Modcloth, the official provider of blogger clothing, has a lovely product called the “Trip to Tansy-nia” skirt. In keeping with its policy of using forced twee to describe the clothing on offer, Modcloth presents you with this masterpiece of wtf:
Volunteering feels good, doesn’t it? It’s also a great excuse to travel, and this time your huge heart is taking you to Africa! Embody the vibrant personalities and positive spirits of the locals when you wear this dynamic maxi skirt with an gold exposed zipper! Created by Lauren Moffatt, a favorite amongst fashion bloggers, this skirt’s wide, blue waistband matches its bottom hem, and every other olive brown, bright red, ivory, and blue vertical line is decorated with tansy-colored flowers. Wear it wonderfully with a solid-colored top, oversized beaded jewelry, and shoes that are just as pleasantly unexpected as its silky lining and the colorful bouquet that diagonally blooms above the hem of this skirt, and you’ll be loved by Tanzania locals for more than just your helping hands!
My gut tells me that trying to sell a $274.99 skirt by telling people to wear it volunteering in Africa just seems…tacky? Then again this is Modcloth, their demographic is upper middle class suburban white girls who probably wouldn’t use a Greenpeace latrine if you paid them. I’m sure Modcloth thinks this is in no way condescending.
ok, this one is personal. i grew up in senegal, west africa. my parents were linguists there for over 20 years. and this…well, this is just completely offensive, not to mention culturally insensitive. the monthly income in dakar, the capital of senegal (a very cospopolitan french colony), is less than the amount of this (cliche) skirt. no wonder other countries want to bomb the shit out of us.
this is me in 1980 when my family first moved to africa…my parents, myself and my little sister. nothing in this photo cost anything close to the price of this skirt, even judging by today’s exorbitant prices. i am seriously appalled and will NEVER buy anything from modcloth ever again.
What a cool pic to have & I bet you have great stories to tell, Joiezabel.
Some relatives did ten-day mission trips in South America over the summer & from pics, you can tell that they got to bathe maybe, maybe twice during each stint. Also, I didn’t see any wearers of skirts in all those pics of roofs being installed by pretty much exactly the demographic modcloth targets.
What a bonehead ad pitch ~ do they even have a clue about volunteering in Africa?
What a bonehead ad pitch ~ do they even have a clue about volunteering in Africa?
In a word? No. No, they don’t. These bitches would be utterly thunderstruck to discover that volunteering involves a lot of hard work and sweat and dirt and not, as they may suspect, flitting around a picturesque rural village like Lady Bountiful while adorable little brown kids gather around your $275 skirt.
I knew a hipster-y girl that went to volunteer in Africa a few years ago. She was supposed to spend the summer there and went on and on about how cultured she was. She made it less than a week and had her parents fly her home, because it was too “dirty and gross”.
My old roommate grew up in Senegal. She wore dresses like your mother’s occasionally. We never were close, but did bond over things like the World Cup.
Joiezabel, I’ve never lived in Africa but even I was offended. Please, please email Modcloth your story and let them know just how offensive their skirt is. I’ve never ordered from them, although I’ve been on the fence for a few items. They’re pretty much guaranteed that I never will.
i did email modcloth. i will let you guys know if i hear anything back.
i have ordered from them twice, both dresses, both size large. one of the dresses was ridiculously too small and the other one fit but is too short to wear. they have been hanging in my closet uselessly, but now i might burn them in a symbolic bonfire. i am seriously disgusted by this on so many levels.
Please do let us know!!!
That such a lovely photo :D Your mom looks so glamorous
Totally.
Lovely picture.
I also agree! I love your story and wish more people were as culturally sensitive as you.
many thanks. i just happened to have it around as i am getting it blown up and framed for my parents for christmas.
“Wear it wonderfully with a solid-colored top, oversized beaded jewelry, and shoes that are just as pleasantly unexpected as its silky lining and the colorful bouquet that diagonally blooms above the hem of this skirt, and you’ll be loved by Tanzania locals for more than just your helping hands!”
Yes everyone, fulfill your savior fantasies by WEARING A SKIRT. A FUCKING SKIRT.
“Embody the vibrant personalities and positive spirits of the locals when you wear this dynamic maxi skirt with an gold exposed zipper!”
