Thursday, October 21, 2010

Pardon me whilst I run past you naked...


I really wanted to write a clever title like, "Streakers In Sneakers" for this blog post, but alas, in many cases the folks I saw in the photos I collected (most of which by Getty Images and Associated Press) were not wearing any. But, I'm sure the above title grabbed your attention just the same.

Now, I'm no prude, but I have to say the people above known as, "streakers," are a hard group to peg. Clearly they are trying to draw attention to a movement, idea, company--or maybe just themselves--and nudity always grabs a headline, but what does that say about us? Okay, maybe I am a prude.

This subject came to the forefront of my attention because a man in the U.S. decided to streak a Democratic Party rally where President Barack Obama was speaking. Juan Rodriguez took up a challenge by a web company, BattleCam.com, that offered to pay $1,000,000 to anyone who would streak the U.S. President with its website written across his or her chest. He or she also had to yell out the website's name a half-dozen times.

Truly we are witnessing desperate measures in a depressed American economy.

Now, a person can easily counter with, "People are talking about BattleCam.com now, right? There is truth in this, but I question the level of dialogue that will surround this company in the long run. I liken it to fireworks going off in the middle of the afternoon. A limited number of people will witness it, and the timing will (hopefully) be seen as inappropriate.

There will always be an audience for the goofy and absurd, but I worry that this mindset is entering areas where respect and decorum used to exist.

4 comments:

Tiffany Lachuta said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FEDvAXWvHU

Congrats on writing a post about streaking XD

This is nothing new- casinopalace.com has been doing the same gimmick for years (going as far as to pay for permanent tattoos of their domain name on people). They get/have had regular exposure, but became known for the stunts, but their services. Money is always the driving force in the world of website streaking, so it's unlikely it is more effective/attracting more takers due to the recession.

Desiree said...

People who take such measures are definitely not thinking within the boundaries of logic anymore. They may get some attention for a short while (who wouldn't?) but as soon as anyone's sensibilities kick in, you foregt about it and consider it as one crazy tactic. I agree with Tiffany- money is usually the motivator for streakers. It's such a pitiful sight to disrobe yourself for the sake of money.

Melanie Lee Lockhart, APR said...

I wonder what the want-ad for that gig looked like.

Kenton Larsen said...

Well, this headline certainly got my attention. Ha, ha!