Adidas to Release Gay Pride Shoes June 29th. Serious Question:

TheJeff is well known on the boards to be a severely closeted gay man. He had, over the years, started many threads on gay people, laws effecting gay people, and gay characters in the media.

He clearly is obsessed with all things gay. As someone else pointed out I would never had been aware of these shoes had thejeff not started this thread. Yet, somehow thejeff knows all about all gay things in society. Clearly a repressed homosexual—but please have compassion for him. He is clearly struggling with his sexuality.

theJeff wrote:

You are definitely overthinking it. The shoe isn't for you - at least that you'll admit. So why are you wasting time thinking about it? And frankly, if they did release some shoe geared to your particular fairy tale, why would you spend anymore time thinking about it other than, "Yeah, I'll buy them, " or , "No, I won't".

I think you are missing my point. This isn't about whether or not I agree with the view being expressed.

I am asking whether or not this feels like genuine support of those being targeted (poor word choice).

You're asking whether some marketing ploy is "genuine support" ? How dumb can you be? Have you paid ANY attention whatsoever to advertising EVER?

Gravy wrote:

Rick Sanchez wrote:

How are gay shoes any different than straight shoes?

You can squeeze your left foot in the right shoe and vice versa.

This one was good :)

derps wrote:

As someone earlier in the thread mentioned, when someone says something about "virtue signaling," you have a pretty decent sense of their mental capacities.

Do you care to back up that ad hominem attack with any argument? Please explain why using the term "virtue signaling" is a sign of stupidity. Honestly, I'm curious how you come to that conclusion.

By "virtue signaling," I mean communicating in some way that you value something, or hold something to be true. If you fly the US flag you are signaling that you value the country and patriotism. In the case of the rainbow flag, I guess it would be signaling that you think gay people should be treated equally. But since the vast majority of people already agree with this sentiment, what's the point of flying the rainbow flag? Or is flying the rainbow flag meant to communicate something more than general equality?

theJeff wrote:

@thejeff wrote:

"What you call "bait", I call "encouraging discussion". Feel free to disengage if you aren't enjoying participating.

PS- Your grammar makes your lack of respect for teachers very obvious."

"err" autocorrected to "are. But you am sure obssesed with them gays

I have given this some thought. I don’t think I am obsessed with gays. I AM fascinated by our society’s (or maybe it is just the media’s) obsession with “them gays/transgenders/etc”. As Celery pointed out, I do find it odd that one section of society has been glamorized for their sexual preference.

But, we digress. Do you think this will ultimately help or hurt Adidas’s bottom line?

Is there anyone boycotting adidas over this shoe? If adidas made a m a g a shoe, would there be calls for boycott? If the gay shoe does helps their bottom line, does this show that all those gay hating Christian trumpsters are actually the more tolerant ones? Just wondering.

When I tried to post my last message, the board told me I couldn't post. It said something like "please stop posting about M A G A in all your messages, this is not what the boards are for." (of course I had to add the spaces to get around the lame filter)

Hey letsrun, don't tell me what to talk about. If you want to provide an open message board to drive traffic to your website, that is fine. If you want to keep people safe by preventing them from disclosing personal info or posting pornographic content, that's fine. But don't tell us what to talk about. The BroJos once said that the message board is what runners would talk about while they're out on a run. Well guess what, runners talk about gay shoes and politics on runs, just as much as they talk about the HS girls mile record being broken. Stop ruining your website with your nanny state mentality. Grow up whimps. What are you afraid of? That people will talk about Trump? Just delete this whole thread if you don't like it. And watch your internet traffic slowly fade.

+f-ing 1

comeonnow wrote:

theJeff wrote:

You are definitely overthinking it. The shoe isn't for you - at least that you'll admit. So why are you wasting time thinking about it? And frankly, if they did release some shoe geared to your particular fairy tale, why would you spend anymore time thinking about it other than, "Yeah, I'll buy them, " or , "No, I won't".

I think you are missing my point. This isn't about whether or not I agree with the view being expressed.

I am asking whether or not this feels like genuine support of those being targeted (poor word choice).

You're asking whether some marketing ploy is "genuine support" ? How dumb can you be? Have you paid ANY attention whatsoever to advertising EVER?

No, I am asking if it FEELS LIKE genuine support. Completely different question. Since Adidas isn’t offering any of the proceeds to any LGBQ-affiliates, it is obvious that the campaign is self serving; I am wondering how effectively they are coming across.

Yes, I seem to recall a commercial once from my youth...

theJeff wrote:

@thejeff wrote:

"What you call "bait", I call "encouraging discussion". Feel free to disengage if you aren't enjoying participating.

PS- Your grammar makes your lack of respect for teachers very obvious."

