Friday, February 20, 2009

FREE THE MARKET

I am a capitalist.

If you can produce something for which people will pay top-dollar, by George, go for it! Full-throttle forward. Bleed 'em dry.

For me, this translates to esteem for and advocation of clever and even wily marketing.

A good marketing campaign capitalizes on an understanding of a target audience's needs, wants and insecurities. And they do it with me bouncing around in the background in my cheerleading uniform of yore, rattling poms and screaming, Go! Fight! Win!

I do not believe that marketing should baby consumers; in fact, I believe that its aim should be to artfully take advantage of people. The burden of research, understanding necessities, and interpreting individual wants is upon the consumer, not the marketers, and I believe that in that regard, our society has become soft. Consumers are whiny little monsters, claiming that advertising holds them hostage and that they shouldn't be responsible for sifting through the ads and claims to discover the right products for their lives.

Don't get me wrong; I am not a proponent of false advertising and lies. I'm just convinced that the most in-depth research and outlandish creativity in marketing should reap the greatest fiscal rewards. And I am a proponent of great fiscal reward.

I'm more likely to read an ad or watch a commercial and turn to The Husband, saying, "Was that clever or what? Nicely done!" rather than moaning about what conniving bastards the drug, technology, or automotive companies are. If I get taken, that's my fault; the onus is on me, not the company who hired the most cunning marketing firm.

Sure, I shake my head at the Activia ads, telling whoever will listen that it would be sweet if The Great Someone required Jamie Lee Curtis to reveal that in order to get the advertised digestive benefits of the yogurt, one must consume three cartons of the goo daily. But I also give Dannon a big fat hip-hip-hooray for their adroit marketing campaign that's got women worldwide wasting calories on marginal benefits.

Rock on, I say. Rock. The. Heck. On.

2 comments:

Shayne said...

I love advertisements I like to see great commercials and really complain a the bad ones.

When it comes to capitalism I am for it if we did it but I have issues with the fact we do not pay the real cost of goods. Don't worry we will soon. see http://www.storyofstuff.com/ it is a good and simple overview of our consumption as a nation. you see this more when visiting other nations that are not so well off

whitneyingram said...

Sometimes it is a little out of control. Like on a commercial for dish washing liquid.

First, the little dishwasher soap pouch looks like a candy or a cosmetic. Way too special for just cleaning dishes. THEN once you put it in the dishwasher, fireworks go off outside and the moon is dancing. Then the moon turns into to a plate and the dishwasher-emptying woman in the commercial reaches into the sky and pulls the plate down from it's lofty heights and puts it back into the cupboard. During commercials like those, I remind Ethan that this is a commercial for dish washing soap and not Disneyland.