Comments on: Is marketing now cheap, fast and out of control?

By: Constantinos

Constantinos — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 16:17:53 +0000

Grant,

Excellent post, (and it reminds me of some of the issues you raised in your recent celebrity post).
Likewise, admitting to the meaning making that so much mass advertising has contributed to also interferes with our "self love, our sense of our seriousness, our belief in our own authenticity"?
No one wants to hear that.

By: Peter

Peter — Fri, 28 Oct 2005 15:24:13 +0000

Great post, Grant. Can I say, as someone who has put in the hours developing and executing marketing plans, that I disagree profoundly with Joseph Davies' post. To say that advertising is not meaningful, or does not contribute to people's creation of meaning in their lives, is to belittle those people; that sort of condescension is simply unacceptable.

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 28 Oct 2005 07:13:08 +0000

The problem with delaying the regicide until there's a plan for the succession is that the people who wish to kill the king don't especially care about the succession. (Which is not to cast aspersions, in this case…I don't especially care about the fate of mass media either.)

By: Charu

Charu — Fri, 28 Oct 2005 05:06:01 +0000

Hi Grant, long time since I left a thought here – lots of questions this post has raised in my mind. one of them is what I generally wonder about – how far is it true that advertising *creates* meaning – to me, advertising is more about *reflection* than *cultivation* – I believe that advertising mirrors meanings and values that are prevalent in society at that time – and not actually creates it… not quite a meaning-maker as you say, but a meaning-projector…
(gotta run now, will be back later)

By: rkleine

rkleine — Fri, 28 Oct 2005 02:22:02 +0000

grant - something about your post has me wondering: is the consumer the new monarch? is meaning making moving beyond the reach of the marketer? is meaning making becoming the province of individual's culturally embedded identity projects (e.g., http://www2.onu.edu/%7Er-kleine/research/pubs/ACR_2000_KK_ACR.pdf)? Rather than viewing meaning as flowing down, is the new monarch found in understanding how meaning flows up from individual indentity projects -> subcultures -> culture?

(apologies for the intermission, i had to step outside to savor the serenade of two owls hoo-hoo-hooing wone another across the distance).

Is it time to expand our for understandings complex-adaptive/emergent meaning systems? Indeed, from a complex-adaptive systems perspective, is managing meaning even a relevant concept?

By: Grant

Grant — Fri, 28 Oct 2005 01:41:50 +0000

Joseph, for the record, Culture and Consumption II is not a repeat, it's a sequel, you've heard of a sequel?, thank you for this delectable nonsense. Best, Grant

By: joseph davies

joseph davies — Thu, 27 Oct 2005 23:37:36 +0000

So the winds of change are blowing... I am very doubtful.. seems its just the same old wind blowing.... and I smell a rat. Even this current blog entry is a repeat of an interview about a book, which, according to its title, is a repeat performance as well. Thus, you have just taken away any reason I might have for ever reading your book... what kind of marketing is that? As a marketeer you are very keen on making the most of what is appears to be a lack of imagination. If I was your boss I'd begin by looking for a replacement, at least someone who's willing to give me some actual content instead of refried taco bell.

The notion that advertizing has ever offered anything new or even meaningful to the public is a flight of fantasy. You paint a picture of the '50s that does not include anything except chevrolet ads, where were you during the Korean War? Do you know that for some people meaning is actually meaningful? Do you know the difference between the consumer and the public? The terms are being blurred only because most marketeers don't know squat about anybody's psychology except their own...

Q:What is meaning to the meaning-maker? A: dollars...
seems to me that the psychology of the marketeer is identical to the psychology of the consumer... what a funny box to be in.
on a bad day its called cannibalism, on a good day its an incestious love-in.... (slim pickins) The way I see it, its the marketeer's job in this boxed-up relationship to socilit fresh meat. And you know... THAT is the worlds oldest profession. As for those folks outside the box, those who are not so-called consumers, but actually real people who try to make real meaning in this world, they are getting marginalized by your big bad box. As time goes on, and as events in this world loose meaning (thx dubya) these regular folks have two choices, either join the cannibalistic love-in or flush that t-rex box down the drain..... see ya later alligator!

By: joseph davies

joseph davies — Thu, 27 Oct 2005 23:36:36 +0000

Q:What is meaning to the meaning-maker? A: dollars...
seems to me that the psychology of the marketeer is identical to the psychology of the consumer... what a funny box to be in.
on a bad day its called cannibalism, on a good day its an incestious love-in.... (slim pickins) The way I see it, its the marketeer's job in this boxed-up relationship to socilit fresh meat. And you know... THAT is the worlds oldest profession. As for those folks outside the box, those who are not so-called consumers, but actually real people who try to make real meaning in this world, they are getting marginalized by your big bad box. As time goes on, and as events in this world loose meaning (thx dubya) these regular folks have two choices, either join the cannibalistic love-in or flush that trex box down the drain..... see ya later alligator!