Delicious Irony: Each Anonymous Mask Sold Puts Cash In Time Warner's Pockets
Delicious Irony: Each Anonymous Mask Sold Puts Cash In Time Warner's Pockets
Posted 08/29/2011 at 11:09am
| by Brad Chacos
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Irony, your name is Anonymous. The hacktivist group tosses DDoS bombs around with callous ease in an apparently never-ending quest against government and corporate “tyranny,” all behind the smiling, blank Guy Fawkes mask featured at the end of “V for Vendetta.” Sure, a silent crowd full of masked Anons can be creepy, but here’s the funny part: each Guy Fawkes mask bought by an Anon member puts cash into megacorporation Time Warner’s pockets.
Time Warner owns the rights to the now iconic image, you see, and the New York Times reports that the company receives a distribution fee every time one of the masks is sold. And thanks to Anonymous, the masks sell like hotcakes. The smiling visage is the best-selling mask on Amazon, and it was sold out in costume stores in the San Francisco area in the days leading up to the BART protests.
Costume company Rubie's Costume is one of the organizations that makes the masks. “We sell over 100,000 of these masks a year, and it’s by far the best-selling mask that we sell,” Howard Beige, their executive VP, told the NYT. “In comparison, we usually only sell 5,000 or so of our other masks.”
Hilarious!
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Holly Golightly
August 29, 2011 at 9:33pm
LOL, looks like it is time to make up our own masks. A paper bah with a bit letter "X" on it. Copy it off as Homer Simpson's "Mr.X" anomity. Although V for Vendetta does make a much louder statement, but I say, stick it to the man! Maybe they should copy off by having someone make the masks themselves... That way Time Warner gets zero of the profit. I would so totally do that.
kixofmyg0t
August 29, 2011 at 2:44pm
Wait a second...PEOPLE BUY THINGS??!?!
I thought you got a mask free in the mail for everytime you say "SONY SUCKS".....
don2041
August 29, 2011 at 1:17pm
HEY TERRIBLETOASTER Wool is made from sheeps fur, cotton is made from th cotton plant, you need to go back to daycare and learn all over again
TerribleToaster
August 29, 2011 at 1:24pm
Yup, I feel like an idiot for saying cotton instead of wool. point still stands though, not all sheep work for Microsoft.
Archtard
August 29, 2011 at 1:08pm
Greed makes the world go round. If it were not for those "greedy corporations" or Chinese products I do not think many of us would be building or gaming. I just looked at the "Made in" stickers on all of my Logitec hardware and every piece is made in China, and we all know birkenstock wearing hippies are not producing our "kick ass" hardware.
Nimrod
August 29, 2011 at 11:33am
uhh so how can you be sure their buying the official TW masks and not some cheap chinese knock off like the have in my Party U.S.A. store down the road?
lawlz
meangenedrlove
August 29, 2011 at 3:20pm
We can be sure because Time Warner OWNS the rights to the image, so any American company making/selling them has to license the image from Time Warner...and we can assume that Time Warner isn't giving away FREE licenses.
Nimrod
August 29, 2011 at 6:51pm
are you fucking retarded? TW didnt get very much money when i pirated V. Are you seriously so stupid that you have no fucking idea that china makes copies of things that are popular and sells them without the rights?
TerribleToaster
August 29, 2011 at 11:42am
Because one looks like a cheap Chinese knock-off (you didn't capitalize Chinese in your post, working by logic you have previously used, it must be because your racist) while the other looks like it is legit.
Nimrod
August 29, 2011 at 6:57pm
no as a matter of fact they DONT look cheap. Second, how the fuck would you know? have you personally met all the Anon people in those demos who use the masks and inspected each one to see if its legit?
and STFU really. you think cotton is made from sheep JTFC
TerribleToaster
August 30, 2011 at 5:16am
So the "cheap [C]hiense knock-offs" you are referring to don't look cheap? Then why are you calling them "cheap"?
And Nimord, the easiest way to tell Anon is buying the mask in droves is because the supplier mentioned in this article is selling a crazy amount of those masks compared to normal (and that sales spike right before an Anon protest). So if Anon isn't the one buying all those masks, who is?
TerribleToaster
August 29, 2011 at 11:16am
There's also the fact that they most likely got the paper from a office supply mega corps (along with the Sharpies®) that they used to make their signs. Not to mention they are wearing brand name clothes (not necessarily Abeicrombie & Fitch, but Levi is a brand too).
