kids work cheap, and their hands fit so easily into the crevices of jammed assembly machines. My point is, there are some practices in business that you just shouldn’t do.
Piggybacking on a charitable cause in order to sell your wares for profit is inconsistent with my personal notions of fair play. That’s all I’m saying.