God Bless the Yellow Bracelets

By Bradon Guarneri

When the Lance Armstrong “Livestrong” bracelets came out last year, they seemed like a great idea at the time. Buy ‘em for a buck and support cancer research. Nike expected to use our American obsession with trends to fight evil and raise millions, all in the hopes of eventually defeating cancer.

It started out innocently enough, with celebrities on late shows sporting them proudly, explaining their significance to Conan or Jay Leno. Soon everyone wanted to have the hot new accessory. It’s fun! It’s cool! It’s helping people! And Brad Pitt’s wearing one!

Ideally, this is a good idea, but think of how the marketing teams at Nike thinks of the American consumer: as mindless robots that can be programmed to support causes simply by introducing them to celebrities first. Sure these are good causes, but think of what else they can make you support.   There’s a problem with this.

This is not an article bashing cancer research, or Lance Armstrong, or those who wear these bracelets, or Brad Pitt. What kind of heartless liberal commie would bash cancer research or Brad Pitt?

The goal here is to explore the trend in detail. Perhaps you’ve noticed the wide variety of bracelets like the “Livestrong” yellow ones strapped on wrists all across campus. There’s a red one for “Truth,” the anti-tobacco group, a pink one for breast cancer awareness and a green one urging the wearer to “Support Our Troops.”

Check out www.yellowrubber.net.  They’ll tell you that “Livestrong” has sold over 20 million bracelets worldwide. That’s supposedly $20 million for cancer research. Read further. Scrolling down the page, you’ll find rubber bracelets that say “I Love New York” or “Beat Bullying,” stars and stripes-patterned bracelets and glow in the dark bracelets, camouflaged and black and white and Support Our Troops Bracelets, “Tsunami Relief” bracelets, “Viva La Mexico” bracelets.

The kicker is the “God Bless the World” tie-dyed bracelet. Is there a more vague and detached way to view religion and peace than to wear a tie-dyed “God Bless the World” Bracelet?

If there is, it’s for sale at American Eagle.

On a routine visit to the mall a few weeks ago and subsequent reconnaissance mission to American Eagle Outfitters, I discovered their new brand of accessories. They’ve taken people’s willingness to conform and turned it into a way to commercialize our general apathy.  A&E has a whole line of colorful rubber bracelets that say everything from “beer” to “slacker,” and they look like the kind of bracelets that get put out to raise money and concern for important issues.

I guess beer is important to a lot of us, but even the biggest alcoholic couldn’t equate drinking with cancer research.

I delved deeper. Searching through the racks of rubber bracelets with meaningless collegiate buzzwords scratched into them, I found a batch of yellow ones. Nearly identical to the Lance Armstrong bracelets, they have a tiny snap on one side that can be easily hidden from plain view. Voila! It’s like I’m supporting cancer research, but not really. And I only have to pay $5.95 for it!

This is not to say that everyone who wears an American Eagle brand rubber bracelet is trying to pretend they’re supporting a just cause. They’re simply trying to hop on the back end of a trend. Fair enough. You can’t degrade someone for their lack of timeliness in fashion. But there has to be some people that don’t even understand the trend and are spoon-fed their beliefs who buy these bracelets in hopes of being “popular” or “trendy.”

Insert collective groan here.

There’s also the inherent question of why people need to outwardly display the fact that they’re supporting a cause. Cancer research is a huge deal and requires a lot of help, agreed. Breast cancer awareness and supporting our troops are things that demand our attention, agreed. But do we really need to rock a bracelet for every cause that we support through service or donations?

Buried deep within the www.yellowrubber.net website are the “Tsunami Relief” bracelets, marble patterned and ready to ship for $4.95 each. It’s not clear if you’re actually supporting Tsunami relief by buying the bracelet or if it’s just emotional masturbation: a way to make yourself feel good that really accomplishes nothing. We shouldn’t have to throw it in people’s faces that we’ve supported a cause.

But we do, and plenty of people are.

If you’re going to wear one of these, at least make sure you’re actually supporting the thing that you’re supposed to be supporting. Then, if you really have to broadcast your benevolence to the whole world, wear the bracelet. But maybe next time just mail a check.

Brandon Guarneri is a junior writing major. He wants Livestrong bracelets to come attached to every pizza box. E-mail him at bguarne1@ithaca.edu.