Deviate
August 29, 2011 at 11:34am
Sure but as opposed to what, buying their clothes from Walmart? Another huge, greedy, mega-corporation.
Gotta bite the bullet for some things. Everyone needs clothes and food and other necessities. Unfortunately these come from huge greedy corporations, or China. And we should all avoid buying from China or 'made in China' when possible.
TerribleToaster
August 29, 2011 at 11:51am
Surpirsing as you may find this, but there are actually small businesses who make clothes and sell clothes for a living. Also, considering Anon's economical ideologies (not political), China is the perfect place to buy things. But it should be noted that we import more things from Japan (who holds the largest share of US debt), Mexico, and Canada than we do from China.
tekknyne
August 29, 2011 at 12:31pm
Name one small business that weaves it's own fabrics and doesn't buy them from China first.
TerribleToaster
August 29, 2011 at 1:14pm
When I was at daycare as a little kid, we were located right next to a farm. Where they rasied sheep. For wool. That they made into cotton. Which was used in local stores for clothes. In the suburbs of Philadelphia.
(I also happen to know that they are still in business).
In fact, the US is the largest exporter of cotton in the world. A lot of those clothes that say made in China were made with cotton from the US. Small world. In contrast to that, K'NEX, the popular US based toy company which, if you ever read any of it's boxes, says Made in the USA. Despite the fact that the plastics and the molded pieces are actually made in China and shipped to the US where they are counted and assembled then into toy kits. Because the finished good is made in the US, it's says made in the USA.
Deviate
August 29, 2011 at 11:37am
I despise our communications companies. But what other choice do we have? Go phoneless/internetless.
TerribleToaster
August 29, 2011 at 11:46am
I don't think I mentioned any monopolistic or oligopolistic industries such as those.
Deviate
August 31, 2011 at 6:52pm
I know, was just stating another example of something we ultimately have to swallow whether we like it or not.
tekknyne
August 29, 2011 at 12:37pm
What's the difference? His point, while generalizing (sorry if you didn't catch it, I did, it was quite clear) was that we have to bite the bullet on "some things". Be it cell phones, clothes, etc. We're all hypocrits to some degree. If Anonymous is a bunch of hypocrits, that may devalue their message, but it doesn't invalidate it.
TerribleToaster
August 29, 2011 at 1:14pm
And my point (sorry if you didn't catch it, it was quite clear) was that industries that deal in clothes, food, or other basic goods are competitive markets and there is no need to "bite the bullet and buy from a "megacorp". I'm not ragging on Anon for having no choice in cell carriers, cable providers, etc. I'm ragging on them because they, in a competitive market where they have a choice, choose to go to megacorps and brand names over local small business (most likely because it is more convenient). If you think that megacorps are the only way to get clothes or food, then you are either oblivious, idiotic, or both.
"We're all hypocrits to some degree."
Actually no, not everyone is a hypocrite. To deem so is simply a way for those who are hypocrites to live with their hypocrisy by thinking that everyone else is as messed up as they are (to whatever degree that may be).
"If Anonymous is a bunch of hypocrits, that may devalue their message, but it doesn't invalidate it."
Semantics of the most pointless nature. To devalue something is to reduce or remove its value or validity. To invalidate something is to remove or reduce its validity or value.
If you are devaluing a message, you are invalidating it. They mean the same thing.
tekknyne
August 29, 2011 at 1:42pm
With such insight of Anonymous, you must surely be working for them :) Thanks for the constructive response. I'm not going to debate symantics with you son.
TerribleToaster
August 30, 2011 at 5:06am
"With such insight of Anonymous,"
I have demonstrated no insight into Anon besides the ability to look at photos of people who claim to be Anon.
"you must surely be working for them :)"
If this was meant to be taken literally, why? And if it was meant to be sarcasm I'll reiterate that all it takes to verify anything I've said regarding Anon is to look at a photograph.
"Thanks for the constructive response."
No problem.
" I'm not going to debate symantics with you son."What you meant to say, is "I'll acknowledge your point, but I need some kind of last word, so let me try and belittle you and your point using a red herring." It's not that you won't debate semantics, but that you can't (at least in this instance). Which is fine, everyone makes mistakes sometimes. Even with the unnecessary grade schooler remark at the end, at least you have balls enough to accept I have a valid point which is more than most do on the internet.
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