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the poppy answer is blowing in the wind

The Toronto Star - Off our jackets the poppies blow - November 9, 2006

I hate bad design.
The poppy is a very bad design.

The folks at the Royal Canadian Legion are fully aware the Remembrance Day symbols that have helped millions honour the fallen since 1922 do tend to fall — often undetected — from lapels, sweaters and jackets.

Just take a look down at the sidewalk, where many an accidentally jettisoned poppy becomes a casualty, trampled by so many soldiers of the new economy marching to work and shop.

...

After paying the cost of production, a few cents each for the 18 million poppies the Legion distributes every year, the proceeds — about $15 million in donations — go to helping needy veterans. The more it costs to make a poppy, the less the vets get.

So the Legion doesn't mind if citizens buy more than one poppy and, for that, Clark makes no apologies. "That is the positive side of this. The veterans will receive more support if you buy a second poppy."

Or third, or fourth.

"It works out well that way," he adds, stifling a chuckle. "It's not planned, but it works out well."

Oh for God's sake.
Make the cheapo poppy for the cheapo people, and make an expensive one for people who don't want it to fall off. In fact, I'll quite happily buy an expensive permanent one AND give you my credit card so you can automatically charge it $5 or whatever every November. I don't actually need to get a new one every year. Two weeks of people attempting to stick millions of poppies onto their jackets, and then... millions of poppies in the trash. Oh that's a good system.

Previously:
October 21, 2001 - poppy rant
November 2, 2001 - poppy poem posted by Richard at 14:05 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)