AT&T Appeals to Sneaker Culture
The latest of the AT&T spots with the revolving backgrounds are a direct appeal to sneaker culture, including recreations of famous sneaker stores across the globe, from Alife NYC, Undefeated in LA, Motive807 in Austin, and Solebox in Berlin. I'm only a dabbler in sneaker culture—I buy most of my shoes online and won't pay over $100, but I must cop to owning several pair—but I dig the commercial. AT&T is acknowledging part of their audience without trying to act like they're part of it.
AT&T understands Kicks [FreshnessMag.com via NiceKicks.com]
Previously: Wes Anderson's AT&T Commercials [BBG]
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why are you posting anything about THESE ABSOLUTE FUCKING DIRTBAGS???!!! seriously?! THEY ARE SPYING ON YOU!!!! THIS IS ILLEGAL!!!! BIG BROTHER IS FUCKING HERE!!!! WAKE THE FUCKK UPP!!!! sure their ads are great, they've got more money than god, and nobody in this country has a shred of ethics anymore. they don't need YOUR help. Please...PLEASE pull this post. Please stop helping AT&T in any way.
Well I was on the fence, but your angry caps and cursing really convinced me. You're absolutely right.
Seriously, if it pisses you off that much, don't click the link. I also hope you go out of your way to avoid using services or patronizing businesses that use AT&T, otherwise you're pretty much a hypocrite, or at the very least an intolerant idealist.
It also annoys me to see boingboing possibly sucking corporate c*ck, (Nike, HP , etc) , but since i installed Adblock it's become an even better site.
:)
@#2...sorry fror the flaming...but i'm fucking furious. the more people accept the inevitabilty of their rights being stripped from them...the more inevitable it becomes. and guess what, i'm unwilling to let your (or anyone else's) complacency affect MY rights. as soon as i found out i cancelled my service. as soon as anyone smugly whips out an iphone in my presence i tell 'em the whole deal, and clue them in about unlocking options...and guess what...six of my friends have done it already...and are telling more.
it just takes one person to change the world for the better, right? you.
as far as not patronizing businesses that use at&t...hmm good question...most stores dont advertise who provides their phone service. the only place i shop is the grocery store, anyway...i don't really NEED much else...(i'm pretty anti-consumerist and working on getting my carbon footprint as close to zero as possible...it's fun once you get into it!)
and i don't appreciate being called a hypocrite, thanks, but when it comes to having my privacy sold to the highest bidder...damn right i'm an intolerant idealist, and proud of it. it's the ideals that really need our help nowadays.
We get your point, Sexy Robot, but your delivery stinks.
Also, people who post comments about using Adblock on a free site are the height of class.
Sorry again for the flameout, it's just really hard to keep my voice down anymore. In this case, because it's HERE, on BB, where i found out about all the illegal spying this company is doing...and all the things that can be done about it. Cory was Director of European Affairs for the EFF, fergadsakes. To see this ad for them lauded as some clever piece of work here (which it ain't) just makes me sick. Does no one in this world stick to their guns anymore? Is everyones ethics for sale to the highest bidder? I know it's been awhile since the American Revolution, but still, every dollar you guys accept from AT&T is covered in blood. I realize that most likely your ads come from some ad-feed, but if you can't edit them in any way, you need to find another service.
I realize that I'm flogging a dead horse here, but I honestly think you guys are underestimating the power you hold. Boing Boing (while still mostly 'for fun') is a legitimate news outlet for what, like 2 million people a day now? To give even the slightest glimmer of a notion that anything about a company that is so blatently fucking the constitution up the ass is A-OK is a dangerous, dangerous thing.
(though to be honest, i haven't seen an AT&T banner in over a week now...i certainly hope you guys pulled the plug on them. if you did, then thanks. honestly.)
Okay, I appreciate you coming back and calmly explaining your position.
Let's clear up a couple of things, first of all. This was a post about an ad from AT&T, but it wasn't an ad for which we made any money. (Those go in the sidebar, not in a hand-made post.) I thought it was legitimately interesting that a mega-corp like AT&T made an appeal to sneaker culture; more interesting that they did so successfully, at least to my estimation. The commercial or context may not have held any interest for you, which is fair.
What isn't fair is presuming that talking about a company at all is somehow tacit approval of all the acts they've done. I agree that AT&T has done some wretched, criminal things, and I hope they reap everything they've sown. But it's also a giant company with many different parts, many of which it is my job to write about or comment on, and while some people feel the need to punctuate every mention of their brand with a qualification ("Here's a neat ad from AT&T. P.S. They are Satan's scrotum.") I do not. And being called out as some sort of hypocrite doesn't make me want to do it more than I already do. Just the nature of being attacked—you make the defense seem like rational choice.
Anyway, I think we agree that AT&T has and is fucking up in disparate and profound ways. If your goal was to remind others of that point, then job's done!