"err" autocorrected to "are. But you am sure obssesed with them gays

I have given this some thought. I don’t think I am obsessed with gays. I AM fascinated by our society’s (or maybe it is just the media’s) obsession with “them gays/transgenders/etc”. As Celery pointed out, I do find it odd that one section of society has been glamorized for their sexual preference.

But, we digress. Do you think this will ultimately help or hurt Adidas’s bottom line?

Here is my question: do gay folks or any other folks that identify as LGBTQ make you uncomfortable? Do you believe in equal treatment under the law for this historically persecuted group of society?

theJeff wrote:

comeonnow wrote:

You're asking whether some marketing ploy is "genuine support" ? How dumb can you be? Have you paid ANY attention whatsoever to advertising EVER?

No, I am asking if it FEELS LIKE genuine support. Completely different question. Since Adidas isn’t offering any of the proceeds to any LGBQ-affiliates, it is obvious that the campaign is self serving; I am wondering how effectively they are coming across.

Yes, I seem to recall a commercial once from my youth...

You still avoid the question about your obsession with gays.

Take it on a trail to put on the fudge marks. Keeping it real.

vivalarepublica wrote:

theJeff wrote:

I have given this some thought. I don’t think I am obsessed with gays. I AM fascinated by our society’s (or maybe it is just the media’s) obsession with “them gays/transgenders/etc”. As Celery pointed out, I do find it odd that one section of society has been glamorized for their sexual preference.

But, we digress. Do you think this will ultimately help or hurt Adidas’s bottom line?

Here is my question: do gay folks or any other folks that identify as LGBTQ make you uncomfortable? Do you believe in equal treatment under the law for this historically persecuted group of society?

Yes.

@jeffy wrote:

theJeff wrote:

No, I am asking if it FEELS LIKE genuine support. Completely different question. Since Adidas isn’t offering any of the proceeds to any LGBQ-affiliates, it is obvious that the campaign is self serving; I am wondering how effectively they are coming across.

Yes, I seem to recall a commercial once from my youth...

You still avoid the question about your obsession with gays.

Nope, I answered it very directly on the post that asked that question, which isn’t this one.

You, however, still avoid 1. addressing the original question and 2. using your registered username, so let’s not be quite so quick to accuse others, mmk?

theJeff wrote:

https://www.adidas.com/us/pureboost-dpr-pride-shoes/B44878.html

I assume we can expect more shoes geared to the sexual preferences of runners in the future. Not sure I see the relevance.

So here is the question: LGBQ Community (of those of you with close friends in that community, please ask), is this shoe a source of pride for you? Or do you feel pandered to?

The only comparison I can think of is all the mentions of Jesus near Christmastime; as if Christians are supposed to flock to retailers that mention Jesus for two weeks out of the year. I feel pandered to, personally. So, closer to the topic, if Adidas relased a shoe with a cross on it called the Pureboost Atonement, I would be a little turned off.

To be fair, the whole line of New Balance shoes are "White Heterosexual Pride" shoes.

As an African American, Vegan, Trangender gluten intolerant athiest , I am offended by this shoe.

"Virtue signaling" is frequently used as a pejorative on social media and forums. It's something of a "dog whistle" where the user can deny the signalling and take offense when accused of doing so as you have. It's possible you didn't know this, but but there is history.

A majority of self-identified conservatives (58%) oppose same-sex marriage per one recent poll. While it may be true that a majority (but not a vast one) support same-sex marriage, those largely controlling the levers of power in the US do not.

To equate the recent history of the gay community with some imagined oppression of Christians is ridiculous.

I am curious as to why you included that last sentence in an otherwise thoughtful post.

theJeff wrote:

Monkeys typing wrote:

. . .

To equate the recent history of the gay community with some imagined oppression of Christians is ridiculous.

I am curious as to why you included that last sentence in an otherwise thoughtful post.

The sub-thread included this statement.

celery wrote:

A company I drive by on my way to work has a rainbow flag flying beside the State and US flag. . . . I'm fairly certain they would get blowback if they flew some Christian symbol flag.

theJeff wrote:

ex-runner wrote:

First question, why do you care?

Second question, how are they 'gay pride' shoes? I don't see a rainbow or any other markings to let the wearer show his/her support for LGBTQ.

1. I teach Economics, and I am fascinated with the concept of providing meaningful incentives.

2. It is stated in the name and description of the shoe in the link I provided.

Ok so you should understand that having a USP is a common business technique.

And it might be stated in the description of the shoes online, but if I sent you those shoes, would you honestly be able to tell they were 'LGBTQ special editions'?

They are just white shoes with some fairly neutral red stripes on them. No rainbow flags, no words in support of LGBTQ, nothing on the webpage to even pretend to support the LGBTQ community in a meaningful way, no money goes to LGBTQ causes from buying these shoes etc.

These are a very poor marketing gimmick where Adidas is trying to get a cut of a particular pie but doesn't even want to fully commit. Not sure why you made a thread about it. Not sure how you even discovered these.