The new MSCHF drop is being delivered and people are not happy
You may remember MSCHF for their NIKE air max 97s that were infused with holy water from the river of Jordan and their Ultrasonic Jamming device for Amazon Alexa. The company deals in viral marketing: They create viral products that cause a stir online and on television and distribute a magazine focused on ways to circumvent “The Man” and take back societal wealth, or something like that. They’re masters in subversive marketing and generating hype, but this time things may not have worked out so well.
MSCHF’s most recent merchandise push, the BLUR via WhatisBlur.com, featured the image of a blurred stack of 20 dollar bills. That distinction, the image, is important here. It seems we have a real life Treachery of of Images in our midst, because what people received was not anything they could have anticipated (despite being somehow very obvious).
Reactions in r/MSCHFapp were varied, with most feeling frustrated and baffled with what appears to be a large, plastic brick that gives the appearance of a blurred stack of twenty dollar bills. The box includes features that induce financial ennui, such as the barcode featuring a string of symbols that reads” NO+H +1N6" and a manifesto about the nature of commerce that cradles the block in it’s Iphone-like box.
Some users are trying to figure out what they can do with it, some are lamenting, some are speculating about minute differences from block to block. One user, u/sadydaddy, made a poignantly cynical post:
“Let this sit on your desk as a reminder not to buy stupid shit and save your money. Really take into consideration what the plastic wrap says about money and the evil behind it. We’re mindless idiots and I think MSCHF wants to remind us of that.”
The MSCHF community has yet to decide the true meaning of The BLUR, be it crap or collectible, and only time will tell.
