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They say perception is reality … but it isn’t, it’s the perception of reality which doesn’t mean it’s what is actually going on.
Sure there are some examples where perception can create the ‘reality’ … placebo drugs for example … but that is not always the case.
Let’s face it, a Wonderbra may give the perception of a woman with hydrogen filled balloons balanced precariously on her chest, but the reality is still going to be 2 beans on a slice of toast or 2 sacks of spuds that fall straight to the floor once the support has been removed [where they hell is this coming from???] and ‘The Blair Witch’ movie may have given the perception that viral advertising really worked when the reality is [1] no other movie has managed to achieve the same level of success using this strategy and [2] despite spending a small amount in Hollywood terms, the Blair Witch movie still invested tens of millions of dollars in marketing [est. US$25 million] – a fact an alarmingly low number of people realise.
It’s the willingness of society to embrace these perceived truths [or the fact that because it happened once, it will always give the same result] that I believe is leading to many going through life in a state of illusion and delusion – helped along by such things as [previously] easy credit, advertising and Government influence/policies – however with life currently enjoying [?] a phase of ‘unfiltered reality’, I am hoping the curtain of illusion has been pulled back so the light of reality can flood in, because as frightening as it may first appear, once we’ve seen where we stand, a bunch of good and meaningful things can start to happen.
To help things along [and this is possibly the worst link to a site EVER] allow me to direct you to this site … www.makelovenotporn.com … though I advise Billy to buy some hankies before he checks it out, not because it actually features porn [sorry] but because he’ll need something to wipe up the tears of reality.
PS:I appreciate Charles may disagree with the site given his recent rendezvous with a Thai porn star but that’s an exception, not a rule. 🙂
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ruin little billys dreams of being mr fucking lothario why dont you campbell. you miserable fuck..
charles and porn star exploits? its a fucking nightmare scenario for me and for her 🙂
Comment by andy@cynic April 6, 2009 @ 7:29 amI’d love to introduce the world to Ann. Because Ann is a pretty decent person. We got to know each other quite well in the last couple of weeks and the biggest lesson is that she’s a person first. So my bad on that one. But I may find a way to give her a voice if she needs one.
I’d like that.
Also with regard to the link above I’m not sure if it’s for real but either way opening up a bit of dialogue on the subject can only be a good thing.
Comment by Charles April 6, 2009 @ 7:48 amI’d like to come clean and admit I was one of the people who thought the Blair Witch Project was marketed for nothing. Robert took great pleasure in putting me right and now I only accept his word as gospel. And Google. Which I know will provoke Robert into another rant. 🙂
Comment by Bazza April 6, 2009 @ 8:31 amYou think I’ll bite at that Bazza?
Too right I will … I hate how people say ‘Google has made the World lazy’, they haven’t, people have made the World lazy because at no point has Google said they are the ‘owners of truth’, they simply are about the organisation of information – information that may be right or wrong – and if you want to be sure of what you’re saying, you should get off your arse and look into it rather than tip tap on a keyboard and think the answers to life are there to be delivered in a nano-second.
To prove my point, I typed in “how can i be obscenely rich and famous?” and what I got back wasn’t the sort of thing I’d happily jack in my job for … well, not till I got to page 11 of the search responses 🙂
Comment by Rob April 6, 2009 @ 8:56 amSnakes on a plane came pretty close to generating a lot of interest from it’s crowd sourced script ending.
Google are great. They didn’t invent RSS so it’s more digital culture that has facilitated the decline of attention and perseverance. But the benefits easily outweigh any losses.
As for the curtain of illusion. I wish I knew what you were on about today Rob, but with respect to the system coming to a grinding halt, I dont think anything has happened yet.
Nobody is in a position to do anything other than print money, and so from what I noticed the G20 conclued, the IMF are going to pump a trillion into the system. Which is weird because nobody has any money.
That first line…. Perception and reality. It’s pretty good. Perception of reality…opens up a lot such as defining the definition of what is, is …as Bill Clinton once memorably reinterpreted, to cover his ass.
I still think it was a really deep thing to say if it was said in a different context.
Comment by Charles April 6, 2009 @ 11:12 amI’m not trying to be deep … jeez, this is me you’re talking to.
I’m just saying there is a proportion of society who happily accept things on face value because it is easier/more convienient for them, when a bit of further investigation or discoverery would result in them realising what they thought was right wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
The problem with people who happilly accept what they’re told is that it [sometimes] results in them choosing the wrong path simply because they’ve followed the perception of truth rather than the reality of it.
Think pretty much the findings of every bloody focus group you’ve ever sat in …
Comment by Rob April 6, 2009 @ 11:32 amResearch not 100% accurate? What the fuck are you trying to say?
Wonderbra is a weapon of sex distraction. If a woman wears one she should be banned from taking the thing off until you’ve left the house.
Comment by Billy Whizz April 6, 2009 @ 12:51 pmWe’re all a bit asleep aren’t we when it comes to thinking we’re smart. I mean the influential person I’ve ever read is Nicolas Taleb and yet 1) He doesn’t know that he comes across as a complete pompous and arrogant tosser 2) He’s forgotten his own major premise and become a pontificating fool talking about the future on any media show he gets to pick. But I still think he’s the most important thinker since Descartes.
