[Photo by Lola Sáenz]
This #rednose installation is now on Astor Place... ahead of Red Nose Day — a mission to end child poverty — on Thursday.
So why here for this? Walgreens is the exclusive retailer of the Red Noses... and there's a Walgreens across from here on Lafayette at Astor Place...
Red Nose Day is a fundraising campaign run by the nonprofit Comic Relief Inc.
This use of public space is brought to you by Walgreens as a promotion to get people to "donate" $ for a crappy red plastic "nose" - an item which will then most likely end up in landfill. (And they'd like you to buy one every.single.year. for the same cause.)
ReplyDeleteIf I thought buying or owning a red plastic clown nose would ACTUALLY impact child poverty, fine - but I don't see any reason for this. (And I've seen what they've turned this "campaign" into in the UK, complete with telethon-length TV specials.)
People who want to support this cause can donate directly to the charity(ies) of their choice.
IMO, there is no need to advertise in this location, and there is no need for any company to create these plastic thingies, nor for anyone concerned about the environment to buy them.
If Walgreens is a sponsor, they can festoon their store windows with banners to their hearts' delight. But I say to Walgreens: keep your advertising out of way when I'm in a (theoretically) public location like Astor Place, please.
I wonder if there are ANY boundaries for this use of public space at all, given recent "events" like this and "hummus day". I suspect it all comes down to the almighty dollar.
I have yet to see one single person sporting one of those stupid made-in-China noses; this has to be one of the stupidest charity pitches, in a world full of 'em, that I've ever heard.
ReplyDeletesomeone needs to destroy and or remove that thing and why not smash the store windows while were at it everything about this is hideous
ReplyDeleteWhen is Red Testicle day?
ReplyDeleteDidn't take long for the NIMPS (Not In My Public Space) Nazis to show up.
ReplyDeleteI agree with 3:26pm. This "red nose" thing smacks of Walgreen's using charity to get free advertising in a public place.
ReplyDeleteJust collect donations.
Oh shut up you Bloomberg suckup (6:18pm.)
ReplyDeleteIf Walgreen's can use a public plaza to advertise so should any taxpaying New Yorker.
Everything else in the East Village gets tagged and stickered, yet this giant red thing is just sitting there in the middle of Astor Place without a mark on it. Unbelievable.
ReplyDeleteWhile we're at it, I wish that yes, Walgreens would keep it's red shit out of our public space because we already give too much of it up for ads, but also stop asking whether or not I want to make my check-out totals even more expensive by front-loading my debit card purchase with a charity request. This is true of many retailer chains. Stop begging for cash and then likely soaking most of it up for "administrative" work within the same companies. We know exactly who these corporations are now and they are typically without ethics or morals but like to pretend they are "giving to charity" meanwhile they are just fleecing their customers. MORE BODEGAS, LESS WALGREENS, CVS, K-MART, WALMART, et al. Just stop shopping.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know how long this piece of crap will sit there? Will child hunger be eradicated on the day this hideous "ad posing as goodwill" is removed.
ReplyDeleteFor those us which can afford to remain in Manhattan while gentrifiers gut our neighborhoods we still must endure the culture shock of corporate middle American invading our storefronts and now our public spaces. The reason nobody has dared to even scuff this bullshit advertorial could be due to the dozens of un-blinking surveliance camera's within the square.
Well, until this post, I (and I suspect most everyone else) had no idea that this was associated with Walgreens at all. So I don't get the idea that most of you think that this is some corporate takeover of a street corner or even amounts to advertising. I get it, you don't like the charity. I concur, and I also don't agree with dozens of other charities and fake charities using public space to raise money. Move on.
ReplyDeleteI live in the neighborhood and agree. Get rid of this stupid thing. Or at least tag it to within an inch of its life. Let's take back our public space, people. They can put their ads up on their storefronts.
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree with 6:18pm. You could almost write the scripts for the comments before reading them ... great lunch time laugh!
ReplyDelete@9:49 AM
ReplyDeleteYou don't own a TV obviously or you only watch Netflix, HBO, etc...... As of late these Walgreen 'red nose" ads are all over prime time TV. I believe it is seasonal, we are in between Hallmark holidays (mothers just happened and father's still week away) so those corporate fucks came up with this gimmick to get people in Walmart stores to keep business going. There are a ton of charities to give to, why would anyone trust a company like this to hand over all the proceeds? We for the most part have been sheltered from corporate stores and chain restaurants until Bloom-turd changed all that. My horror and shock a few years ago when I noticed these places opening around me when I thought they only existed on tv commercials and mostly likely in the rest of the country, not here,
12:41pm is 6:18pm is friend of Kushner, Toledano, or Croman.
ReplyDeleteCan I rent a video from it?
ReplyDelete