From: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org (alloy-digest) To: alloy-digest@smoe.org Subject: alloy-digest V7 #163 Reply-To: alloy@smoe.org Sender: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk X-To-Unsubscribe: Send mail to "alloy-digest-request@smoe.org" X-To-Unsubscribe: with "unsubscribe" as the body. alloy-digest Thursday, August 15 2002 Volume 07 : Number 163 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Alloy: Re: invasive ads [William Steffey ] Alloy: Re: invasive ads [Sean Carolan ] Re: Alloy: Re: invasive ads [PRAEst76 ] Alloy: Simply a Public Service Announcement [Merujo ] Re: Alloy: Simply a Public Service Announcement [Jon Drukman ] Re: Alloy: Stop Drop and Roll (OT) [William Steffey Subject: Alloy: Re: invasive ads sidebar: have you noticed alot of new advertising is geared towards selling us multiples of a product? The trend really irks me because I feel it adds even more pressure to ridiulously tense corporate environs. to wit: Blockbuster Vidoes "rent by the weekload", Dunkin Doughnuts "Sip, Sigh Repeat" iced coffee campaign, and various movie trailers begging us to "Experience it Again!". Apparently it's not good enough to buy the product anymore... we have to KEEP BUYING. And I was foolish enough to think we were nearing the capacity of ad annoyance. Maybe this signals an even newer shift in the paradigm.... my prediction: watch for ads that link sex or self-esteem to CONTINUAL consumption instead of just one-offs. You won't get that girl unless you KEEP buying the product. I bet we'll see it soon enough. I hate to be so negative, but I had to vent this one... it's been bugging me forever. Plus, maybe being conscious of these ploys can help us stay above the waterline a little bit. - -W PRAEst76 wrote: >Robyn Moore said... > >>>This is the problem, the world is changing, they aren't. The whole >>>music biz has to be rethought to think of this... sadly that's too much >>>time and effort for many so what they are doing is just getting >>>medaeval to secure their 'property'. >>> > >> Unfortunately, it's all the media, not just the music end. The MPAA is >>also party to the "hack the pirates back" bill, and there's a lawsuit >>pending against ReplayTV for copyright infringement, partially because it >>can excise commercials. Jamie Kellner, head of Turner Broadcasting (and one >>of the few media mouthpieces I despise more than Hilary Rosen), is on >>record with a quote indicating that skipping the ads in TV shows is >>stealing. In an amazing display of magnanimousness, he allows some leeway >>if one needs to use the bathroom during a commercial break. >> > >It's all about forcing people to take product. sitting and waiting for >someone to want something isn't enough. We already live in a world where many >people buy a product because they are told to, choice being a hard thing to >use when you are bombarded daily with ads and concepts geared and convincing >you want something. > >Ads are invasive, if they ever brought in laws in the Uk that 'made' ads on >TV compulsary I'd stop watching TV... I'm sure they could find that illegal >though, through some legal loop hole. > >Seems the law isn't about right and wrong, but about power. enough money and >infuence you can have anything you want. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Aug 2002 05:34:17 -0400 From: Sean Carolan Subject: Alloy: Re: invasive ads Folks, Continuing on the sidebar... Lately, I've noticed heavy marketing for "the anniversary diamond", where the message is that the only meaningful present for your partner in a long-term relationship is, you guessed it, a diamond. With divorce rates being what they are, *of course* they'd want to put diamonds in the hands of a secure relationship - it's less likely to ever get sold again. I think that qualifies as an instance of marketing that promises more sex for the repeat buyer. Thanks to a Slashdot discussion, I read the following article, about the fabrication of the "diamond invention" in which marketing was leveraged to add to the perceived worth of diamonds since the late 1930's, and has successfully been used in support of that ever since. It's up at the Atlantic Monthly's website: http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/82feb/8202diamond1.htm Though it's from 1982, it's just as relevant now - current advertising still tries to foist diamonds on buyers that are least likely to sell them (thus keeping them off the market after the initial sale.) It's interesting to see how advertising changed over time to suit the changing needs of the DeBeers cartel: "Whoops, there's suddenly a lot of small diamonds - let's convince people that all diamonds, no matter how small, are still precious diamonds! Whoops, now there's a glut of large stones - let's make sure people know that the bigger the engagement ring, the more your potential fiancee will love you for it!" There's a fairly lively discussion on Slashdot about this, too, which is where I picked up the initial link - there are others about "conflict diamonds", as well. It's at: http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/08/13/2010256&mode=nested&tid=99 (That all having been said, there are some forms of marketing I don't mind - - for instance CD Baby's, which enticed me to grab a signed copy of "Forty" before they were all gone...) - -Sean At 01:04 AM 8/14/02 -0500, William Steffey wrote: > >sidebar: have you noticed alot of new advertising is geared towards >selling us multiples of a product? The trend really irks me because I >feel it adds even more pressure to ridiulously tense corporate environs. > to wit: Blockbuster Vidoes "rent by the weekload", Dunkin Doughnuts >"Sip, Sigh Repeat" iced coffee campaign, and various movie trailers >begging us to "Experience it Again!". Apparently it's not good enough >to buy the product anymore... we have to KEEP BUYING. And I was foolish >enough to think we were nearing the capacity of ad annoyance. > >Maybe this signals an even newer shift in the paradigm.... my >prediction: watch for ads that link sex or self-esteem to CONTINUAL >consumption instead of just one-offs. You won't get that girl unless you >KEEP buying the product. I bet we'll see it soon enough. > >I hate to be so negative, but I had to vent this one... it's been >bugging me forever. Plus, maybe being conscious of these ploys can >help us stay above the waterline a little bit. >-W > >PRAEst76 wrote: > >>Robyn Moore said... >> >>>>This