My classmate is writing a thesis about counterfeit luxury goods right now. It is completely fascinating and was definitely on my mind way back in the spring when we made that image. There's a whole different set of ethics, standards, practices, and expectations among consumers of brands like LV, Coach, Chanel, etc.
I can't locate a link right now but there are large communities of people who discuss the best fakes on messageboards and listservs, collaborating on large databases of otherwise disparate information. For example, they can identify which factories in southeast Asia produce the closest approximation of a Kate Spade purse or pair of Gucci shades. I think rocking the fakes purposefully has a curious rupturing effect on brand stability. On one hand, the brand emerges more powerful as it multiplies. But on another, the parent corporation can't simply price undesirable people out of participation so consumers/fans are able to usurp/guide the future of the brand. Definitely a rich topic for any free culture researcher to dig into. The background of this website has proved a surprisingly verdant conversation piece! :) Kevin On Mon, Sep 8, 2008 at 2:16 AM, Dean Jansen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I'm sure this doesn't make it any better (or maybe it does?!), but > it's a parody of the Luis Vuitton handbag print: > http://tinyurl.com/5tcm8l > > Can we just treat it as one deliciously big chunk of irony? We all > know the Apple motto should be "What Copy/Paste?" > http://tinyurl.com/63cr2f > > --Dean > > On Mon, Sep 8, 2008 at 1:40 AM, Kevin Driscoll <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> I'm not willing to change the background myself only because it seems >> really low on my conference-prep priority list. I'm open to changing >> it if someone else does the lion's share of the work and it works with >> the design we have going. Sorry to be inflexible, there's just a ton >> to do. >> >> Starting another thread re: #2. Another pet peeve of mine. >> >> Kevin >> >> >> On Sun, Sep 7, 2008 at 4:40 PM, Christina Xu <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>> 1) Fred: Thanks for pulling up that Wikipedia article! Yeah, it would be >>> cool to reappropriate the St. John's Cross for our purposes, but I'm kind of >>> questioning if this is going to do it. In this context, it is definitely >>> going to be read as the Apple command icon, not anything else. >>> >>> 2) Kevin: I feel you on where you're coming from with this. As a no-time Mac >>> user and full-time Ubuntu-on-a-PC user, I guess it threw me off because I'm >>> so used to my ctrl key. If you had used "ctrl", it probably 1) wouldn't have >>> looked as cool and 2) would have been similarly alarming to Mac users. BUT, >>> that said...I'm pretty concerned with how successful at "freewashing" Apple >>> is as a corporation. Maybe I'm totally off the mark, but my sense is that >>> Mac has been promoting its products as hip & cool and, somehow, ethically >>> better than Windows. A lot of free software supporters scoff at using >>> Windows but are totally comfortable running OS X, and that worries me >>> (because clearly Ubuntu ftw). >>> >>> SO: my proposed alternatives: >>> * Getting rid of the Squiggle and just having C X V tiled? It might take >>> people a while to 'get it', but the design might look more coherent anyway. >>> * Using the cut/copy/paste icons that I love oh so much at the bottom of the >>> page? (Con: Are those too associated with Office or some such thing? In that >>> case, I'm more up for liberating those than the St. John's Cross thing...) >>> >>> 3) Kevin again: It's true, we're way too uncontrollably hip for our own >>> good. >>> >>> <3 >>> Christina >>> (Sorry if this email made no sense, I blame it on altitude & natural gas >>> production-related fumes) >>> >>> On Sun, Sep 7, 2008 at 1:45 PM, Kevin Driscoll <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >>> wrote: >>>> >>>> As a part-time Mac user and full-time free software supporter, I made >>>> that graphic to mean "cut-copy-paste". I thought of the implications >>>> on using an icon closely associated with Apple but couldn't think of a >>>> similar generic one. >>>> >>>> While we can always better promote freedom, I am afraid we're going to >>>> have trouble being less hip. >>>> >>>> Kevin >>>> >>>> >>>> On Sun, Sep 7, 2008 at 3:39 PM, Asheesh Laroia <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >>>> wrote: >>>> > On Sun, 7 Sep 2008, Matt Lee wrote: >>>> > >>>> >> On Sun, Sep 7, 2008 at 12:58 PM, Christina Xu <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >>>> >> wrote: >>>> >>> Question: Why is the Mac command button thing being used as an icon? >>>> >>> Was it purely an aesthetic choice? 'Cause, in case you forget, Macs >>>> >>> are >>>> >>> kiiind of proprietary all over the place. >>>> >> >>>> >> What she said. >>>> > >>>> > It's a bit late, since I'm on the conf08 list too and could have spoken >>>> > up >>>> > there too (mea culpa), but I agree with Matt's and Christina's feelings >>>> > here. >>>> > >>>> > If there's any hope of making the conference less "hip" and >>>> > Mac-promoting, >>>> > and instead more clear that it promotes freedom, I'd appreciate that! >>>> > >>>> > -- Asheesh. >>>> > >>>> > -- >>>> > Conversation enriches the understanding, but solitude is the school of >>>> > genius. >>>> > _______________________________________________ >>>> > Discuss mailing list >>>> > [email protected] >>>> > http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss >>>> > >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>>> )_)_)_)_)_)_ >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> Discuss mailing list >>>> [email protected] >>>> http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss >>>> >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Discuss mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss >>> >>> >> >> >> >> -- >> )_)_)_)_)_)_ >> _______________________________________________ >> Discuss mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss >> > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss > -- )_)_)_)_)_)_ _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss
