After seeing the title of this article, you probably have the same thought that I’m having right now while writing it. “Oh God, not another article about the Yeezy Boost’s.” I am fully aware that Yeezy SZN is in full effect with the upcoming release of the Yeezy Boost 350 “Pirate Black”, and you’re all probably sick of seeing release info and how to cop articles. (And even articles on what you should buy when you strike out. Thanks, SoleCollector). I know I’m getting sick of them. Please, just bear with me here.
With the new Yeezy’s dropping this Saturday, I’ve seen hundreds, if not thousands of posts and tweets about how and where to cop. After seeing all of this transpire, I’m left with one question. Is this too much for a pair of shoes?
I’m not taking anything away from the shoe itself. I think they’re pretty dope and I’ve heard that they’re super comfy and a great all around shoe. A little pricey, but I can live with it. My gripe comes with the stores that are selling Yeezys.
Now, I don’t even really know if I can have a legitimate problem with how some stores are handling this release, because I know if I was running them, I would be using the same tactics to reel in customers as well as followers and subscribers. That’s just good marketing.
If you’re unaware of what I mean, I’m talking about all of the retailers that are running Instagram or other social media raffles to give consumers a chance to purchase the shoe. These raffles require participants to like the retailer on all social media and then repost their picture to be entered in the contest. This leads to an increase in followers, likes, and subscribers, but also exposes the company to many more people who otherwise would never see a post from them.
Even though I don’t like seeing all of these posts, like I said before, it’s a great free marketing tactic for these retailers.
The other big marketing tactic I’ve seen for this Yeezy drop is Ruvilla doing a scavenger hunt in a few big cities. I wasn’t even aware that they did these scavenger hunts for other Yeezy releases, (I actually just found this video of a Yeezy 2 scavenger hunt in Philadelphia while researching it), but it absolutely blew me away when I saw that they were doing it for this release.
Granted, it is an interesting idea that excites the inner 8-year old in me, but it also brings me back to my initial question. Is this too much for a pair of shoes? There are literally going to be grown men running around various cities and historical places in the city looking for a ticket to buy the shoe. C’mon, man.
In all honesty, I think this crosses the line. I love sneakers, and I’m also a huge fan of Kanye West, there’s no question about that, but just take a step back and look at what’s going on around you. This whole thing is a cluster.
The same could be said for a Jordan 11 release, or any hyped release where people are rioting or fighting or dying of thirst for the shoe. (Most of the time it’s for the money involved with the shoe or the fact that they’re gunna stunt in the shoe, but not because of the shoe itself).
We just need to get back to the basics. All of this hype is eventually going to lead to the downfall of the whole sneaker culture. Maybe that destruction and purge will be a good thing, if it ever happens. Then we’ll be rid of all of the nonsense that is associated with sneakers. I’ve never seen it for myself, but I dream of a day in the future where we return to the old way of doing things. Where everyone likes sneakers because they like sneakers. Not for the money or the hype or anything else.
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