Think What You Will

Think What You Will

This blogger [1] thinks I lack good writing skills.

Despite the www.giftcoach.org [2] URL, the site is known as Wealth Bondage. Interesting stuff, much of it tongue in cheek. Clearly, someoneís or some group of peopleís soapbox and forum for spouting thoughts and ëtude. And pretty good writing, too. A different sort of style, a peculiar sort of blogging voice, but an entertaining read. Hereís the take on my In Defense of Advertising piece, and the reaction posted in the Wealth Bondage blog:

Dean In Defense of Advertising [3]: He talks up commerce and talks up the role of ads in introducing new merchandise.

"And whatís wrong with any of that? Well, nothing, actually, unless you choose to live under a different economic system [4]than the one we have here. And if thatís the case, you can take YOUR GREAT THING with you, donít let the screen door hit your butt on the way out."

What Dean is missing (beyond good taste, good manners, good writing, wit, and a modicum of culture) is that you don't have to leave America, or opt out of the Market to live in a democracy, and to participate in a vibrant civil society. You can stay right here in America, use famous brand name toothpaste, and still spend your best energies on something other than commerce. You can do that, on your own time, even if you are CEO of an advertising firm.

The Head Lemur [5], on the other hand, has a different opinion.

Doc pointed out [6]Deans passionate defense [3] of the Advertising Industry. An articulate viewpoint. A well written piece.

In his discussion following that nice (and surely appreciated!) take on my post, there is interesting follow up on the ad business. Well worth reading, and nicely expanding on some thoughts which others have confused with my overall take on the ad business. I would agree that a great deal of the ad content and focus one is exposed to does a clear job of indicating how very off-base some campaigns can be, how out-of-touch and misdirected they are. The Head Lemurís argument that some advertising is tantamount to the endorsement of immature prankishness bordering on the illegal ñ and that those who endorse such activity should have stakes driven through their hearts ñ is right on the money (to coin a phrase, heh heh).

I particularly appreciate that The Head Lemurís argument is made in a reaction to my blog, that my In Defense of Advertising served as a catalyst for his post. His argument is with regard to the sinking of moral depths promoted in some advertising as a supposedly comic or cool device to capture attention or predilection toward a product. I totally agree with his argument and his suggestion on how to treat those responsible for such garbage.

Unlike some other readers, he understands that my defense of advertising is in the larger sense. It is not an endorsement of any specific ad or campaign of the moment.

Shelly Lazarus, Chairman and Chief Executive Office of Ogilvy and Mather Worldwide, tells an interesting anecdote about the questions she is often asked by those who would hold Advertising responsible for Every Bad Thing. Proud as she is of the creativity and success of Ogilvy, she laughs about the ìguilt by association,î the indictment of advertising, the ad biz, and of people in the ad industry. ìMany people damn the field. They claim that Advertising is responsible for Cancer, Obesity, Pollution, Sickness, and the general destruction of Good Old-fashioned Moral Values.î That quote is loosely taken from a presentation she gave in New York a year or so ago. For more insight into her take on advertising read this [7].

Also worth checking out are Oglivyís What We Do [8]and Who We Are [9]pages, excellent reads.

I was surprised by the amount of response generated by my blog post defending advertising.

In addition to links or reaction pieces in some blogs, there were some individual e-mails on it, as well. Some liked the post, others disagreed with parts of it. One writer felt Iíd overlooked the bigger picture evil effect on pop culture, and blamed advertising for All Things Bad in the country.

One of the more interesting notes came today via e-mail from fellow blogger Mike Sanders [10]:

I liked your advertising piece. You made a pretty strong case for the
positive aspects of advertising, but I thought your last sentence weakened
your case.

"Donít snub advertising, it demeans those who work in the field."

If the field is "negative" than demeaning those that work in it may not be relevant. For example we probably wouldn't say "Don't snub spam mailers, it demeans those who work in the field".

