Trendsurfing: Dog tags (The Times)
By David Rowan
Excuse us for finally catching up on a trend that dates back to the 1860s. But if you've noticed small metal "dog tags" dangling from the necks of teenagers rather than canines this summer, you might wonder how these contrived personal identifiers suddenly came to be so ubiquitous. The answer owes something to the US Civil War, the gangsta rapper's appetite for bling, and the charity sector's need to find ever-fresher fundraising gimmicks. None of which, naturally, will keep this a live teen fad for long - or have you forgotten all last summer's excitement about those must-have charity wristbands?
Last year, eight million of us wore a "Make Poverty History" bracelet, according to the campaign - raising not just cash but the awareness that a charity craves. That trend can be traced back to one man: Lance Armstrong, whose foundation's "Live Strong" campaign turned a synthetic rubber wristband into a fashion item. Sourcing the origins of the fashion dog tag is rather more complicated. But next time you see a hipster's neck dangling an 18K white-gold tag, or one flashing blue LED letters emblazoned with a rapper's name, think back to that historic American rumble between the Confederates and the Unionists.
US soldiers heading for the Civil War battlefields seem to have been the targets of the first marketing campaign for metallic identification tags. Entrepreneurs persuaded those enlisting that should the worst happen, name tags would ensure that their families were informed quickly. By 1899, the US military was distributing metal discs to troops heading for the Philippines. In later wars, dog tags were formalised to include Social Security number, blood type and religion.
There is a heavy emotional symbolism attached to a tag designed to identify the dead and wounded. The sixties counterculture sought to co-opt these resonances, with Vietnam War protest tags declaring instead "Love" or "Peace". Today, in the context of another unpopular war, these tags signify neither patriotism nor dissent but now charitable humanism or the wearer's pop-culture preferences. The Sun has been offering England team dog tags as "the must-have accessory [to] show your support for England's World Cup heroes". Corporates from Coca Cola to Disney have been offering branded tags as a form of low-cost marketing. Websites and merchandising stores are selling tags signifying the wearer's support for Jesus, 50 Cent, or the custom-engraved photographs of dear departed relatives. Just as with designer camouflage jackets and khaki jeans, military chic is once again being mercilessly commercialised.
But it is charities that hope to gain the most from the trend. As ever, this all started stateside. The late Dana Reeve, widow of Christopher, promoted his foundation by selling dog tags bearing the Superman logo and the motto "Go Forward". The Name Campaign, which seeks to stop the use of child soldiers by the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda, issued dog tags bearing the names and ages of abducted children. And, logically enough, celebrity-designed fashion dog tags have been used to promote dog adoption by an American animal-welfare charity.
Now it's Britain's turn for the full charity dog-tag blitz. Marie Curie Cancer Care is selling the tags as "the hottest new way" to promote its cause, the Samaritans are using them to shout that "Life Matters", and the death-row charity Reprieve wants your neck to declare: "Never give up hope”. Great if the tags promote good causes in the short term. Just don't expect them to remain "hot" once school returns in September.
(The Times Magazine, July 1 2006)
Excuse us for finally catching up on a trend that dates back to the 1860s. But if you've noticed small metal "dog tags" dangling from the necks of teenagers rather than canines this summer, you might wonder how these contrived personal identifiers suddenly came to be so ubiquitous. The answer owes something to the US Civil War, the gangsta rapper's appetite for bling, and the charity sector's need to find ever-fresher fundraising gimmicks. None of which, naturally, will keep this a live teen fad for long - or have you forgotten all last summer's excitement about those must-have charity wristbands?
Last year, eight million of us wore a "Make Poverty History" bracelet, according to the campaign - raising not just cash but the awareness that a charity craves. That trend can be traced back to one man: Lance Armstrong, whose foundation's "Live Strong" campaign turned a synthetic rubber wristband into a fashion item. Sourcing the origins of the fashion dog tag is rather more complicated. But next time you see a hipster's neck dangling an 18K white-gold tag, or one flashing blue LED letters emblazoned with a rapper's name, think back to that historic American rumble between the Confederates and the Unionists.
US soldiers heading for the Civil War battlefields seem to have been the targets of the first marketing campaign for metallic identification tags. Entrepreneurs persuaded those enlisting that should the worst happen, name tags would ensure that their families were informed quickly. By 1899, the US military was distributing metal discs to troops heading for the Philippines. In later wars, dog tags were formalised to include Social Security number, blood type and religion.
There is a heavy emotional symbolism attached to a tag designed to identify the dead and wounded. The sixties counterculture sought to co-opt these resonances, with Vietnam War protest tags declaring instead "Love" or "Peace". Today, in the context of another unpopular war, these tags signify neither patriotism nor dissent but now charitable humanism or the wearer's pop-culture preferences. The Sun has been offering England team dog tags as "the must-have accessory [to] show your support for England's World Cup heroes". Corporates from Coca Cola to Disney have been offering branded tags as a form of low-cost marketing. Websites and merchandising stores are selling tags signifying the wearer's support for Jesus, 50 Cent, or the custom-engraved photographs of dear departed relatives. Just as with designer camouflage jackets and khaki jeans, military chic is once again being mercilessly commercialised.
But it is charities that hope to gain the most from the trend. As ever, this all started stateside. The late Dana Reeve, widow of Christopher, promoted his foundation by selling dog tags bearing the Superman logo and the motto "Go Forward". The Name Campaign, which seeks to stop the use of child soldiers by the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda, issued dog tags bearing the names and ages of abducted children. And, logically enough, celebrity-designed fashion dog tags have been used to promote dog adoption by an American animal-welfare charity.
Now it's Britain's turn for the full charity dog-tag blitz. Marie Curie Cancer Care is selling the tags as "the hottest new way" to promote its cause, the Samaritans are using them to shout that "Life Matters", and the death-row charity Reprieve wants your neck to declare: "Never give up hope”. Great if the tags promote good causes in the short term. Just don't expect them to remain "hot" once school returns in September.
(The Times Magazine, July 1 2006)
posted by David Rowan at Monday, July 03, 2006
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