Newmedia on Wed, 16 May 2012 17:14:25 +0200 (CEST) |
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Re: <nettime> Capitalism is FINISHED -- As a Result of the Internet! |
Jon: > Still don't know why digital tech is driving this process.... Excellent question! How much do you know about advertising and how "analog" mass-media works as a business? My comments on this are the result of spending lots of time with people in that industry over the past 20 years, which was made easier by a) living in Manhattan (i.e. Madison Avenue is close-by) and b) "coining" the term "New Media," so some in the ad-world thought they might learn a bit from me (I got this email address on the AOL from Steve Case on the 1992 AOL road-show, where I was the investment banker) and c) writing about this subject since the late 90s (particularly when I "predicted" the timing of the 2000 Internet Bubble collapse, based on the failure of the online "banner-ads" of the time) and d) working with dozens of startups who were trying to figure out ad-based business models. Advertising on a mass-scale was a *new* phenomenon in the early 20th century. It was based on various psychological theories -- some behaviorist, some Freudian etc. All of it, however, was premised on finding out how to make people do things that they previously considered to be "wrong" or "stupid" or "unnecessary" in order to drive consumption and therefore economic growth. The 2002 BBC Four documentary by Adam Curtis, "The Century of Self" might be a good place to start, even though it focuses on the rise of Public Relations, an adjacent field and Edward Bernal -- _http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Century_of_the_Self_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Century_of_the_Self) Another place you might find useful would be to study the career of John B. Watson -- _http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_B._Watson_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_B._Watson) In it's most "extreme" form, all this lead to the fascination with "subliminal" advertising, which actually resulted in some legislation in the 1950s -- _http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subliminal_stimuli_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subliminal_stimuli) Or, if your prefer, you could look to the literature on "commodification of desire," such as -- _http://books.google.com/books/about/The_commodification_of_desire_in_Wester n.html?id=wHERHQAACAAJ_ (http://books.google.com/books/about/The_commodification_of_desire_in_Western.html?id=wHERHQAACAAJ) The question that is *universal* among the advertisers I've discussed all this with is the ability to a) "artificially" stimulate "wants" which then b) are converted into apparent "needs." Accomplishing this is what they consider to be their special "talent." The techniques used to accomplish this are both varied and quite sophisticated, as befits a TRILLION dollar industry. In short, they WORK. However, these techniques do depend more-or-less on a) the attention of the "target" and b) their suspension of "rationality" and c) continued "environmental" reinforcement. Thus the effectiveness of television. Eyeballs. Dramatic fanatasies. One-way passive repetition of messages. The WEB directly undermines *ALL* of these requirements. It cannot force the "viewer" to watch the ad, since the screen also has other "more important" material. It generally requires some level of "rational" engagement. It is inherently *active* and involves TWO-WAY communications, which often involve "talking back" to the seller. So, to varying degrees with different people, the WEB (i.e. "digital media") *breaks* the SPELL that is needed for mass-media (i.e. mostly television) to work its consumption-driving MAGIC. This destabilizing *effect* of "interactivity" on the impact of advertising is now pretty well understood by advertisers! Furthermore, the notion that arose in the 90s that you could TARGET people by using the "click" information that you collect about them has now largely been DISCOUNTED as a plausible substitute for mass-media psychological games. It has largely become a stop-loss strategy (i.e. it only works on a subset of the audience) and not an expansion/growth one. This is why General Motors has just announced that they are *dropping* ads on Facebook -- right in the FACE of the company's IPO. _http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/16/business/media/gm-to-quit-facebook-ad-cam paign-worth-10-million-a-year.html_ (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/16/business/media/gm-to-quit-facebook-ad-campaign-worth-10-million-a-year.html) This is also why the NYTimes has been reporting about the *renewed* interest in the TELEVISION "Up Fronts" -- which just a few years ago were largely suspended in favor of "digital media" bundling. The ultimate reason why this is all happening is that MOST people aren't really as *stupid* (or "behaviorist" or "Freudian") as had been presumed. At some point, when offered the opportunity to NOT PAY ATTENTION to the ads and to be RATIONAL about their own lives and to INTERACT with others about what to buy and what to *not* buy . . . behaviors change. That time is now and the *cause* of this shift in behaviors is the "environmental" shift to DIGITAL media. Hope that helped! Mark Stahlman Brooklyn NY # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@kein.org