Blicky's Tips for Riding Out a Bad Economy

Sure the news is bleak. We hear reports of the alarmingly rapid rate Americans (some more than others) are losing jobs. We hear about foreclosures. All of us feel a little more frightened perhaps than we did a year ago. As you know, Blicky Kitty is all about the readerZ, so we've researched long and hard to come up with a solution for you. In recent decades Americans have accustomed ourselves to a standard of living unparalleled in human history. Now are we supposed to give that up? I say no!

The secret? Webkinz World. For the price of a stuffed animal, you too can have access to the greatest place in the whole world. You wait until the kids are in bed because frankly, they just get in the way. Then the fun begins. You start out with a huge pot of money to spend on your crib.
Then all you have to do to earn more is press a button affirming your profound, heartfelt love for your two-dimensional animal avatars to earn more. Also, for those of us in the know, there are two games called the Wheel of Wow and Wishing Well where you get a chance to win serious loot everyday.

Pinky, Kitty, Pearl, Rainbow and Soleil were keeping it real until the economy tanked and I took things over. Now they are decked out with mad ice and it's all about the Benjamins, baby. I'm not saying that Webkinz World is not without it's drawbacks. My neighbors in Kinzville, Fluffy and Spotty have been speaking rather derisively about our conspicuous consumption. They prefer to spend their Kinzcash on the less visible status symbols. Their Webkinz go to Kinzville Academy and wear those dapper little jackets. But they and their peers have gotten to enjoy the wealth of Webkinz World for a longer time than Pinky and Soleil. What they don't understand is that even though we have mad Kincash, we still know how to keep it real.

 

Most economic deconstructions of bling fail to understand economic expressions are not so binary. Our use of Kinzcash should be understood both as embracing capitalism while subtly subverting its traditional inequities between the haves and the have nots. As we have learned in our research, Webkinz Bling has obviously bought into the larger capitalist project of amassing wealth, measuring all things in money, conspicuous consumption. Nevertheless it has done so while retaining it's traditional cultural idioms and heritage. Part of the use of Webkinz bling can be seen as defiance against another form of Kinzcash capitalism, the racialized white webkinz capitalism that works to keep ethnic minorities (like Soleil and Kitty) in a subjugated position. So while wearing them diamond bracelets, sippin' on Cris, fittin up that Benz with Lorenzo rims might not save or edify you, it'll sure feel good to stick it to the W Man.