Why Amazon's "Maisel Day" stunt was problematic

CityLab

Some critics of Amazon's Los Angeles-wide stunt last Thursday to promote The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel's Emmy chances with 1950s-era prices pointed out that Amazon was spending all this money on a promotion while facing criticism over its wages and working conditions. “Honestly shocked Amazon didn’t attempt to pay their workers $1/hr today under the auspices of it being ‘Maisel Day,’” comic and writer Megan Beth Koester tweeted. Others felt uncomfortable with Amazon celebrating the 1950s, when there was a lack of equal rights. Another gripe was with promoting 30-cent gasoline when Los Angeles is trying to get people out of their cars. "When Amazon turned L.A.’s reliance on fossil fuel into a traffic-tangling marketing stunt, 'Maisel Day' became a gloomy metaphor for the challenge that many sprawled-out cities are facing: Fighting climate change will require seismic shifts in the economy, the built environment, and our personal behavior," says Laura Bliss. "There will be no going back to the familiar patterns of the past."