What strikes me as so interesting about Mikeís comment is this: the incentive to write the piece came from a simmering anger within. Iíd heard someone badmouth the ad industry, and blaspheme those who work in it. Evil, evil, evil, was the cry; all advertising and the people who work in the field. This rant stuck with me for quite some time, and it took a while for me to gain clarity on why it so upset me. Once I realized that it damned so many with so broad a brush, I began to organize my thoughts and finally wrote and posted the piece.

Mikeís statement is very interesting. I am annoyed by spam, sure. But I just delete it and donít give it a second thought. I donít damn the spammers, although I do hold them in some minor degree of contempt. I would have an issue with the concept of sending spam, and with those who clog my inbox with it. But no beef with the servers, e-mail clients, bandwidth providers, etc., that are part of the larger picture elements of spam.

Pop-up (aka pop-under)windows, thoughÖnow thatís another matter!

Intrusive, uninvited, trespassing on my screen and my space. Sure, I can click the X and close the window, but this is an unwelcome entry. I would probably damn all those connected to Pop-ups with a broad brush.

If they bother you as much as they bother me, check this [11] out from Technoerotica [12]. Nice service from that site, offering this collection of preventive measures.

Joe Jennett [13] has a beautifully written ìminifestoî taking the pop-up/pop-under perpetrators to task. He stipulates that ad support can be a necessary element in some cases, but makes a great case for the intrusive and annoying aspects of those obnoxious attempts to take control (or at least occupy some space) on browsers and desktops ñwhere they show up, ininvited. He calls the campaign to prevent the intruders ASAP! [14] ñ A Stand Against Pop-Under Ads. Check out the site, maybe link to it, to help quell the intrusions.

One Or Two Other Notes

Today is Martin Luther King Day, a National Holiday. No mail, the banks were closed, and so forth. Last year the holiday was celebrated much closer to MLK's actual birthday. It prompted me to pause and think about him.

This year I worked all day. No disrespect or attitude; I'll work on President's Day, too. There's simply too much work, and some of these holidays seem more like a day off from school than a day off from the workaday world.

I had to make an airport run this afternoon. Punching around the dial to hear what was up on the radio, I heard a conservative talk show host speak of the wonder of the King "I Have A Dream [15]" speech. This host gave proper credit to Ronald Reagan for being the President who signed the law declaring this day a National Holiday.

On ABC's Good Morning America Diane Sawyer and Charles Gibson spoke this morning of the King Speech and the Kennedy Inauguration speech as the two finest, most defining public orations of the Century.

Yeah, well, maybe so.

I spoke with some people in Canada, no holiday there. My colleague mentioned it wasn't a holiday in Canada, the staff was present in full force. Yes, I said, but they, too, have a dream.

It wasn't said in jest.

The King Holiday seems more correct when it falls in the middle of the month. Perhaps this is because I am so aware of his actual date of birth. Last week, on his very birthday, someone I work with took a call from his seven year old daughter, who wanted some help with a school asignment: Tell me three important things about Martin Luther King, Jr., she asked him. There was no problem helping her, with well more than three items.

Amazing that one looks around and it is suddenly getting to be the end of January. I saw swimwear on display in a store, an early take on the coming Spring fashions and store stock.

We finally had some significant snow over the weekend. It has been a mild Winter thus far. In keeping with the relative ease of the Winter, there was rain today to wash away most of the snow on the cars, and anywhere it wasn't piled up from shoveling or plows.

Winter is not my favorite time of year. I think cold weather should be enjoyed by watching it in a movie, on television, or reading about it. Yet I wouldn't want to live where there wasn't a bona fide Winter-as-I-know-it. Strange, eh? This may be one of those "how you can tell someone's a New Yorker" telltale pointers.

I am very glad to live in a dwelling that gets so much heat we end up with the windows open a bit throughout the cold weather season. Better too much heat than too little. That's a motto, a mantra, a way of life.

The good news is this: Spring Training begins (pitchers and catchers report to the camps) in 25 days.

Now that's a good sign.

(baseball fans will appreciate the pun, above!)