There are as many ways of responding to the global financial crisis as there are plummeting 401(k)s, but French branding firm Al Dente at least has the merit of being clever. The company is issuing a line of tongue-in-cheek crisis-slogan stickers and tees next week at (where else?) Colette, a boutique that isn't exactly famous for its recessionary prices. Those on a tighter budget can go to the company's Web site and suggest their own quips and read those of others, all of which can be printed out and made into stickers. (The site recommends that you make them with your office's color copier—taking care not to get caught—which suggests somewhat hopefully that you've still got an office to go to.) A working knowledge of French is necessary for some of the more complicated offerings, and at least a few are as willfully nonsensical en français as in English. "Je voudrais un menu maxi criseburger avec potatoes et coca svp!" reads one, essentially ordering a crisis-burger Happy Meal. You'd have to check with McDo (as the Gauls call the house of Ronald McDonald) to be sure, but we're guessing that one doesn't come with a toy prize.
Shirts and stickers available from Dec. 15 at Colette, 213 rue Saint-Honoré, Paris, (011) 33-1-55-35-33-90, colette.fr; to make your own stickers and view others, visit aldentelacrise.com