Probably everyone has an ambivalent relationship with advertising. Sometimes it entertains, makes us cringe or totally revolts us. Many of us have memories tied up with products and ad campaigns. Ask your grandparents who is "Speedy" or your parents "where's the beef". Advertisement gets to both reflect and shape popular culture and maybe it's always been that way. Archaeologists have found advertisements that are as old as the Great Pyramids. The Greek Olympic games had them, the frontiers of the Roman Empire can be mapped out in unearthed commercial messages carved in marble and the growth globalization can be documented by the ubiquitous presence of the Golden Arches, the Nike swoosh and the Coke-a-Cola logo.
There is a wealth of bad of products and the advertising that goes with it. I had fun sharing these ads with my sister-in-law. She's now pregnant with her third child and has always been the doting and vigilant mother. No white sugar in her house, she has everything sweeten with agave syrup because honey is too commercial and how can you have organic honey where almost every other plant is sprayed with pesticides? I'm sure Whole Foods is trying to find a way to ease my sister-in-laws fears.
I'm 12 years older than my brother and almost 20 years older than my sister-in-law. As smart as she is, she is often suspicious when I show stuff like this. It's hard to believe any of us get to survive into adulthood. I wonder what the people of near future will look back on and shake their heads in shock and disapproval. Anybody remember Baby Einstein Videos? Back in the mid 1990's they were all the rage and I felt like a neglectful parent because I didn't have the spare cash to buy them. Fifteen years later the videos/ DVD's are linked to shorter attention spans and delays in language development. Who would have guested old school love and care is still the best thing.
Real satisfaction and the tried and true are the enemies of commerce. Nothing is more powerful than the promise of something new. So instead of practicing everyday to be an athlete all you need to do is buy the "newest" sneakers to get the edge. If it can't be new then it comes from an old, wise and forgotten tradition. And if neither of these ploys are applicable there is always sex, the suggestion of sex, and the dissatisfaction with sex. Like the adjacent ad suggests -if your wife isn't doing her job at home then give her a spanking. Let her know you're not happy. Of course that kind of message would never work today -advertisers have to be clever, ironic and much more insidious.
Remember you can never be truly happy until you buy something to make yourself happy. The world is full of glamours high paying jobs, easy casual sex and eternal physical beauty as long as you attach yourself to the right commercial products. Just ask any advertiser.
Take the story of Cinderella, she had a nice personality but her Fairy Godmother knew what Cinderella really needed was the right packaging. Which meant a formal gown, a little bit of bling and a pimped out ride. And how can I forget the shoes. Notice the story ends when she gets the prince and we never find out how she "lived happily ever after". That part of the story isn't important because it could be too much like real life and Walt Disney wasn't buying it
And now for the shameless plug. If you enjoy reading this blog please tell your friends. So far the response has been good but if you share this blog with somebody and they in turn share it with somebody else ... it could be the beginning of a new force in world domination. And you can tell all your friends you started reading this blog back when it was just starting out.
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Oh yes -nothing is sacred. If a mediocre rock band of cartoon characters can slap their logo on over 3,000 products (including a KISS coffin) then why not history? Will kids on the verge of dropping out of school be able to rekindle their academic spirit with a KISS history book? I don't know but I think I see a product here. Any investors out there?
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