As if the contempt I already held for guerrilla marketingtactics weren't enough, now there's undercover marketing, where thehawking of everything from cell phones to cigarettes is disguisedas human interaction.
I didn't need another reason to be suspicious of strangers whotalk to me out of the blue, but now I have one.
If you're like me, the mere mention of a sales pitch is enoughto send you screaming in the opposite direction. Now it seemsMadison Avenue has figured out a new way to push its wares on agun-shy public. The idea is so sickeningly simple, it's a wonderwe're just now hearing about it. All you need is a group ofgood-looking guys and girls to go out and use your product in frontof people.
The next time you're on the street and some hip young coupleasks you to take their picture with their cool picture phone, youmay be a mark. That cute girl at the bar talking up somenewly-discovered brand of smokes may be working for the company.The anonymous blogger raving about a movie you just have to see maybe earning a few cents every time you pen a response. What'sbetter, he or she may be as young as 12 or 13 years old. But thenagain, dishonesty and the Internet are close pals.
As anyone who surfs the Internet knows, quashingconstantly-popping ads is much like a game of whack the weasel,only half as ridiculous and twice as maddening. I've downloadedevery pop-up blocker and have tweaked browser settings I had noidea existed, yet the ads persist. The worst are the pop-up adsthat try to sell you a pop-up blocker.
In most cases, you and I have a choice of whether to payattention to ads, billboards, commercials and Internet pop-ups. AndI don't begrudge companies from marketing their products the oldfashioned way. I'm a customer, and without marketing, our economywould suffer greatly. What bothers me is that an increasinglyantisocial public is now being preyed upon by snake oil salespeoplewho see nothing wrong with what amounts to a con game.
Memphis television commercials are the greatest. Is thereanything funnier and more unbelievable than a white used carsalesman dressed as a pimp? Memphis has enough furniturewarehouses, truck dealers, and cheap suit joints to make Ebayjealous.
I suppose if customers weren't buying, they wouldn't be selling.Who knew the South had such a need for particleboard bookshelvesand mohair? Well, come to think of it, I guess I did.