Anyway… Deep…
Yogi berra is deep. They do philosophy courses on him I read/listened once.
If you come to a fork in the road. Take it.
The future aint what it used to be.
It isn’t over till it’s over.
Anyway, it’s still a big thought you put down, and I only read it properly i.e. five or six times, because I thought maybe I’m missing something, but in any case the point is that I know you frame your thinking in down to earth analogies (Wunderbra, Football, TV, Celebs etc) and yet that stuff is harder than the occasional big word or so for me. Which I’m not pleased about because I’ve let my snootiness get in the way and I realise it can only impair my work (when I work).
Change the subject quickly… Focus groups. I had a rant about why focus group methodology is just plain stupid in Asia. Be good if you have any additional thoughts Rob, because research is one area that would kinda turn me on in Asia if I could find a gang that were looking for a better way. There is definitely a better way isn’t there?
http://tinyurl.com/dx4zb3
You’ve done some interesting things like the criminologist approach you mentioned before but there’s loads of room for shaking up the whole industry.
One more from quite some time back in case any research people lurking on this blog want to pile in and explain quite why the industry doesn’t come clean and destroy a few myths that they say privately to each other day in and day out.
http://tinyurl.com/dyshvn
Comment by Charles April 6, 2009 @ 12:58 pmgood morning. I’m in the shed and cannot click on the link. I shall do it this evening.
Good morning.
Comment by Marcus April 6, 2009 @ 2:22 pmwho says perception is reality? those from the enlightenment? the reason that advertising is allowed to exist at all is because, as a society, we have openly relinquished our desire for true reality, and like a little of both in our diet. perception couched in authenticity.
and that site is great – reminded me of jen and jeffre’s presentation about their erotic art films. two gems of insight: “pubic hair? decide.” and “always have a hot lunch when filming porn”.
Comment by lauren April 6, 2009 @ 2:38 pmI got really annoyed a few years back when I found out Teletubbies were not real, due to a mate getting off with Tinky Winky’s (the actor I mean) girlrfriend. Crushed I was.
Comment by northern April 6, 2009 @ 3:19 pm1) Charles – Snakes on a Plane had a traditional marketing budget in excess of $20 million. And taleb just reframed basic probability that all statisticians knew. Not a great thinker – just someone who showed up mass ignorance.
2) “They” might say all sorts of things, but your revelation of your relationship to breasts says more than anything can – there was clear some incident with funfair ballons in ouberty that has scarred you greatly. Perhaps BTTB (or whatever her acronym was) can shed some light on this.
3) I’ve been in contact with Mr. Pedantic and he wanted me to pass on his gratitude for the messages of concern and support expressed here and elsewhere.
Comment by John April 6, 2009 @ 3:26 pmHello Marcus my lovely – how are you? How is the shed? How is life? Hope all is well and I promise very soon our MSN love-talk can start again. I miss it … [but not in a gay way]
As for you Lauren … ooooh, I like it when you get all pissy, especially when it’s with me rather than against me, ha!
And Charles – you realise that by saying it’s harder for you to understand Wunderbra, Football, TV, Celebs analogies than using big words, you’re highlighting I’m a common oik. You’re right though … and the only reason I do that is because I don’t understand big words. I read Faris blog and whilst I think he is brilliant and funny and great and clever, I only understand 1 word in every 10 he writes, and yet when I hear him I find it much easier.
Is it him who changes when he talks versus writes or is it me who finds aural communication better than writing? Not sure … but getting back to your point about research, I know of one company in Asia who plan to do it right and have just started treading carefully into the region so I can try and hook you guys up, even though at the moment its all very tentative.
Comment by Rob April 6, 2009 @ 3:35 pmWhat the fuck do you mean the Teletubbies aren’t real????
John: nice to have you back. You tell Mr Pedantic we’re all looking out for him!
Comment by Rob April 6, 2009 @ 3:38 pmI think reality is a perception is a stronger thought but I wont elaborate on words I didn’ write Lauren.
I also think that I’m entitled to put forward my case for earning a living or defending myself, in the strongest and most appealing terms possible so it’s not advertising that is evil. It’s our inability to determine that a strong case is being put forward and that with frequency and reach it works like propaganda.
Opens with a hot chick flicking full bodied glossy hair to one side.
“Hi. Buy my shampoo and you’ll be as successful and widely admired as me. Or otherwise be a loser”
Because that’s the premise of the 90% of ads that the biz pumps out. It’s a business and it works in much the same way that propaganda works. So yes, not pleasant but as I think the post suggests, many aren’t sentient when it comes to suggestion and unfortunately that’s not a good enough reason to legislate against it. The alternative is morally more repugnant.
As for the Jen and Jeffre. They were the best thing that day. I took the video, watched it (art house porn externalised through facial expression) and most enjoyably left it somewhere that people wouldn’t know the difference.
The best bit is I get to go back and find out. This comment helps to validate the process. Which I like a lot.
As for true reality. That’s surely the most pompous combo I’ve heard you speak. I’m sure it’s not something you would want to stand by if you think about it for a bit.
