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| Rob's Soapbox | ||
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Congratulations!
You have finally landed on the one page on this entire site (and on the entire internet for that matter) that is purely without bullshit... my soapbox page. There are a lot of times during our show that, whether it's because of time constraints and other obligations, I don't always get to address some issues that I feel don't get the attention they deserve. There are even more times when I just don't feel like waiting until the show the next day to get some things off my chest. Thus, I have started the "Rob's Soapbox" page. If you have clicked on this page looking for someone to coddle your fragile sense of self-esteem, or tell you what you want to hear or to reinforce your outdated world view, then exit this page right now and go somewhere else. If you are in search of the last forum for reason and common sense left in the world, then sit back, relax, and enjoy. I make only one promise with this soapbox page... if you read long enough and often enough, you will eventually be offended. So here's my latest soapbox. Listen up, 'cause you just might learn something... |
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ONE MAN'S FAILED ATTEMPT TO CHANGE SOCIETY WITH SNEAKERS Allow me to briefly set the table for those of you who haven't previously, or aren't now raising teenage boys. One of the ways the majority of athletic boys achieve social status is through their sneakers. In particular, most of the time, the sneakers are tied to one of the major manufacturers (Nike, Adidas, Reebok, etc) and to a major athlete, former or current, like Michael Jordan or Lebron James. In most cases the sneakers range in price from $130 - $250. As a man who wore sneakers most every day until I turned 25 I will tell you that worn everyday, if you're a typical male doing typical male things, these sneakers last 3-6 months if you're lucky. That means either you have to own more than one pair or you have to buy new ones with every climatic change. Either way, the money spent on shoes alone adds up quickly. As you can imagine, this is an issue in the less fortunate areas of America where many kids worship NBA players but can't afford shoes endorsed by them. For some, playing sports is the only way these kids will live a life that doesn't involve drugs and crime, yet those same kids are incapable of buying the very products emblazoned with the name of the athlete they're hoping to emulate. In some extreme cases, kids have been killed for their shoes because in a neighborhood where kids have so little, they want so much to be, look and dress like the one thing in life they believe in (their athletic hero) that it's worth it to them to kill another person just to have those shoes. It is an equally big, yet less dramatic, issue in suburbia where parents living paycheck to paycheck are forced to justify either spending $1000 annually on sneakers or having their sons be mocked and taunted and disappointed for wearing $40 shoes from Payless Shoe Source. In steps a man named Stephon Marbury, an NBA star playing for the New York Knicks, whose new sneaker line costs just $14.98 per pair. The sneakers are the exact same quality as Air Jordan and any other high end shoe, but the retail price tag is 8 times less. Keep in mind, please, that the dirty little "secret" in the shoe world, sneakers or otherwise, is that cheap foreign labor keeps the cost of manufacturing down dramatically and makes the shoe business one of the most profitable in the world. When it comes to shoes, athletic or otherwise, "you get what you pay for," doesn't refer to quality or comfort, it refers to status. Whether the status comes from Jordan, Kobe or Lebron is no different than the status that comes from Steve Madden, Coach or Louis Vuitton. In the end, the shoes cost virtually nothing to make and the mark-up you're paying is exclusively for your own ego… and yes, I am guilty as charged. Marbury's motivations have been questioned publicly. Some claim this is his way of improving his image, others claim he bears the burden of guilt for having grown up poor and now making millions. Marbury himself simply states that he wants to give poor kids the chance to look, feel and act like they belong in a world that is based much on status. Marbury wishes he had such a chance when he was growing up, he says. On one level, this is America at its finest. I have preached time and again that if it is true that a certain product is overpriced, the market will work itself out. This is never more apparent than in the electronics industry. Anytime a new gadget is introduced, it is exorbitantly priced. The first VCR, for example was more than $1000. In the initial 90 days, despite the media hype, very few of these new electronic products are actually sold, ultimately creating a surplus of supply, and forcing the prices down so that the majority of people can buy them. Different but similar examples are exponential, including the most glaring example, Wal-Mart; that chain discovered a way to sell products identical to what other stores were selling, but at a fraction of the cost. America flocked to the stores and Wal-Mart became the biggest retail giant in history. Similar, but different than what Marbury is trying. Were it only that Marbury wanted to offer an inexpensive shoe option I would simply applaud the American way, pat him on the back and be done with it. Sadly, as is so often the case with famous people, Marbury's goals are misplaced and his hopes of the eventual outcome are based in a fairy tale. As stated in an ESPN "Outside The Lines" interview that aired a few weeks ago, Marbury is hoping to accomplish the following with his inexpensive footwear: 1. Become the "monster" of the athletic shoe industry. 2. Force down the prices of other athletic shoes making them more accessible to all people. 3. Boost the status and self esteem of inner city kids by giving them a shoe comparable to what the more fortunate kids have. Marbury will fail at all levels. We'll start at the top, with his desire to become the "monster" of the shoe industry. I am all for lofty goals, but I am much more a believer in attainable goals. If my 5 year old daughter tells me she wants to grow up to break Hank Aaron's home run record I am not going to pat her on the head and throw the "you can do anything you want if you put your mind to it" cliché at her. I'm going to explain to her that she needs to set attainable goals, not absurd ones. Neither Marbury nor his partners have any chance at becoming a blip on the sneaker screen let alone the monster of the industry. In order to keep his shoes at their $14.98 price, there will be no advertising for the footwear, and the shoes will only be available through one retail chain that most people have never heard of because they don't even have stores in 16 of the 50 United States! It's pretty hard to dominate a retail sect in which you are unknown to 70% of your market. The fact that he has no shot at becoming a monster obviously plays a major role into why he also won't force down the prices of other shoes, however there's more to it than that. Marbury believes that the very presence of his $15 shoes will force other companies to make cheaper sneakers as well. For decades, naive people have thought that they could change society's behavior by simply showing America that there are other options. What these nimkumpoops don't understand is that America isn't interested in the other options, they want the best option… and "best" is defined by what it is that's being embraced by the overwhelming majority of Americans' peers. For example, in the early 1990s every fast food restaurant in America launched an expansive healthy menu under the guise of showing America that you could get good food fast that wasn't as fattening. The campaign failed miserably and most healthy food was removed from such menus. America likes its fast food just the way it is, thank you. This century, the hybrid car has been forced on us with even worse results. Despite what the media would like you to believe, these cars are not selling at all. America is not interested in cars that save the environment they are interested in status and convenience, thank you. The list of examples goes on and on but you get the idea. Most galling is Marbury's ignorant belief, like so many in society today, that he can boost a kid's self-esteem, when the truth of course is only the kid can boost his own self esteem by accomplishing tasks and achieving goals on his own. Wearing a pair of Marbury shoes will not only not make the kid feel better, it will make him feel worse when his peers make fun of him for wearing "cheap ass shoes because his momma's so poor." When I was young, Mongoose bikes were all the rage and were expensive for the time. I never got a Mongoose, I got a knock off from Toys R US that my dad put together in our garage and I got made fun of by all of my friends all of the time. It was a fantastic life lesson that taught me that other people are always going to have nicer things no matter how much I did or didn't have. Most importantly, it taught me that I had a choice in life. I could choose to ride my crappy bike home crying, or I could choose to proudly ride right next to my friends with Mongoose bikes and find ways to overcome the fact that my bike didn't fit in. I chose the latter and became the smart, funny guy of the group that was pretty damn good at baseball. Trust me, none of my friends cared about my bike when I hit the game winning homerun. (Ok, actually it was a bloop single but it DID win the game).
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