Privatizing the profits from our social losses
Following on from my last post on why you may not want your brand anywhere near Facebook in the weeks before Christmas it is pretty obvious to any one in the ad game that there is any number of street smart marketeers who would pay good money to be on the menu when “Harry tells Sally the romance is off”.
Feeling let down, upset, emotionally insecure, inadequate or just plain old angry? Well the good news is there is nothing you are feeling that a good dose of retail therapy couldn’t fix. Why not buy those new shoes and that dress you have been dreaming out? and what about some perfume or maybe even splurge on a holiday so you can escape from all this misery? Facials, spas, health clubs, night clubs, singles bars, dating services, live entertainment…Yep there is no amount of product placement that couldn’t benefit from being on the menu when Harry tells Sally the romance is off.
And that’s just the point. What sort of business needs to have access to this level of “gritty and grimy” personal information just so it can survive selling advertising space? The answer is of course the media industry. and that’s why it should come as no surprise to anyone that Facebook is bringing to the everyday and the banal the same level of scrutiny that the world’s celebrities have been enduring for decades.
This then is the emerging reality of Andy Warhol’s dark prophesy and just how much our dream of obtain that elusive “15 minutes” is going to cost us.
Further Reading
- Andy Warhol was right about “15 Minutes of Fame” – NPR
- Privacy vs. Profits – Robert Wright of the NY Times
- Inside the cookie monster – trading your online data for profits – Sydney Morning Herald
- Socialization Of Data, Relationships Explored At Teradata Conference – Retail Touch Points
