Huffington Post Says Scrapbooking Will "Never Be Cool"
The Huffington Post is taking fire from scrapbookers for an article it published on Tuesday called "8 Crafts That'll Never Be Cool, Ever: Scrapbooking, Plastic Canvas, Rock Painting & More". The article, by Brie Dyas, who is the Senior Editor of HuffPost Style and HuffPost Home struck a nerve with scrapbookers with its contemptuous treatment of scrapbooking and obvious lack of understanding of the hobby.
Dyas starts off in the introduction to her "top eight" list by calling scrapbooking "nerdy" and "sad":
But there are some crafts that can never make the transition from genuine activity to ironic statement to socially acceptable practice. For example: scrapbooking. Like, I can't imagine telling someone that I spent the evening scrapbooking, without it sounding sad. Even if my scrapbooks were irreverent and awesome. The activity itself is just nerdy.
Then on the list itself - which opens right off the top with scrapbooking - Dyas writes a rant about "crap" and "themed papers" while accompanying the item with a photo of a themed Disney kit that is representative of cutting edge industry style from 15 years ago:
On the surface, scrapbooking isn't so bad. Old-timey books aren't bad at all, but adorable chronicles of a different era. Nowadays, it's all the, well, crap, that makes scrapbooking bad. Themed papers, random logos and all sorts of embellishments that just ruin the sentiment.
The scrapbook industry's ire has been well-represented by Papercrafter's Corner editor Stephanie Hackney, who answered in a lengthy four-part comment tearing apart the piece and standing up for scrapbookers (and crafters in general):
I don't personally know one scrapbooker who would feel ashamed to tell others she (or he) scrapbooks. In fact, famous people who most consider quite cool are scrapbookers. Example? Avril Lavigne. I doubt you'd find too many who consider her "nerdy" or "sad."
Another commenter (Alicia Lou) was quick to cite Kelly Purkey and Amy Tan as examples of twenty-something scrapbookers who are certainly cool by anyone's definition.
A few years ago it was the New York Times taking repeated shots at scrapbookers. Now it seems that the Huffington Post wants to try it. You'd think, since the scrapbooking demographic is so valuable to advertisers, that they'd know better than to poke that bee's nest. I guess not.