What? What does this skirt have to do with Tanzania? Why do you have to wear it to embrace anything? Are you flying to Africa to do service or to show off your shit?
Well boys and girls, I guess we know what the next hipster trend will be: exploiting the very real problem of disadvantaged communities to sell overpriced clothes! Fuck yeah!
It’s the worst cultural appropriation I’ve seen in a while.
I totally, totally agree. I sincerely hope none of these bloggers turn up wearing this skirt. Although I can’t imagine Modcloth “c/o” anything this expensive.
First time commenter, long time lurker.
I had to comment on this because this description is terrible. As someone who’s been to Africa and visited communities in Tanzania, I’m horrified that they are romanticizing the idea of “volunteering” in Africa to pawn off an overpriced skirt probably made by underpaid sweatshop workers. No, I don’t think the Tanzania locals will be impressed when Ms. fashion blogger shows up wearing this. And what’s worse…this is going to show up as a c/o Modcloth skirt on some blog.
Had they wanted to be sincere, they could’ve easily donated portions of the profit to organizations that actually have a presence in Tanzania or suggest organizations that do take short-term workers overseas. But I guess sincerity wasn’t the goal.
I hate this.
The opening line made me think they were donating a majority of the profit made on this item to charity… but no, they want you to pretend you’re a volunteer in Africa when wearing the skirt.
The WTF-y-ness of this is on par with the ‘OMG I Cannot Believe They Let This On Their Site’ cringe factor.
Maybe instead of donating to the East-African famine appeal I’ll buy this skirt and really make a difference!
So true, this skirt has absolutely nothing to do with any country in Africa but I guess if you dumb enough to drop that much money on a modcloth skirt your probably not intelligent enough to notice.
Theres also no mention of where this skirt was made, what the working conditions are like, reasonable wage etc. Given that its modcloth and their probably sourcing their clothes as cheaply as possible its likely it was made a factory in China in very poor working conditions.
The biggest problem I have with this, aside from the COMPLETE insensitivity, the cultural colonialism (“white girl will be loved by all the poor people when she deigns to spend her week there saving them”), and the idea of marketing the skirt with a volunteer tie-in and then not giving any of it to charity despite the exorbitant price, is that the skirt is seriously fugly.
“OH, look at ME! The African locals make me look so PRETTY! Pretty me, pretty me! I am just like Angelina Jolie everybody!”
“Oh look at me Tansy-nia locals. Look at me in mah skirt which cost as much as you make in a year you poorz. Now please pose in the background of the photos I will take for my blog.”
I read PP’s post and thought “well, this MUST include a charity tie in, right?” I was flabbergasted to discover that NOPE. In buying this skirt I was somehow allowed to fantasize about being the great white savior to AFRICA. The entire continent. That’s another thing that always peeves me. Ya know, there are countries in the continent of AFRICA.
But y’all, it’s about Tanzania! Because it’s punny!
Vapid tone deaf assholes.
This encapsulates everything I loathe about fashion in one little kernel.
Wait, what? This shit doesn’t make any damn sense.
Fuck you Mod Cloth, seriously, fire every last one of your retarded staff that let this go live, right now. RIGHT NOW.
I also fucking hate the fact that they are addressing Africa like it’s one little country. You’re making a sweeping comment about an entire CONTINENT. GAWD.
RIGHT ON!
i have always hated the whole africa-as-one-place thing. it’s like…”hey, you’re from new york? i have a friend in los angeles…maybe you know each other?”
So I just want to get this straight. If I purchase this expensive skirt, I will get to embody the spirit of the “locals”? I didn’t realize the spirit of others is up for sale these days. Cool.
Also, was this skirt hand sewn in Tanzania? As in Tanzania-not-really-China?
And all my $274.99 goes to Tanzania? Cool again. (Seriously, I wonder if Modcloth could be held accountable for misleading advertising and actually forced to send ALL the money to Tanzania!)
Retards, the bunch of them. Try donating some of the money to the East Africa appeal
Totally, completely OT but if I see an ad that says “like us on facebook!’ but doesn’t even provide their own URL I am boycotting their products
If a TV shows shows older people type faking while saying “Am I the only one who doesn’t get the facebook” they are banned from my house.
