About a month
ago, three people were shot and killed in two separate incidents in the Mission
district of San Francisco, which happens to be the same neighborhood where I live. These shootings
were related to gang violence between rival factions of the Norteños, a Latino gang based in Northern California. Apparently, the Norteños'
gang color is RED,
so anyone wearing red could be mistaken for a gang member. Living in a neighborhood
like the Mission, where there is significant gang activity, increases the
likelihood of mistaken identity if you are wearing gang colors.
Other people thought I was paranoid but then guess what happened last
week? Some guy wearing RED SNEAKERS was mistaken as a gang member and
beaten on a Muni bus in the middle of the day (google “Christopher Borgzinner”
if you don’t believe me). I was talking to my friend Kandea about how we can’t
wear our Cornell gear in my neighborhood and then a good point was brought up, “Why do gangs choose all the best colors?”
In some neighborhoods you can’t wear blue; in others you can’t wear red. I’m
sure some combination of white and black are probably taken too. Why can’t gangs ever choose less mainstream
colors like magenta or viridian? In doing so, gang members create a unique
identity and brand for themselves and they don’t have to deal with the hassle of trying
to figure out if someone is a gang member or not. And for us innocent folks,
we don’t have to deal with the inconvenience of not being able to wear some of
our favorite clothes. Organized crime could certainly benefit from a few courses in marketing.
I think I smell a
potential consulting project for some first-year MBAs looking to bolster their resume with
brand management experience!
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