GeekNights Tuesday - Hoodies

GeekNights
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Tonight on GeekNights, we consider the hoodie. In the news, don't travel for the holidays, Scott has the Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros., Rym is getting an Index, the new Unsolved Mysteries is a apparently not too bad.

Things of the Day

Episode Links

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Live stream:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcbB09yZSpk

Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/44098784

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If I am Bread ever gets an tv adaptation, I know who they should call for its opener.

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Wearing hoodie while listening to hoodie podcast. I love the social currency aspect.

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6 Likes
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I find Rym and Scott’s stance on advertising to be completely incoherent, and I can add a new item based on this episode. It goes like this:

  1. Advertising is ineffective, and is only a waste of money.

  2. Advertising never works on me!

  3. We believe in science… except all the science that advertising works.

  4. Social currency is so important I purchase items and look forward to showing off my personal brand… but advertising doesn’t work!!!

It’s quite amusing to listen to two people so completely deluded.

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  1. Some advertising is effective. Car commercials successfully made everyone buy SUVs.
    1b) Even successful advertising is often a scam where the ad sellers are ripping off the ad-buyers, especially online ads.
  2. Advertising does not work on me because I block as much of it as possible. And if I remember an annoying ad, I consciously do not buy the product in protest. Why do I personally hate SUVs, and don’t drink alcohol when I’ve seen so many of the same car and beer commercials as others who do?
  3. See 1
  4. There is some merit to the fact that maybe I buy and wear a PAX hoodie because PAX’s advertising worked. But who can say if it’s because I simply like PAX? It’s not like PAX advertises much. Also, how strong is that advertising if I still refuse to buy the product when the quality is low? Clearly the advertising isn’t strong enough to cover for the low quality of the product.
    4b) Am I engaging in advertising when I wear a PAX hoodie? I suppose so. But is that really effective? Is someone going to go to PAX because they saw me wearing the hoodie? It’s basically impossible to even know what the hoodie is saying unless the person already knows about PAX and already recognizes the logo. And that’s the real reason I wear such things, the social currency. If someone who is in the know sees me, I might make a new friend. If you consider that advertising, OK. I’ll accept it because that’s the good advertising since the end result is friendship and not a capitalist transaction.
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Social currency makes a lot of sense. The first hoodie I recall purchasing was emblazoned with my University’s logo -I got it days after I first moved into the dorms and must have been influenced by a desire to fit in.

I’m more neutral about the pull-over/zip-up thing. I just like having lots of pockets in general (I wear absurdly unfashionable cargo shorts/pants, even one pair of slacks I own has a “cellphone pocket”) so having a very large pocket in front is still desirable to me.

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haha, last weekend I was running my usual half-marathon route, and toward the end I passed someone wearing an RIT hoodie also running.

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RIT clothing is the most likely to get me to talk to a stranger.

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Speaking of PAX merch…

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Years from now, when movies and TV shows want to show a flashback to 2020, all they need to do is give the actors hoodies and masks.

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