Who wants to be an unpaid billboard?

The fashion industry made a canny move in persuading millions to buy clothing that boldly bears brand names. I wish I knew how they managed that. I for one decided long ago that the only way I would wear such items is if the brand were to pay me for promoting their product (something that, naturally, would never happen).

When I was in the pub for my mid-litter-patrol reward pint last Wednesday, the young lady tending the bar complimented me on the T-shirt I was wearing. It was one of these:

Friends of the Earth ‘No Planet B’ T-shirt

While supping my pint, I pondered this. I looked up the ladies’ version of this T-shirt on my dumbphone, and then returned my empty glass to the bar. The young lady was still there, so I showed her the web page, and offered to send her the link. I left it at that, as she would need to give me her phone number for me to do that. She didn’t offer it (unsurprisingly; at a guess she was about a third of my age). But she did look up the Friends of the Earth website on her own dumbphone while we were chatting about it, so, who knows, maybe next week I’ll see her wearing one.

So, I set off on the second half of my weekly litter patrol… and pondered some more. And the final scene of V for Vendetta came to mind, in which a mass crowd, all wearing Guy Fawkes masks, surges towards the Houses of Parliament:

V for Vendetta – Great scene (finale)

Now, the problem with those masks is that they provide a measure of anonymity, and while this spectacle works well in a movie, it would be all too easy for such an event to be infiltrated and perverted by troublemakers.

But a T-shirt is a different matter. Imagine if enough people could be persuaded to wear this one as they go about their business. In the UK, our government recently revealed more of its fascist tendencies by implementing a law that allows them to punish, and even imprison, peaceful protesters. But while wearing a T-shirt with a specific message can be considered a form of protest, I’m pretty sure that there’s no law forbidding it. At least, not yet….

Enough people walking around wearing such a shirt would send a powerful message. I still hold out some hope that we can change such that we don’t consign all the residents of Spaceship Earth to an unhappy end.

So, might I ask you to consider buying one of these ‘No Planet B’ T-shirts from Friends of the Earth? They’re made from organic cotton, printed in the UK in a renewable energy powered factory, and a snip at just twenty quid each. You’ll be supporting a good cause.†

In fact, I’ll go one better than that: I’m willing to buy one each for the first five folks (it would be more but I’m not made of money!) to contact me (with name and address – I’ll obviously need that to get the shirt to you) to say you’ll have one. Because I’m not entirely stupid, there’s a catch, however: you have to agree to accept my gift under the terms of ‘ye Oath of Giftiness‘:

† There’s a megacorporation I won’t name that sells cheaper shirts than the Friends of the Earth one bearing the same ‘No Planet B’ message (though not the same design), but I can’t vouch for whether or not those are mass-produced in overseas sweatshops. (My guess is they probably are.)