Ben WesthoffThere's little doubt that Macklemore's hit song “Thrift Shop” was the best thing to happen to Goodwill in a while. (Ever? Yeah we're just going to go ahead and say ever.)
See also: Critics Need to Lay Off Macklemore
Part of the video was filmed at their store in Seattle, where the rapper is from, and according to their site, Macklemore even “generously donated three signed copies of his The VS. (Redux) EP along with three t-shirts (S/M/L) to be auctioned off on our eBay site in support of our free job training and education programs.”
Now that's generous!
But the used-duds-purveyor has taken his, um, goodwill even further. Goodwill Southern California and other locations are using the “Thrift Shop” lyrics in a fancy-shmancy marketing campaign, full of attractive hipsters. And, according to Macklemore's publicist, the rapper himself knows nothing about it! (Socal Goodwill didn't respond to our request for comment.) In any case, take a look at the campaign:
A funny story: Rollergirl from Boogie Nights wanted to shop at Goodwill during the '70s, but because the shop is always a couple decades behind the times they actually sold stuff from the '50s then. So since she wasn't into poodle skirts and that kinda thing she opted out.
Who spends $20 at Goodwill? Unless you're, like, high on LSD and think you're going to resurrect an old Apple 2E, complete with dot matrix printer.
Can't tell if the idea is that she's very attractive in her Goodwill clothes, or that her oversized sunglasses help her vision tremendously. If it's the latter it would probably be more accurate to say, “I See Incredible” or probably “I See Incredibly.” But folks with bad eyesight who depend on Goodwill for their prescription needs are probably going to have a problem.
It's cool to wear clothes a grandfather might wear, but to go up to someone and say you are wearing THEIR SPECIFIC grandfather's clothes is a bit creepy.
If there's anyone who needs the harsh hip-hop lyrics of Macklemore toned down, it's the clientele at Goodwill, most of whom one suspects have spent their lives engaged in PG banter at Connecticut country clubs over cucumber sandwiches. And all of whom long to dress like Audrey Hepburn.
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