is the problem, the world is changing, they aren't. The whole >>>>music biz has to be rethought to think of this... sadly that's too much >>>>time and effort for many so what they are doing is just getting >>>>medaeval to secure their 'property'. >>>> >> >>> Unfortunately, it's all the media, not just the music end. The MPAA is >>>also party to the "hack the pirates back" bill, and there's a lawsuit >>>pending against ReplayTV for copyright infringement, partially because it >>>can excise commercials. Jamie Kellner, head of Turner Broadcasting (and one >>>of the few media mouthpieces I despise more than Hilary Rosen), is on >>>record with a quote indicating that skipping the ads in TV shows is >>>stealing. In an amazing display of magnanimousness, he allows some leeway >>>if one needs to use the bathroom during a commercial break. >>> >> >>It's all about forcing people to take product. sitting and waiting for >>someone to want something isn't enough. We already live in a world where many >>people buy a product because they are told to, choice being a hard thing to >>use when you are bombarded daily with ads and concepts geared and convincing >>you want something. >> >>Ads are invasive, if they ever brought in laws in the Uk that 'made' ads on >>TV compulsary I'd stop watching TV... I'm sure they could find that illegal >>though, through some legal loop hole. >> >>Seems the law isn't about right and wrong, but about power. enough money and >>infuence you can have anything you want. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Aug 2002 11:46:40 +0100 From: PRAEst76 Subject: Re: Alloy: Re: invasive ads William Steffey said... > sidebar: have you noticed alot of new advertising is geared towards > selling us multiples of a product? The trend really irks me because I > feel it adds even more pressure to ridiulously tense corporate environs. > to wit: Blockbuster Vidoes "rent by the weekload", Dunkin Doughnuts > "Sip, Sigh Repeat" iced coffee campaign, and various movie trailers > begging us to "Experience it Again!". Apparently it's not good enough > to buy the product anymore... we have to KEEP BUYING. And I was foolish > enough to think we were nearing the capacity of ad annoyance. Haven't got that here. But everything is bigger and cheaper in American. > Maybe this signals an even newer shift in the paradigm.... my > prediction: watch for ads that link sex or self-esteem to CONTINUAL > consumption instead of just one-offs. You won't get that girl unless you > KEEP buying the product. I bet we'll see it soon enough. We have this. It's called Diet Coke. They had an ad running in bus shelters here featuring a topless girl covering her breats with her arms. Just had Diet Coke at the bottom. their ads always seemed geared towards implying that if you drink diet coke you will join some social group of young people who always hang around with good looking other young people who probably have sex with each other all day and have losts of money to party all the time and not work. > I hate to be so negative, but I had to vent this one... it's been > bugging me forever. Same here, and I think it's a big problem, it's part of the drive that's pushing the general public away from being individual thinking people to statistics that exist to buy product. If things get worse I'm going to go and live in a cave in the mountains. If I can find any. Plus, maybe being conscious of these ploys can > help us stay above the waterline a little bit. Maybe, but we become desensitised. And new generations coming up will think this is all normal. they won't remember a time when you bought something because, well, you wanted it, or needed it. - -- PRAEst76 http://www.cancellation.freeserve.co.uk/praest76/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Aug 2002 12:33:58 -0400 From: graham stuart Subject: Alloy: dolby on cd(r)? hi there i am a new memeber as of like 2 minutes. i am looking for some dolby stuff to put on a cd... i hope there is someone who can help. i am lloking for fallout club, jungle line, and of course live wireless, and where does the song "fieldwork" come from??? i would be happy to pay for a cd of this stuff...or make a trade for you, i have loads of xtc, neil finn/crowded house/ u2 /big country to offer in exchange. can you help email me thanks graham stuart graham.maureen@sympatico.ca ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Aug 2002 21:13:19 -0400 From: Merujo Subject: Alloy: Simply a Public Service Announcement Never do any business with Network Solutions/Verisign. It is an evil company. In fact, Network Solutions may be the anti-Christ. It was spawned in the fiery pits of hell, and its customer service philosophy is to make you so miserable trying to change anything or leave its control that you finally give up out of utter despair and frustration and have to keep paying them to keep your domain names. Thus endeth the public service rant. Very, very angry with Network Solutions, Melissa (no Dolby content, simply pure hatred toward an evil, evil corporation) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Aug 2002 18:27:36 -0700 From: Jon Drukman Subject: Re: Alloy: Simply a Public Service Announcement At 06:13 PM 8/14/2002, Merujo wrote: >Never do any business with Network Solutions/Verisign. It is an evil >company. In fact, Network Solutions may be the anti-Christ. yeah they're terrible. transfer your domains away at once. the good news is you can do that without dealing with them, for the most part. i put all mine at 000domains.com and i've been very pleased with their customer service. they even email you to alert you about things that might become problems later on if not dealt with. how's that for proactive? - -jsd- ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Aug 2002 21:19:22 -0500 From: "Bill Krzysko" Subject: Alloy: Stop Drop and Roll (OT) This is a warning to all accordion players and Crackers in particular. Please see... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/showbiz/2173870.stm ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Aug 2002 22:02:21 -0500 From: William Steffey Subject: Re: Alloy: Stop Drop and Roll (OT) I heard that was a really hot show. Bill Krzysko wrote: >This is a warning to all accordion players and Crackers in particular. >Please see... > >http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/showbiz/2173870.stm ------------------------------ End of alloy-digest V7 #163 ***************************