Opinions for Nothing

Is Chia Obama racist?

I was listening to the John and Ken Show on KFI AM 640 on Monday. They were talking to Joseph Pedott, founder of the Chia Pets company and creator of Chia Obama. He was so earnest in his description of how he conceived the idea of Chia Obama. He wanted to honor the President with something respectful that represented the hope the President was bringing to the nation (a year ago, when Pedott first had the idea).

Pedott carefully chose every word and phrase in the television commercial and on the Chia Obama packaging so that each sent an uplifting, patriotic message without being political. Pedott took the product to Walgreen's, with which he had a long-standing business relationship. They were thrilled with the product and tested it in the Chicago and Tampa markets, debuting it on a Saturday. Each day the Chia Obama was on the shelves, sales increased 50% over the day before. Walgreens told Pedott they wanted to go nationwide with the product. Pedott shelled out the bucks and ordered 500,000 units. That Friday, Walgreens pulled the plug because there were some complaints about the product being racist.

"Since when is an Afro racist?" asked Pedott. He added that owners can trim Chia Obama's "hair" to any length they want. When Pedott gave one to President Obama, the President liked it. Even Jesse Jackson didn't think it was racist. Jesse Jackson, dudes.

My question is the same as Pedott's: How can an Afro be racist? Obama wore an Afro when he was younger. If he let his hair grow out now, he could have one again. (How awesome would that be?) Recently, I heard a news story about the inventor of a line of black Barbies who was criticized for making their hair too "white." The creator is black herself and said her favorite thing about playing with Barbies when she was a girl was playing with their long hair.

Right now, the only place you can buy Chia Obama in stores is at Fred Meyer in Seattle and Portland. You can also buy Chia Obama online at www.ChiaObama.com or on Amazon. Even better, you can win a Chia Obama right here.

WIN IT

To enter to win a Chia Obama, leave a comment on this post telling me if you think Chia Obama is racist or not.

To get a second entry, tweet this "RT @PeevedMichelle Can hair be racist? (Enter to win a Chia Obama!) http://bit.ly/3FMN2o" AND post a second comment letting me know you tweeted it.

Contest closes Black Friday (11/27) at Midnight Pacific. I will choose a winner randomly from those who comment.

You Get What You Pay For: Haircut Edition

I tend not to get my hair cut often. I usually keep it long and layered and I just need a trim when I finally go, so it is really difficult for me to justify spending a lot on a haircut. I had been going to a drop-in place near work that was better than Super Cuts but not really that great after all. Every time I went in, my hair was cut a little worse than the time before.

Just before BlogHer in July, I went back to a real salon for a real haircut and some sideswept bangs. I went to the woman who had styled my hair for my wedding. Turns out she is great at updos and shitty at cutting hair. At BlogHer, when I had my hair styled by Anna from Lukaro Salon in Beverly Hills, she actually had to cut my bangs to fix them before she could style them.

Even though I knew I'd had a bad haircut and needed another one, I refused to get another hair cut because I'd just had one and I didn't want to pay for another one. It would feel like I was paying double for a haircut, which is ridiculous reasoning. Now that it's been about three months, I could finally justify getting my haircut again. I decided to quit being so cheap and I paid $95 (plus tip) to have Anna cut my hair. It was worth every penny.

I think the $100 mark is about where it stops, though. I once paid $250 for a hair cut with Jonathon Antin (before his ridiculous, narcissistic reality show, after which he raised his rate to $500) and it was so not worth the money.