SPECIAL REPORT: Advertising: Choice is a Grand Illusion

BlueVino

Resist1776.info

5/21/2013

How do you look at the world?  How do you see what’s around you?  Do you understand what you’re looking at?  Most of everything around you is an advertisement.  Look at that big calendar on your desk.  See the label?  Mine says “MeadCal” & a little bubble above it says “FREE ONLINE CALENDAR” and a web address.  What happens when you go there?  You’re blitzed with more advertisements.  There are advertisements of all kinds.  Not all of them are bad.  I’ve got no beef with people that say “here’s my product, please give it a try” and that’s it.  Here, I’ll advertise myself:  Please go to www.reverbnation.com/bluevino & check out our music.  If you like the music, please purchase some to help support us at places like iTunes or GooglePlay (who compares us to Pink Floyd).‎  Also, go to www.blogtalkradio.com/sidetracked & check out our radio talkshow that’s on every Friday at 11pm EST. That’s an honest ad.  No bull, no riff raff, no head games.  But the majority of ads now are ridiculously covered with manipulative undertones.  A lot of it’s sexual.  An argument could be made that this was discovered within the music industry, as at one time, controversy in music regarding sexual innuendo was shocking & drew a LOT of attention.  Attention = opportunity to advertise to a larger audience.

It is this obsession with advertising & pumping more & more information into people’s heads that’s driven our world into the stupor that it’s currently in (& getting worse I might add).  Big budget movies only exist because they get tons of sponsorship from companies that want their products advertised along with or even in the movie.  Bands & musicians that “make it” the most generally are backed by big corporations (think of Sprite commercials & such).  I saw a few years back that Prince was on a “Pepsi tour.”  What happens to those who reject such sponsorship?  They fade away into the background. 

Everything that is popular is developed & improved upon for the sake of advertising.  Why have a faster computer?  Or a computer in the palm of your hand, on you at all times?  Is it really because you can’t wait?  Is it really because you need to be available for everyone to get a hold of you at any time?  Or is it because they’ve gotta get that information into your head as frequently & quickly as possible?  Why have a phone that allows you to access this information at all times?  Because you can call someone when you get in a car wreck?  Please, we’ve been getting into car wrecks for 100 years.  It’s so they can advertise to you NO MATTER WHAT WHERE OR WHEN. 

If you can look out your window & not see one ad, then you probably live in the country on a farm or something.  But even then, your car has “Ford” on it in 4 places on the outside, at least 1 place on the inside, & the key in your pocked says “Ford” on it.  You know what you drive.  Why does it need to be all over the place?  There was a time when cars didn’t even have model names.  What’s that?  It’s a 1938 Ford.  Not a taurus or focus.

So, what does all this have to do with choices?  Your free will to choose what you prefer is what has changed the perception of marketing & advertising throughout recent history.  At first, a very Capitalistic idea that making a better product would lead to more profits because people would always choose the better product, should it stand the test of time & public scrutiny.  Word of mouth was (and still is) a powerful driver for pushing the choices people make when buying or associating themselves with something/someone.

This is all well & good, but something happened.  Something was discovered & then grown which changed the way people perceive the way they make choices.  What if the perception was false?  What if, even though the perception was false, people had a limited number of choices & they were all false perceptions?  On top of this, what if the public COULD choose to go for high quality, but it would be difficult & viewed as either unpopular or just negative to one’s personal finances?  Well, then you have something else entirely.  You certainly wouldn’t have a Free Market.  You also wouldn’t have much of a Free choice in what you do/buy/associate yourself with.  To make matters worse, what if you couldn’t even function within society, let alone society’s culture, without just breaking down & choosing one of the falsely perceived to be “good” options?  Well then you’ve forced a part of humanity into a kind of mind numbing slavery-like existence that would feel scary for any individual to refuse to associate themselves with or take part in, for fear of ending up alone or helpless.

Think of anything:  product, club, political view, education, etc.  It’s all rather limited nowadays isn’t it.  Lets start with products:

Coke or Pepsi?  Yes it’s the classic one.  Sure, there’s other options, but why doesn’t a larger part of society choose one of the lesser options.  Are they in fact lesser?  I’d say no, not at all.  Some are in fact better in quality & healthier.  Ah, but, they’re usually priced differently & that’s scary.  Why is there only Coke or Pepsi in just about every restaurant in America?  Because the two corporations have these chains sign contracts to sell their product ALONE, instead of offering a choice.  In that situation, you actually don’t even have a choice of which brand to drink!

Computer brands.  Here’s one that interests me.  What are your choices of operating systems?  Microsoft or Apple.  Right?  Well, there’s also Linux.  But from what I’ve heard, the list of programs that work on Linux doesn’t seem to be near as large as those that work on Windows or OS X.  I’d switch to Linux myself, as I hate Microsoft & Apple both.  So why don’t I?  Well, I’m a musician & I’m not rich.  I try to record albums with as high of quality products that I can afford, but I’m limited.  The multi-track digital recorder I use only has software that works on Windows or OS X.  So what now?  I have to break down, make a choice, & unfortunately the option that my finances allow that would also keep me away from Windows & OS X would involve me quitting making albums.  I don’t want to do that, so I have to choose from the two I hate.

What about food?  There is well over a majority of food companies that use GMO products in their ingredients.  Anyone that knows about GMO products knows why that’s bad.  So, what are my options?  Well, people tell me to find farmer’s markets & organic grocery stores in my area & only shop there.  Great idea!  Except that the nearest one to me is about a half hour away from me & I’m poor & struggle to afford gas to get to work.  On top of that, it certainly seems to be fairly normal for Organic non-GMO products to be much more expensive.  I certainly can’t afford that.  Which also brings to mind:  with the growing number of people who are on food stamps, what are they to do at a farmers market if they barely make enough to pay rent & use food stamps to buy food?  I doubt a farmer can accept food stamps.  Also, how am I to be sure the farmer even knows he’s using non-GMO seed?  I’m sure a lot of farmers care about that, but what about ones who keep it cheap & buy the 90% of all America’s seed product that’s Monsanto GMO?  Do I have to ask them where they buy their seed, then figure out if that seed company uses Monsanto products?  Seems like a lot of work, especially for someone who can barely afford gasoline.

This giant illusion of choice is prevalent (if not the most prevalent of all) in our country’s political views.  Don’t believe me?  Drive around with this written on your back windshield:  “Romney? Obama? Don’t vote for more of the same. Vote for Gary Johnson!” and tell me how quickly your peers think you’re crazy.  Or ask my wife, who had to deal with a Liberal who said to her, “if Gary Johnson is really running for President, then why ain’t he on the ballot?”  I’m not making that up.  The person didn’t even know who was on the ballot, but ALREADY her perception was that there were only two choices.  Personally, I wonder what that person felt when they went to vote & saw 7 different choices for POTUS.  Or did they even notice?  Or did they even vote?  Who knows.

FULL ARTICLE HERE