If I hear one more news anchor say “Let’s check facebook to see what people are saying” I am throwing my bottle of beer at the television.
FUCK FACEBOOK and FUCK THE ZUCKS! That is all. Oh and Sarah Lacy can kiss my ass.
BItchface. I am completely and utterly on board with you. To begin with, just the mere fact that it’s called “Facebook,” a rather curt/crass sort of name IMO, irks the living crap out of me. We seriously have an entire world using something called “Facebook,” another slang name for the college “Meatbook”??
I cannot.
Word. AND my dog has fleas. Sigh.
Oooooooh no.
Just be careful what flea medicine you use on him.
****NOTE TO ALL ANIMAL OWNERS WHO DON’T ALREADY KNOW THIS…. Certain over-the-counter flea and tick meds cause seizures in cats and dogs. We lost our poor kitty Frankie to f*cking Hartz.
http://www.hartzvictims.org/
yeah, those are scary – they go into the bloodstream to kill bugs….
and the home remedies don’t work :( my dogs are miserable….
Have you tried diatomaceous earth? You get the food-grade kind and sprinkle it on your pet’s bed, couches, etc. It dehydrates the fleas and their eggs.
Fleas have been awful this year. My dog got ‘em for the first time. :(
They HAVE been awful. The cat and dog get their monthly doses of Revolution/Frontline, but it doesn’t seem to be enough lately!!! I’ll have to check out this diatomaceus stuff.
Sigh, yeah ok ok I’ll delete it.
lol noooooooooooooo not ewe too
About two days ago I got some email that I should start a facebook page for gomi, so I did. I don’t expect to devote much to it, because most people who read GOMI would prefer not to have everyone know they “like” it. But eh, it’s out there if anyone cares.
But hey I deleted the LIKE button on the side there!
I wasn’t referering to like buttons on a site – ti’s the companies whose advertisements say “like us on facebook” but don’t even include their own website! Don’t they get that they’re driving traffic to fakebook?
Oooo let’s build community! Let’s engage in the social media revolution! seriously there was one that was something like “tell us your stories of dirt on facebook” for Tide or something
Companies would MUCH rather drive people to their own websites, but the fact is that people LIVE on Facebook. There is no business case for NOT going where your community is already spending its time. Sorry, I’m not a fan of FB in general, but this is something brands do to make it as easy as possible for them to connect with customers.
Yeah, I totally see how companies don’t really have a choice in the matter and need to join the bandwagon in order to stay current. This fact just drives home the reality that facebook is totally pulling everything and everybody into its realm.
(I know, I just need to get the heck over it.)
I’m not saying they SHOULDN’ T have a link, chill.
I’m saying it’s stupid when they ONLY give FB information & nothing else. Sorry but I am one person who will not give up all my personal inclinations to FB for them to make money off me and my family/friends.
Fuck Fecesbook and fuck the Zucks.
jesus, this is embarrassing for them, but somehow seems right in the spirit of their company – sanctimonious cultural appropriation goes very well with shit-quality, obnoxiously twee clothes and shit-blogger-focused marketing strategy.
I assume ModCloth would market that skirt to the kind of women who are featured on I Studied Abroad in Africa!. This woman looks like she’d like the skirt:
awesome blog, definitely can somi
This blog is the best! It perfectly encapsulates the ridiculousness of these people going to Africa who think they’re saving the world by exposing “the locals” to American things. Ugh.
But going to Africa makes for great blog content/photo ops and a fantastic conversation piece for job interviews.
This irks me in the same way that the $20,000 bonus given to recent college grads who agreed to teach for a handful of years did. So I’d say about 95% of the people who signed up for this deal taught, then left to pursue jobs in business and other fields. But HEY! It made for a great “life experience” ya’ll, and helped build that resume. Meanwhile, I had just completed a master’s degree program in Education with plans of being a teacher for life. Where was MY $20,000 bonus? No? RIght, just fork that dinero over to the dabblers.
Oh my bad… the bonus might have been as much as 40k. 6K MORE than what I made in a year WITH my master’s.
I read an article that had the same criticism about Teach for America. People do it for 1-2 years to pad their resumes, then they leave to enter law or finance, which is what they REALLY wanted all along. It’s gross.
