Darfur update

If Paris Hilton can garner thousands of headlines and photographs with a trendy
Louis Vuitton purse and a pint-size pooch, surely another newsworthy figure can
do the same, right?
That's what Nadia Plesner was thinking when she designed
a T-shirt featuring a "pimped-out" Darfur victim holding a Vuitton handbag and a
dog bearing a striking resemblance to Hilton's beloved Tinkerbell.
"I wanted
to try to portray how distorted it is, how parts of the media prioritize between
small and big world news. Even with the terrible genocide going on in Darfur,
Paris Hilton is getting most of the attention," she said.

Good thing there's sites like ours to report...you know, ACTUAL news

."If all it takes to make the front page is a designer bag and a small dog,
maybe it's worth trying that for the people who really need attention.
"Everyone knows the image of starving black child, but we've seen it so many
times that we don't really respond to it anymore," she said. "It was a test to
see how the media reacts if you 'pimp the victim.' I think it worked."
Plesner, a 26-year-old Danish art student and member of Designers for
Darfur, was planning to sell the T-shirt online to raise money for victims of
the Sudanese crisis. She didn't anticipate getting involved in a crisis of her
own -- a costly legal battle with the world-famous French luxury retailer.
In February, Louis Vuitton sent Plesner a cease-and-desist letter.