Lululemon Athletica Combines Ayn Rand And Yoga

The New York Times:

Lululemon Athletica, the retailer of yoga pants and hoodies, has long decorated shopping bags with slogans that appear to have been lifted from self-help books. But this month its bags have asked a question that some may find more provocative: "Who is John Galt?"

The question is the opening line of "Atlas Shrugged," the novel by Ayn Rand that was published in 1957. Followers of Rand's free market philosophy, which promotes the idea of individuals living for their self-interest and dismisses altruism, sometimes use the question to signal their allegiance.

Galt would not likely have proclaimed, as Lululemon's bags once did, that "what we do to the earth, we do to ourselves." Nor does the online reaction to the campaign suggest that many Lululemon shoppers are fans of Rand's philosophy, known as Objectivism.

Read the whole story

Comments

[Mr Hankey]

09:16 PM on 11/30/2011

Silly, offensive, and pretty bad timing in my opinion.
I used to think you had an interesting gig lulu - not any more. I thought Yoga is an embracing of humanity.... but this is an embracing of self and selfishness.

If I ever need to walk into any of your places of business again, I'll make a shirt for the occasion that reads:
Who is Bernie Sanders?

[JuanitoTheCat]

01:55 PM on 11/29/2011

If we needed another reason to boycott Lululemon, here it is. It's long past time for the yoga community to take a long hard look at itself and it's pathetic connivance with the worst kind of shallow consumerism. The erosion of the spiritual basis of yoga in favor of egoistic striving for a physical perfectionism is both sad and debased.
That a company who embraces the self-serving egoism of Ayn Rand like LuluLemon would come to represent success is at once unsurprising and also ought to be a call to arms to recover the depth and meaning of yogic practice.

[saskatoonie]

12:34 AM on 11/29/2011

No!

[The Corporate Champion]

10:48 PM on 11/28/2011

Absolutely they do.