Two Thumbs? Shhh. Don't Judge. Click.

I believe that there lies a critic in all of us that has been suppressed. These phrases are likely familiar to you: "Don't judge a book by its cover" "Judge not lest you be judged" aka "Don't judge others if you don't want to be judged yourself."

Strange.

I see in each phrase a tidbit of life advice based on an opinion with an inherent judgment on what you should do. These arguments are not tautologically sound, but are good practical advice anyway. Now, I think that is enough philosophizing for the day, but my point is that as people we are built to judge and form opinions. We have likes and dislikes. We have wants and desires and a basic need to communicate them. And traditionally, corporations, incorprated wills if you will, have convinced us to form particular opinions. You want proof?

I bet you can name these products: "Obey Your Thirst!" "Drive one." "I'm loving it." "The Freshmaker!" Why can you name them?

Marketers succesfully conveyed a message to convey an opinion: use our excellent product. In fact, marketers used advertising slogans shorther than Twitter tweets to penetrate our minds. Cool. And whether you like the product or not, they have your attention and then you form an opinion. You are forced to do so. Even if your response is "I don't care," the goal of getting you to form an opinion has been a success. It is akin to asking you not to think about the funny plaid giraffe? Even if you just said "what funny plaid giraffe" or moved your thoughts on, you responded to the environmental stimulus and undoubtedly thought of what I just asked you not to. Careful, the giraffe is behind you.....right now.

I know marketers get this concept; however, I think marketers have finally realized that the next stage of this "mind control" control game is to get us to simply talk about a product more than our annual superbowl ad conversations. Companies are seeking to have consumers interact with each other and just conversere with the company. The company talking to us is proven by the advent of fan pages on facebook and myspace.

I believe marketers are no longer seeking to get you to buy or talk about products. They want cults. YES, CULTS. How else can you explain a recent DVD sales campaign in which the voice over encouraged young teens to buy the DVD at midnight and have viewing parties (Twilight by the way)? They want us drumming up business by pushing an experience, the cult environment, in which relationships are built around a fanboy community. In effect, marketing has moved to creating Trekkie followings before a product is even released in some instances. It worked with the Blair Witch Project. It is certainly true for Sheetz, a 7 eleven like store, on facebook. 300 anyone?

The danger in this style of marketing is that when a large base of fans are hyped prior to use, there is a risk/reward game being played. Once a base is motivated, we as a group will be unabashedly critical with our voices - positive or negative - simply because we just want to get our suppressed opinions out there - which is one of many reasons I believe people blog. Moreover, the risk is that a large consumer base will trash the product at the outset. The reward is the large social network that will hear the positive news from the mobilized fanbase and that the consumer buzz will touch more people. And, the message will come across as less corporate since the new marketers will be your buddies, maybe its your mom or your dad, your spouse, your kid, you?, even that plaid giraffe......."it could be anyone, anyone at all"

By the way, I absolutely loved The Dark Knight. I also think Pez is a lot of fun, the dispenser is simply nostalgic. I love the Sheetz Made to Order touch BUTTOn menu - nothing like a good Shmuffin. Call me crazy, but I also think Keanu Whoa Reeves is one of the most underrated actors of our generation......The Matrix, Constantine, The Devil's Advocate, The Replacements, Speed, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Point Break I can go on but I think it is clear that these movies are Most Triumphant!

Booting Off