Sleep Like a Homeless Person From the Comfort of Your Home
Be honest: after a long day of work and play, you'd like nothing more than to curl up underneath some cardboard boxes. But who can stay warm under cardboard? And how can you make your homeless style chic?
Dutch company Snurk has the solution — they've produced a duvet cover that resembles cardboard boxes. And the selling point? It "lets you sleep under a cardboard box so a homeless person doesn't have to." Of course, only a portion of the proceeds go to a homeless charity Big Issue, so you could just donate your $90 directly.
This whole thing is gross: the glorification of being forced to sleep under a box, the self-satisfaction of the product description, the need to display your charitable nature to house guests. And rest assured — unlike real cardboard boxes, the Snurk duvet cover can withstand a good cleaning. After all, you don't want to smell homeless.
This high quality duvet cover features a photographic print of a cardboard box. This produces an extremely sharp image that stays flexible because the ink is printed directly in the cotton. The image will stay crisp after frequent washing.
I'm not the only one raising an eyebrow. UPI has the story of negative reactions from Swedish homeless advocates.
Advocate Yvonne Borg said she couldn't see how sleeping under what appears to be cardboard would be "particularly pleasant" and said she saw the marketing as exploiting homeless people.
This should go without saying. And yet, Snurk and its retailers are standing by it. The Aftonbladet newspaper spoke with a spokesman for Swedish department store Nordiska Kompaniet. He maintained there was nothing questionable about the snazzy Snurk design.
Department store spokesman Jorgen Eriksson told the paper exploitation "is not the purpose" of the marketing.
"One buys it to show awareness," he said.
Oh, sure. There's no better way to show that you care than by snuggling up with a blanket that looks like what the homeless people outside are shivering to death under. Do note that pillowcases are sold separately. But maybe hold out on those — with any luck, Snurk will design some with grisly images of animal slaughter to raise awareness of factory farming. Sleep tight.
