Trove or Trough ...

... It's Your Call.
DECEMBER 16, 2008 1:02PM

The $10 Million Shoe (updated)

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"... In Saudi Arabia, a newspaper reported that a man had offered $10 million to buy just one of what has almost certainly become the world’s most famous pair of black dress shoes." (New York Times)

I want to know all about those shoes, the ones formerly owned by Muntader al-Zaidi, who took them off and hurled them at a despised and not-long-for-office U.S. President. I want to walk a mile in al-Zaidi's shoes. I want to shine them. I want to test their aerodynamic properties.

If I were the manufacturer of said shoes, I would be ramping up production. The marketing -- it has been done for me. If anything can bring black dress shoes back into fashion, this is it. The TV commercial is, for all practical purposes, already made:

 
All it needs is a kicker, a tagline, a signature. I offer:
 
"When you want to make a statement, only Alladin's shoes will do."
 
 I'm sure someone else can do better. Let's brainstorm it, shall we?
 
"Alladin's" is a made-up, placeholder brand, of course. Catchy, huh? We don't really know the name of the shoe manufacturer. In fact, there is apparently some controversy even about the style of shoes, now that I dig further. They may have been neither black nor particularly dressy:
 
Alas:
 
"The shoes thrown at President Bush were heavy brown, laced leather and crape-soled - the brand was not recognizable and no major shoe manufacturers have come forward to take credit for the personal item-turned-weaponry." (Axcess News)
 
No matter. It gives us some more leeway, creative license, in our marketing ... which I now leave in the hands of readers.
 
I am back to practicing my own shoe-flinging, for the nonce. I find I am far more accurate sidearm than overhead, and my admiration for Mr. al-Zaidi grows with each attempt.
 
Update, Dec 20 ... for the sake of completeness:
 

‘Bush Shoe’ Gives a Turk Firm Footing in the Market

 Though we have to take his word for it ... one damn smart cobbler in the world. I wonder what being in The New York Times is worth to him?

 

Author tags:

iraq, shoes, bush

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Addendum: I wonder what price the shoe of Nikita Kruschev would bring -- the one he banged on the table at the U.N. in 1960?
Jeff Schult
December 16, 2008 01:31 PM