the rise and fall of yeezy

In a sneaker lifes youtube video he describes the rise and fall of the yeezy. The yeezy is a shoe made by famous rapper kanye west. He originally worked on the shoe with Nike but then transferred to Adidas thus leading to its downfall. When the shoe first came out it was the holy grail of all sneakers, it was impossible to get and extremely expensive but everyone wanted it. Now the shoe is very easy to get and is more affordable than it was before but now nobody wants it. Ever since the shoe was made widely available it has led to a decrease in popularity as well as resale value for example a shoe that used to sell for thousands are now only selling for 200. Everyone used to complain that the shoe should be made widely available to everyone but now people want the shoe to be limited because it's not cool to have something that everybody else has. In conclusion, making the shoe in high quantities destroyed its reputation to the sneaker community.  

It is making a mass-culture theory argument because it directly shows the effect of mass producing items. The yeezy used to be one of the most sought after shoes in the world selling for a retail price of $220 and fetching upwards of $5000 a pair on the resell market. After switching to Adidas the yeezy slowly started to decline as they produced more pairs making the shoe less limited. This led to a decrease in popularity amongst the consumer because they did not want a shoe that everyone could get. People want something that stands out and separates them from the rest. 

Even though the yeezy is not as popular that is used to be among the streetwear and shoe community it has still accomplished many things for the brand as a whole. The yeezy was one of the most sought after shoes and the biggest complaint at first was that it was so hard to get. Kanye realizing this problem he decided to make them in bigger runs going from only 3000 pairs to over 300,000 for each release. This is beneficial to the brand itself in the way that they are making more money but on the other end it has ruined their reputation to the community.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEjwqKcmnj8

Bayonetta Subway Advertisements in Japan

 This video discusses the sexuality involving the popular game Bayonetta in Japan. The entirety of the game is extremely sexual, involving pornographic poses, sexual innuendos, and a highly sexual themed outfit including a skin tight black leatherette with a cutout open back to have some skin showing, and high heels strapped with a gun, but the sexuality of just the game alone is not what this video is centered around. The video actually is more about discussing how this game was marketed. The marketing company presented two six foot banners that included the Bayonetta logo and a rectangular space that had small cards with a lipstick kiss on the front and Bayonetta’s strapped foot on the inside. The point of the cards, were that they were to be removed as people walked by. Each card that was removed revealed the sexual character Bayonetta lying on her stomach naked underneath, covered only by her long hair. This marketing strategy was very controversial because it encouraged passers by to literally “strip” Bayonetta naked in a subway station. 

This was also controversial because people believed it glorified the sexual assault that women faced in Japan in subway stations. The video states in 2008 there were over 2000 groping in subway stations in Japan and that 64% of women reported being groped on subway trains. Japan had to go as far as making women only passenger cars because of the assault and then the Bayonetta marketing team has a banner that is encouraging sexual assault behavior. I really thought this video made a great point how often times popular culture can make a mockery out of women in our society. The underlying reason why this marketing ad for Bayonetta was so concerning was because of the abuse that Japanese women are actually facing in the subway stations and this ad glorified that. I think many times games, movies, and television make a mockery out of real life situations that women face.