I have to jump in on this. Teach for America expects a large portion of their members to leave teaching for other careers. In fact, in their information, they boast about it. One of the goals is for people to teach, experience being a part of the community, learn what is needed to improve the system, and go on to other jobs where they can make a difference.
If a TFA grad becomes a politician, for example, the hope is that they remember what the saw in the classroom when they are making policy decisions. I, for one, hope the same.
I say this as someone who did AmeriCops, not TFA, and is still in the classroom.
My personal gripe was mainly aimed towards the fact that people were being given bonuses to dabble in something and then leaving to do what they really intended to do all the time while dedicated teachers who have been in the classroom for decades were not given anything for all their hard work and perseverance.
In terms of programs like AmeriCorps and TFA, a handful of years ago there was a need for more teachers, especially in lower-paying school districts. These programs helped to fill these openings which was a positive. On the other hand, there is a challenge in the field of teaching in terms of being respected as a profession. Honestly, what always bothered me about these programs was that while I was expected to have a master’s degree and a year-long supervised teaching practicum in order to be hired as a lifelong teacher, people from these programs were handed their own classrooms after, what, a five-week intensive summer program? That helps perpetuate the notion that teaching is not really a profession that requires serious skill training.
I mean, just imagine if I was talking to a lawyer or a nurse and said to them, “Oh, I just completed an intensive summer program and now I get to be a lawyer/nurse too!” I understand that most people enter these programs because they want to make a difference, but teaching is not just a scene from Dead Poets Society. It requires a natural gift for working with students of certain ages, skills in effective lesson development, solid mastery of whatever subject/subjects he/she is teaching, and an inner God-given source of endurance. Programs like AmericaCorps and TFA make it seem like any ole’ person can walk into a classroom and have what it takes to be a teacher. This peeves me, just as it does when people start complaining about their jobs and then say, “I think I’ll be a teacher” as if it’s all sunshine and roses and OF COURSE they’ll be awesome at it at turn that whole system around Mr. Holland’s Opus style.
But again, teaching slots needed to be filled and such programs provided the teachers for these positions. Of course, in light of the fact that degreed teachers are being laid off left and right now, this is probably becoming a moot topic.
THIS. I’m a teacher, and that lack of respect that we get as professionals drives me crazy. Especially since I work with the younger children.
People have actually said things to me like, “Oh, so you’re just an overpaid babysitter” or “How fun, you get to go play with kids all day!” Um, NO. I worked my ass off for years to do this because I love to educate children, and I have a natural gift for it, and I pursued this career because I’m passionate about it. Not because I wanted summers off or to pad my resume.
I actually had the mother of a guy I was dating attempt to start an argument with me about teachers making “too much money” in her town. bwahhhhhhhhhaaaaaahhaaaaaaaaahhaaaaaa.
And if someone is going to start the “Well if you break it down hourly and factor in vacation time” discussion with me, I advise him/her that as an English teacher, hours are 6:30 in the bright morning (photocopying, early meetings with students/parents, etc.) to 12:30 to 2 am the following morning, (phone calls to more parents/grading papers/lesson planning). THOSE are the hours, not 8-3. And vacation time? That was spent lesson planning. Sundays? Grading papers/lesson planning. Now feel free to calculate my hourly wage. (Oh, and 20 minutes to guzzle lunch each day before meeting with students for further help.)
Granted, in this economy it is harder to wage a salary argument as any tenured teacher is fortunate just to have a steady job with so many people unemployed.
This is exactly what my roommate from college did. She taught in a poor school district in ATL and blamed the parents for having the audacity to live in poverty. She said the schools were horrible and the parents were irresponsible for letting their kids go there. I gently tried to explain that school district assignments are based on where you live and she told me the parents should “just move” and take some responsibility for their kids. Of course she went to med school (ivy league) immediately after. FUCK THESE PEOPLE. Fuck them so hard. (I was never close with this chick- she was one of 3 roommates)
As someone who was just accepted to a great volunteer position in a clinic in Kenya but can’t afford the airfare, I’d like to send a big “fuck you” to modcloth.
I can’t these modcloth people, they are straight up loony tunes.
Slutoween, check out IndieGoGo for crowd sourcing options for raising your airfare.