Saturday Night Magazine: Destination Success
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Whenever you find yourself in one of those "specialty gifts" stores, like Claire's, or Ahhs, or Spencer's, those wild bazaars of strange and silly and pricey gifts (i.e. the sponge penis, the Shakespeare figurines) you have to wonder: who makes this stuff? Well, we found one, a start-up inventor with an existential mission, Andrew Lorn Klamer, creator and disseminator of "Karma in a Can."
The product comes encased in a small metal spray tube, like Evian; also like Evian, |
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| "Karma in a Can" sprays water. Except it's not actually water, it's "Karma." Klamer explains, "I've always been obsessed with pop culture. My Dad's been an inventor for 50 years. He was one of the originators of the Hula Hoop, and one way my Dad has been able to be a success is he can see trends coming. I just saw a new Karma trend. Buddha, Zen, My Name Is Earl, Alicia Keyes. The hottest club in New York is the Buddha Bar. I saw this trend coming." | ||
| But, is this a real trend in America? Let us see. The yoga-craze: check. Fear: check. Boredom: check. School shootings: check. Your earthy friend who has the self-help/spirituality book for you: check. Torture: check. America's foreign policy of walking under every ladder and petting every black cat: check. Sure, America could use some karma in the can, some karma in the car, some karma on the stage, karma served at the bar!
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The point is, we want this. We want karma in a can, no matter our reservations as to the actual karma-effects of selling spiritual energy in cans for eight-dollars. We want it anyway. Pop culture products have the dual ability to insult us as well as define us. Besides, it's not the water you're buying, it's the idea. You're buying a "high-concept" symbol of an idea, something Klamer calls an "impulse item." But K.I.C. doesn't stop with the can idea.
"Aside from the Hula-hoop and the pet rock, which were one trick ponies, Karma in a Can has spawned a whole cosmetics line, Karma Creatives. Karma in a lip balm. Karma in a candle. We have eight new candle flavors." |
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In case you're wincing, understand that it's not all dollars and cents, as Klamer claims with can in hand. "It's not just a name, it's a message. This pretty much says it all. The Karma philosophy is something I trademarked. It's essentially, ‘the conscious actions we perform have a corresponding result. The ability to do good things is within us all. By doing good things we will receive good fortune.' So we're sending a strong message, you know?"
Yah. I read the message loud and clear. |
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Written by Mark Burnham
Thursday, September 21 2006