Protest Is Dead
Yesterday at about six o'clock in Westlake Center square there was a protest going on. Matching shirts, coordinated singing and sign stamping; it was the most together group we've seen demonstrating since...ever, probably. Westlake's mix of teenager hanger outers, office workers and shoppers gave them a wide berth, hanging out on the fringes as if gulping a huge breath of air before darting for the entrance to the mall. Don't look, don't acknowledge, don't--for god's sake--stop when one of them has you in their sights. Dammit, Lush is right there! Is there another entrance?
It looked like a protest, acted like a protest, and Westlake denizens treated it like a protest, but it was actually some kind of advertising display for an Odwalla-type juice. Is this something that happens regularly? Because it's the first time Seattlest remembers seeing this particular marketing stratagem. It sucks. We're not sure if it's more or less offensive than the guy who recently hired people to protest his Gas Works park wedding, but taken together they tell us that sign-waving, slogan-chanting protest as an expression of dissent has jumped the shark. Although there is some recent-ish evidence otherwise.
