Overview

Barefoot Is Legal is an organization started in 2015 by Dave Kelman in support of going barefoot in public, including public indoor spaces and while driving. Through the website barefootislegal.com, a podcast on Freedomizer, a Facebook page and other social media efforts, Barefoot Is Legal spreads the word that it is legal to go barefoot in public despite what society and signage might tell you. Barefoot Is Legal claims to stand up for people who not only want to go barefoot for comfort reasons, but also for medical, religious, cultural and health reasons. The group is known best for its posts advocating for the barefoot lifestyle, which are shared ironically on meme pages and unironically otherwise. The Facebook page boasts over 100,000 members as of November 2021.

History

In late June 2014, the BarefootIsLegal.org^[4] name was registered and a website was published. In April 2015, the BarefootIsLegal Twitter^[3] page was launched. In July 2015 the Barefoot Is Legal Facebook^[1] page was then opened. The website allows users to pay a premium price of $50 per year for perks including a laminated head-to-toe ID card, a statement about how it's legal to be barefoot. One of the first posts on the Facebook^[5] page, made on July 28th, 2015, describes a number of myths vs. facts about being barefoot in public, dispelling rumors that it's illegal (shown below).

The organization gained many unironic and ironic fans for their memes and barefoot education posts, which are often mistaken as ironic by outsiders. On February 13th, 2017, they posted a meme about a "barefoot challenge" happening that March followers were tasked with going into a business barefoot and photographing it, gaining over 41,000 shares in four years (shown below, left). On May 10th they posted a meme encouraging people to drive barefoot (shown below, right).

On March 29th, 2018, Buzzfeed^[7] published an article investigating the organization. The author reached out to the group's Minneapolis-based regional director, who said: "Our goal is to educate businesses, corporate America, and society that in many cases shoes are not necessary and can have negative effects on your health." In the article, they talk about how the group is gaining ironic popularity as people post their memes online. The article features quotes from Kelman, who says he started the group after being kicked out of a Baskin Robbins for being barefoot, the manager warning him of the possibility of shattered glass.

In August 2018, MEL Magazine^[2] published a story delving into the origins of the organization, featuring quotes from its founder Kelman. The article offers a different origin story for the organization. According to the article, Kelman was inspired to start Barefoot Is Legal after an incident in 1992 when he was 20 years old and spilled boiling hot water into his Doc Marten boots during work at a hotel restaurant, which resulted in burns on his feet that kept him hospitalized for nearly two weeks. Kelman claims he's preferred being barefoot since and goes everywhere he can barefoot, with the only exception being when it's too hot on the pavement and he has to wear flip flops. The article also gives some backstory to Kelman himself, revealing that he's a conspiracy theorist who speaks against vaccines and for personal freedoms on his Freedomizer radio show.

Online Presence

Barefoot Education Memes / Posts

Barefoot Is Legal is best known for its education posts and memes encouraging people to go barefoot everywhere, many of which are shared ironically by meme pages for being unintentionally funny to those outside the organization (examples shown below, left and right).

The highest engagement post on the Facebook^[6] page was posted on April 5th, 2017, and claims most people don't go barefoot for fear of being yelled at, gaining over 3,100 reactions and 133,000 shares in four years (shown below).

YouTube Channel

On March 30th, 2020, Barefoot Is Legal founder Dave Kelman started a YouTube channel for the organization. The first video was posted that day and features hardly audible audio quality of Kelman discussing how it's easier and cleaner to wear no shoes during the COVID-19 pandemic because shoes allegedly hold the virus for a length of time (shown below).

The majority of the videos on the channel offer education on being barefoot, similar to the posts found on their other social media pages (examples shown below).

Search Interest

External References