Welp, it looks like this is a piss-take.
In the sense that it looks to me that people who are fed up with some of the more frivolous kick-starters are probably the people donating here. Because it's nearly $50k worth of parody and/or protest - just look at the stretch goals; "you'll get a 'thank you' posted to our website and I will say your name out loud while making the potato salad."
The internet loves a hoo-hah and it loves the ridiculous. And many people like taking a swipe or being in some way subversive, however silly.
Look at the campaign to get Rage Against the Machine as Xmas no.1 in the UK charts. The charts are pretty much controlled by whatever reality tv star on whatever music show gains the most popularity - so people went out and bought RATM (with the lyric "fuck you, I won't do what you tell me") partly to stymie that and cause mischief, and partly out of genuine dislike for reality tv and manufactured pop acts taking up so much attention. (and when it did get to no. 1 there was outrage that whatever x-factor winner was robbed of the chart topping single they were entitled to, out of small-minded spite)
So people went out and bought a chart single they probably didn't even like to make a point that, in and of itself, is fairly pointless (particularly given RATM and the x-factor guy were on the same record label!). Could that money have been better used for something constructive and useful? Absolutely. As campaigns go, is it really helping society in any way? Probably not.
But people wanted to throw their pound away to be part of something larger that was a bit silly and might make news.
This isn't unique to Kickstarter, which (much like the internets themselves) can be used for something dumb or something worthwhile.
The people who get to make the call whether they want to donate to something dumb or something worthwhile (or indeed, what things are dumb or worthwhile) are the people donating.
So yeah, as long as he does what he says he will according to the stretch goals, he could absolutely walk away with upwards of 50k. People paid for a goddamned potato salad, as long as that's what they get, there's no problem here as far as I'm concerned.
Is that stupid? Yes.
Seems to me intentionally so.
Could the money have gone on something better and worthier? Of course.
But it could've gone on something better and worthier every time you buy chewing gum or a packet of fags as well. Or a brand spanking new gaming rig, come to that.
There really doesn't seem to me to be a discernible difference to criticising the frippery people spend their personal income on in terms of luxury items, or criticising what people choose to spend their personal income on when donating to kick-starter projects - however farcical.
(Re: coleslaw we have that in the UK too. Here the standard shop-bought stuff is shredded white cabbage and carrot in mayonnaise)
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Topic: Potato Salad (Read 1752 times)