Tagged!

It is so on. It is on like Michelle Kwan. It is on like a giant prawn ($13.99/lb yesterday at the grocery store). It is on like soup that is won-ton. Only thing is, I don't know who it's on with.

Scenario: Innocently went to a meeting this morning. Came back to the desk to find that my standard-Trek-issued steel cabinet had been tagged with a Pearl Izumi sticker. I figured that some yay-hoo is running around tagging people's spaces with Pearl stickers but after getting my Sherlock on I found that this was a completely isolated incident. This was a set up job, a pre-meditated sticker tagging at its worst. I was a target. Everyone's a suspect.

"Tagging", for all of those not in the knowledge, is the art of identifying one's presence in a specific geographical region through a lasting visual artistic expression. Often misunderstood as vandalism, tagging has been used since the first people grafittied the walls of caves with depictions of people and animals. While man has evolved from a stick and rock to a Sharpie, the basic princible still applies. While scrawling one's name on the side of a bathroom stall, the space-age equivalent to the cave, is completely pedestrian there are those who use the technique for the greater good.

Case in Point: Burton snowboard's "Poach for Freedom" campaign. There are four resorts throughout the states that do not allow snowboarding which is a complete disregard for the constitution of the United States. Burton is throwing serious quan at the rider or crew that can get a video of riding the resorts by board. I gotta send huge props to Burton on this one. Not only does this kind of campaign take serious corporate grapes but it also fosters the conversation for how ridiculous it is that there are still places in this country that refuse to recognize snowboarding as the phenomenon it is. It's an Olympic sport for crying out loud.

Back to life, back to reality. Here's my solution to avenge my shamefully tagged cabinet: I'm going to tag every single Trek employee's cabinet with my own sticker. That's right, I'm hedging my bets and dropping mad grafitti on the populace. I realize that I'm cutting a large swath with many innocents potentially affected but it's kind of like fighting with hand grenades. Effective but with some expected collateral damage. Until next time, guard your grill. And your cabinet.

Comments

[FearlessBlend]

I might be a lone voice crying in the desert here, but it seems to me that if a resort doesn’t want the business of the snowboarding demographic [read: sniveling vigilantes with an inflated sense of entitlement], well, that’d be up to them. (Does “Curves For Women” allow men? If not, how has such a “blatant disregard for the Constitution” escaped your watchful eyes?!?) My objection doesn’t of course end there. Perhaps most deplorable is Burton’s sloppy (and irresponsible) use of the word “poach,” which of course evokes all sorts of transgressions against some of the world’s most majestic animals. More than that though, I’m not even sure how they’re using that word, particularly in light of the “Poaching 10 Commandments.” According to my dictionary, poach means to trespass, steal, cheat, or generally take without permission, all of which could be classified as illegal. Of course the “Commandments” urge “poachers” to be “brofessional” as they break the rules. So let me get this straight: please break the rules (and bring the video camera!)…but be cool about it, and do it legally. Ooo. Way to cover your ass Burton. You’re cool, but only to a point. In fact, this whole marketing campaign—can we call it that?—makes the argument for the four hold-out resorts: if this low-brow campaign “speaks” to Burton’s customers (i.e., sells snowboards by creating a culture of “fight the power”), then why in the world would we want to invite these rabble rousers to our beautiful ski resort? Would our loyal skiing customers appreciate sharing the slopes with this ilk?

If you really want to “fight the power,” maybe you should take a closer look at that Pearl Izumi sticker. What’s the message there? A throw-back pin-up girl is selling what now? How does that work? Where’s the marketing genius?

And I hate to break it to you but tagging IS vandalism. I will demonstrate that shortly by tagging your car. I promise to write my initials as artsy as possible. Now where’d I leave my spray paint?

Oh, you don’t say. It’s all a joke? My bad. Very funny. My therapist says I shouldn’t be so serious all the time.

If you keep writing I’ll keep reading, because, well, despite your stumbling here, your flashes of brilliance are enough to keep me coming back.

[Jason]

FearlessBlend - listen to your therapist.

[AccountThis!]

Wow. That guy was intense! Whatever. I think you should go with Barney or Hello Kitty! stickers when you start tagging other peeps. Why? Cuz it's more demoralizing. Zop!

[becx]

It's a nice sticker that needed a home.

[Hootie, The Bike Lane Blogster]

Hey Guys, it's all good. I get where Fearless Blend is coming from. There's gotta be checks and balances lest we fall into fascist state. If there is one thing this blog is against in all shapes and forms it's fascism. And Becx, we're not debating the merit of the sticker here. More the merit (or lack thereof) of the offending vandal. I have a lead and will check back with you all shortly.

[becx]

I confessed to the crime already!! I'm waiting for a webkidz sticker to show up on my cabinet anyday..that would be fair retribution. I can take it.

[Jason]

If your lead pans out, be sure to keep us abreast of your revenge.

[Jason]

So what's the latest on your retaliatory efforts? Inquiring minds want to know! Don't just leave us hanging!

[Greg]

Hey, Where do i get one of those Pearl Izumi Stickers at???