BSS

 

Continued from page 14

regretted drunken words, call an
ex, then wake up in the morning
and pretend it didn’t happen. All
of these words felt familiar. I
ended up in tears. And I never
went back.

In some ways, I’ve never felt
happier in my life. That is the
irony. I’m pursuing the career I’ve
always dreamed of; I’m feeling
good about myself. I have a nice
car. I pay all my bills on my own.
I have a lot of good friends. So
why am I wanting to get drunk? I
never drink alone. And it’s not
like I really plan to drink. It just
sort of happens. I go for a couple
with my friends and it usually
leads to more. And sometimes, I
only have one or two.

I’ve been resisting the whole
idea of admitting to myself that I
have a problem. Probably
because I’m afraid of change. I
don’t want to let any of my
friends go. I mean, don’t get me
wrong, I have friends whom I can
hang out with without ever drink-
ing. But most of the ones I go
out with on the weekends defi-
nitely drink. What about Jenn, my
party friend of over 8 years? All
we do together is party. Then
there’s Mike and Gerad, the die-
hard partiers I so enjoy living it
up with. I don’t want to go out
with them and not drink. Maybe
that is the problem. The only way
I’ve been truly comfortable
around these people is when I’m
drinking. I’m so sensitive that
sometimes I worry how much to
share with people. I worry about
them judging me. Drinking
diminishes this. It takes it away.

So tonight, I will go to my
first official meeting, Yes, I said
meeting. I don’t know for sure if
I have a problem, but what do I
have to lose? If I stop going out
and getting sloshed, what else will
I do with my time? I might end
up more productive. I might be
healthier. And I might even end
up dealing with some of the
issues ve been putting off for so
long. Pll let you know how it
goes.

I considered putting my name
on this article. But I didn’t know
what the response would be. So I
will remain anonymous. Please
note: names and identities have
been changed to protect their pri-

vacy.

 

 

Sr

This Shoe s on the Other Foot:

Adbusters Puts Their Best Foot Forward With New Sneaker

Ryan Muscat, The Silhouette (McMaster University)

HAMILTON (CUP)—After making its
name promoting events like Buy Nothing
Day, the Vancouver-based Adbusters
Media Foundation is now shilling its own
product.

Adbusters is marketing and selling a
shoe called the Blackspot, which, accord-
ing to the organization’s website, is
intended to “kick (Nike founder) Phil
Knight’s ass.”

The shoe looks remarkably like

attempt to make a statement in a differ-
ent way. In the past, all the traditional
methods have expressed their resistance
and their discontent purely by writing,
and by whinging and biting, ‘This is
wrong with the world, and that is wrong
with the world, and for the most part it’s
been preaching to the converted,” said
Cohen.

“Adbusters has decided to take a
more active approach, and launch some-

BLACKSPOT SNEAKER

Converse’s ubiquitous Chuck Taylors,
and is meant to send a powerful message
about branding, workers’ rights, and the
environment.

The shoe will be manufactured with
ethically produced materials, labour, and
production techniques. Blackspot will
feature organic hemp and vegetarian rub-
ber, and will be manufactured in a
unionized factory in Portugal.

Sharon Cohen, marketing director for
the Blackspot campaign, suggested that
while old methods of activism were
unsuccessful, the Blackspot represents a
different approach. “It’s basically an

 

Meee Soe eL sal dg

thing that was not just word-based, but
something that was actually action-based.
It’s definitely a departure; it’s a break with
tradition,” continued Cohen. “It’s cer-
tainly a more concrete and tangible form
of protest. We felt that alternative tactics
were necessary. Resistance often is to use
the idiom of the dominant to make your-
self heard.”

However, members of the left-wing
community have criticized Adbusters’
marketing campaign. Activist columnist
Naomi Klein, author of the best-selling
book No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand
Bullies, told Seven Oaks Press that she is

generally skeptical of “anti-marketing”
campaigns that “simply shill for a differ-
ent ‘anti-corporate’ brand.”

For Cohen, the criticism was expect-
ed. “On some levels we welcome it. Part
of the whole process is to get people
thinking and discussing and negotiating
and challenging,” said Cohen. “If people
can be thinking about different
approaches, that’s half the battle.”

Adbusters has also faced problems
from their main target, Nike. “The only
kind of complication we have encoun-
tered is with the billboard that we tried to
put up near Nike headquarters in
Beaverton, said Cohen.
“Viacom, the billboard company, actually
refused to put it up at the very last
minute, saying that they felt that our bill-
board was an infringement of Nike’s
copyright.”

The design for the billboard featured
the distinctive Nike Swoosh logo crossed
out, with the caption “Rethink the Cool”
featured prominently.

“They (Viacom) had seen the design,
they knew about it, they had produced it
already. It was literally the day it was
meant to be posted that they pulled the
plug, citing infringement of Nike’s copy-
right,’ said Cohen.

“That would be misstating a little bit,”
said Caitlin Morris, Nike’s senior manag-
ert of global-issues management, from
headquarters in

»>
Oregon,

the company’s
Beaverton, Oregon.

According to Morris, removing the
billboard was not motivated politically,
nor did they “pull strings”—as it is stat-
ed on the Adbusters’ website—to have
the sign removed. “It (the billboard)
showed a Nike Swoosh that looked as if
it had been tagged out with spray paint.”

The billboard concerned Nike “in
terms of its ability to confuse con-
sumers,” explained Morris. “We (Nike)
are strong proponents of free speech,
including that of our critics. What we are
not proponents of, and are concerned
about, are the uses of our trade work.”

“Anyone whizzing by at 35 to 40
miles per hour might have thought that
was one of our edgier ad campaigns. We
considered it an abuse of the trademark
however, we didn’t turn them down.
Viacom did,” said Morris.

For Adbusters, one of the intentions
of the Blackspot campaign is to give sov-
ereignty back to the consumer. “Instead
of large corporations dictating to the
consumer, “This is what you'll buy, this is
what you'll need, and this is what you'll

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OUHEPPPESS | 18