C’mon Lauren. Was the talent in Jeffre’s movie, in it for the blowy or the art? C’mon tell me the truth. The real one.. 😉
Comment by Charles April 6, 2009 @ 3:44 pmI like this – real debate – and for once I’m going to sit on the fence and watch because I have the faith no one will get silly and nasty unlike a certain company who are acting like I’ve declared war just because of something I wrote based on something they did. 🙂
Comment by Rob April 6, 2009 @ 4:11 pmI thought that porn thing at Interesting was very dull.
Comment by Marcus April 6, 2009 @ 4:17 pmDon’t you start Doddsy. I would give a staunch defense of Taleb for reframing the way we see the world but I guess you’ve made your mind up.
…Even though you say he was merely right and the rest of the world was wrong which I think is high five material.
Erm Rob.. I don’t believe you for one nano job. While putting things simply is probably second nature to you (and not easy), I don’t think there’s anything Faris has written that you couldn’t paraphrase and I do happen to have read through your exhaustive list of marketing books you’ve consumed along the way, and they’re not all Nott’s Forest Supporters Guides to “Selling well without selling out” Which is easily the single most important question any person is confronted by in their working life.
And John. Get me the hard facts for the 10 million US$ used for marketing on SoaP movie, and I’ll blow you next time I’m in London which might be shortly.
No way they spent 10 on that. You’re being a drama queen again.
Comment by Charles April 6, 2009 @ 4:26 pmhttp://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/21/movies/21box.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
(as for Faris, – I was drinking with him and college friend of his who worked in a different field. She kept asking whether his speciality was using long words that regular people didn’t understand. Being a good guy, he took it well.
Back to the debate – not sure it’s about people not being sentient enough for suggestion (that’s quite a claim if you think about it). They’re open to suggestion from the behaviour of their per groups rather than from advertising.
Comment by John April 6, 2009 @ 5:34 pmP.S. I will have to decline your offer Charles. In this case, being right is sufficiently gratifying for me.
Comment by John April 6, 2009 @ 5:38 pmThis isn’t about people being sentient [showoff!] enough for suggestion nor is it about advertisings power/lack thereof of persuasion … it is about how some people in society choose to accept ‘answers’ that provide the least effort/requirement of the individual rather than investigating whether what they have been told is indeed as accurate as they claim it to be.
Lots of reasons for this – and I accept not everyone is like this – but when people claim Google makes humanity lazy, I balk because it has little to do with the Mountain View boys and more to do with the ‘instant gratification’ culture.
Comment by Rob April 6, 2009 @ 6:07 pmSo you’re saying pedantry is good?
Comment by John April 6, 2009 @ 7:00 pmhello. charles, sorry, as much as you’d like a stoush about titilation, i can’t help you out with that one. mainly ‘cos i have no idea – possibly the same reasons that anyone takes part in a budget arthouse film.
and maybe marcus you found it incredibly dull because it was pretty much stuff you know already, as someone who regularly performs in front of the camera. (albeit only sometimes with your pants down!) 😉
i was reading something recently about the “reality” of supermodels and there’s a site/book/article.. something… which goes through page after page of the ‘coverlook’ and the real model, especially in terms of toxic body shape/image stuff for women. i can imagine that this all goes in the same kinda bag.
Comment by lauren April 6, 2009 @ 7:56 pmWish I could dig out a piece I wrote about models some years back. You’d like it I think. Look feel sorry for models. They’re invariably only blessed with the looks, and have a distorted view of life because people treat them differently so it’s pretty difficult to to be ‘well adjusted’ if the world is not real.
But there are always exceptions. Stoush? I had to look it up. Thought it was some kind of shaving technique!
John. I’ve emailed Main Line films who did the marketing for SoaP because that NYT piece is well puffed up.
Although now I think some more. As they knew it was going to tank and didn’t give the press a pre-show. Maybe they lost their nerve and went for the hype box office takings. Always a risky move.
Comment by Charles April 6, 2009 @ 8:21 pmthis blog gets serious. how utterly fucking depressing.
Comment by andy@cynic April 6, 2009 @ 8:27 pmoops – sorry charles. aussie slang.. and in typical australian arrogance, assumed that everyone uses it.
and andy dear, don’t whine – it doesn’t suit you. 😉
Comment by lauren April 6, 2009 @ 8:48 pmI don’t know if it is a coincidence Lauren, but after your comment he is doing his best to make it suit him. Thanks a lot. 😉
Comment by Pete April 6, 2009 @ 9:53 pmlet’s all start telling the fucking truth.
Comment by Ahab April 6, 2009 @ 10:01 pmAndy – did you read the campbell analysis of female anatomy – how can you say this is getting serious? Unless you mean seriously warped.
Comment by John April 7, 2009 @ 4:58 amwho the fuck pays attention to what campbell says. its all the other fuckers comments that scared me because they are people i thought were on my fucking side.
on ahabs point. i need to get pissed. happy?
Comment by andy@cynic April 7, 2009 @ 6:06 amyes.
Comment by Ahab April 7, 2009 @ 4:26 pm