Much like my fellow High Snobiety Chicks with Kicks columnist Lois of Trendy Nation, I am a fan of Kelis. I like her attitude and I mostly enjoy her music. But I still can’t figure out how every time I encounter the singer it is in some sort of tacky and tragic circumstance. How is it that a girl with that much spunk and arguably quite a bit of style is always getting herself into trouble? I figured that her MTV VMA party sans alcohol sponsor and reasonable barriers to entry was just a fluke. Bad parties happen to the best of us right? Surely someone as cool as Kelis couldn’t let this be a trend. Well I think that Kelis just might have to reconsider her relationship with her publicist after what I saw today.
When one of my favorite fashion public relations firms MAO (who would never let their clients do anything tacky, ironic yes, tacky no) invited me to attend some sort of fashion show to celebrate the McDonald’s Arch Card and the Ronald McDonald House Charity I figured sure, why not? This might just be pretty cool.
I have nothing but respect for MAO, and I figured if anyone could pull off something as ridiculous as a McDonald’s Charity fashion show with Jay McCarroll then the MAO team could. I had notions of hipsters eyeing the splashy Leo Burnett burnished McDonalds branding in some stew of cool irony. After all hasn’t McDonalds been working on its image? Hobnobbing downtown kids and some funky fashion for a good cause has fantastic PR written all over it right? McDonalds could use that kind of cred.
Sadly I think that MAO just got the account too late to perform a miracle. Clearly McDonalds didn’t give them enough control over the entire affair. It just felt sad. Sad because Jay McCarroll has sunk to such a level that he has to bumble around on stage looking foolish while pretending to care about his “inspiration.” Sad that Kelis could be so unaware that this might not be the best public appearance. And sad that a worthy charity comes with such unfortunate baggage.
Have you ever seen a woman more out of touch with branding, culture, or cool than the Ronald McDonald House rep? The marketing firm that sold them this fashion show campaign idea should be shot. It makes McDonalds and everyone associated with it look low rent. If you are going to dabble in the medium of fashion for credibility at least let the fashion professionals do their job and make it work. Don’t control it for your corporate image and then wonder why it doesn’t play well.
And as to the rest of the show? Well streetwear kids have been doing that kind of graphic design work for years. Hell, that hamburger shirt is so out that you could pick up a better version of it at Urban Outfitters. Nice try McDonalds but I think that the devil was in the execution. Also $5 on the Arch Card? Come on, you can’t even buy a value meal with that!
Hey Julie, thanks for the shout. Lol, yep, that McD’s rep was bland city. Definitely an old-school style of p.r., where everything is neat and safe. Given her monotone intro, I imagine that the show that followed was a mess, but for what it’s worth, Kelis’s dress was adorable! But you know me, in my last life I was a magpie. Same thing in the life before that!
You know Kelis must have been paid ALOT for that appearance!
oh my. that was painful. ohhhh my.
McDonalds and Kelis makes perfect sense to me. Maybe Nas will do a very special rap for the burger chain?
Wow. When I first saw pics and heard about McDonald’s doing a fashion show, I felt like something was a little off, now after reading your post and watching the youtube footage, I KNOW something was way off. With the entire concept.
lol-that was interesting/cute. hehe…
Wow, I can’t believe you would rip apart something positive just because you didn’t think it was “cool” or impressive. This show was to benefit charity. Jay was involved because they Ronald McDonald House helped his poor little nephew’s lung condition.
Shocked-
Unhuh, it was totally for charity. Right…..Charity. Please! The show cost more to produce than that dress will ever bring in. It was a branding move plain and simple. Get cool cachet from being involved with fashion plus feel good for saying it was charity.
Jay seemed a little confused by the whole ummm nephew lung condition thing. I have the video. Trust me on this one.
Kelis is doing what to make money. She isn’t exactly the most popular where she can pick and choose what she wants to do. She wants the attention so she does whatever.
Wow, I couldnt agree with you more. Funny article, but dont think for one second that just because McDonalds puts on a fashion show for charity there some sort of heros. LETS NOT FORGET GLOBAL “FATENIZATION”