Rant. Apologies.
The world is struggling with an unprecedented health crisis. One profession sees the pandemic as a heaven-sent opportunity to do something meaningful, stand up for its beliefs and use every resource at its disposal to leave a lasting impression. Advertising is not that profession.
Advertising and Marketing are the nadirs of every conceivable value system you can think of. Less useful and more pathethic than narcisstic movie stars singing a song together and arguably about as evil as those terrorists who attacked... never mind... as evil as terrorists. I work in this industry and right now, a million of us have been tasked with thinking about how we can highlight the nobility of the brands we work on. Yup, at a moment in history where we are practically at war against a dreadful enemy that may have already invaded our bodies for all we know, A&M are cooking up plausible ways of making videos, press ads, digital content and other crap that reek of sanctimony and desperate attention-seeking, all of it to basically exploit the situation for brand recognition in any way possible. One agency I know of is allegedly facing the threat of ex-employees poaching clients away. Rather than identify the reasons behind why exactly the agency has reached this state of imminent danger (shoddy client management for starters), they've been tasked with reaching out to every client on the books with 'proactive' ideas, thematically on COVID-19. Let's milk that udder dry... yeehaw!
I felt a spear of shame even as I wrote it. Because to write it and eventually, to publish it is to acknowledge that it is horribly true. That it's all just plain codswallop being passed off as cooing concern. If there are professions that are blind, tone-deaf and breathtakingly stupid to boot right now, one would be hardpressed to beat advertising and marketing to the crown. There are moments I feel like screaming out loud that people are dying and have no time for your mailers, posters and FB videos, you fucking imbeciles! But for the occasional sounds of gnashing teeth, there's silence. Mainly because many of us are hooked to the lure of lucre right now, not to mention a long-prevailing absence of principles and backbones. The real assholes are the ones who think there's nothing wrong with what we're doing. The "if you don't like the heat, get out of the kitchen" gang who sold their souls long ago.
So, while the heroes of this war - healthcare professionals, law & order professionals, entrepreneurs making masks and ventilators, NGOs caring for the helpless and homeless, scientists developing a vaccine, essential goods suppliers - tirelessly go about their work daily, we continue to shame humanity since our bosses are scared about losing clients, jobs and fat salaries. So, us lemmings log into work in the morning, get on to absurd, existentially pointless phone calls and meetings, write, art-direct, listen to feedback and change things again & again because lord knows, every motherfucker in the client marketing team thinks they can do better than us. We put in 10-14 hour days into meaningless drivel that has neither a modicum of creativity, sensitivity or taste. And people wonder why substance abuse is a pretty common vice amongst our lot.
I suppose some of us would take a long, hard look in the mirror and ask why we demean ourselves this way. If we could meet our own eyes, that is.
Song for the moment: Terrible Lie - Nine Inch Nails
The world is struggling with an unprecedented health crisis. One profession sees the pandemic as a heaven-sent opportunity to do something meaningful, stand up for its beliefs and use every resource at its disposal to leave a lasting impression. Advertising is not that profession.
Advertising and Marketing are the nadirs of every conceivable value system you can think of. Less useful and more pathethic than narcisstic movie stars singing a song together and arguably about as evil as those terrorists who attacked... never mind... as evil as terrorists. I work in this industry and right now, a million of us have been tasked with thinking about how we can highlight the nobility of the brands we work on. Yup, at a moment in history where we are practically at war against a dreadful enemy that may have already invaded our bodies for all we know, A&M are cooking up plausible ways of making videos, press ads, digital content and other crap that reek of sanctimony and desperate attention-seeking, all of it to basically exploit the situation for brand recognition in any way possible. One agency I know of is allegedly facing the threat of ex-employees poaching clients away. Rather than identify the reasons behind why exactly the agency has reached this state of imminent danger (shoddy client management for starters), they've been tasked with reaching out to every client on the books with 'proactive' ideas, thematically on COVID-19. Let's milk that udder dry... yeehaw!
I felt a spear of shame even as I wrote it. Because to write it and eventually, to publish it is to acknowledge that it is horribly true. That it's all just plain codswallop being passed off as cooing concern. If there are professions that are blind, tone-deaf and breathtakingly stupid to boot right now, one would be hardpressed to beat advertising and marketing to the crown. There are moments I feel like screaming out loud that people are dying and have no time for your mailers, posters and FB videos, you fucking imbeciles! But for the occasional sounds of gnashing teeth, there's silence. Mainly because many of us are hooked to the lure of lucre right now, not to mention a long-prevailing absence of principles and backbones. The real assholes are the ones who think there's nothing wrong with what we're doing. The "if you don't like the heat, get out of the kitchen" gang who sold their souls long ago.
So, while the heroes of this war - healthcare professionals, law & order professionals, entrepreneurs making masks and ventilators, NGOs caring for the helpless and homeless, scientists developing a vaccine, essential goods suppliers - tirelessly go about their work daily, we continue to shame humanity since our bosses are scared about losing clients, jobs and fat salaries. So, us lemmings log into work in the morning, get on to absurd, existentially pointless phone calls and meetings, write, art-direct, listen to feedback and change things again & again because lord knows, every motherfucker in the client marketing team thinks they can do better than us. We put in 10-14 hour days into meaningless drivel that has neither a modicum of creativity, sensitivity or taste. And people wonder why substance abuse is a pretty common vice amongst our lot.
I suppose some of us would take a long, hard look in the mirror and ask why we demean ourselves this way. If we could meet our own eyes, that is.
Song for the moment: Terrible Lie - Nine Inch Nails
Comments
Ultimately, it all boils down to your personal philosophy that defines your world view. Just because someone is doing tireless, selfless service in this hour of need doesn't mean every single one of those heroes is not facing a similar moral quandary about something else in their lives. There really is no escaping the human condition...hero, monster, or in-between.
A lot of truth here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC10VWDTzmU
Right now, with this pandemic situation, the first condition is very easily met, especially compared to normal times. That is actually making a lot of people uncomfortable with themselves because the mundane, thoughtless chores of everyday life are what keep the population functional. "Stop and smell the roses" is the least helpful advice for a vast majority out there, if it is for more than a very short period of time. The second condition, which I like to think of as "burden of intelligence" for want of a better term, is typically in short supply as it is. I suspect a good section of those who do carry that burden are usually caught up with blissful, vacuous everyday life. So relative to normal times, I am sure those souls find themselves meeting both conditions right now in the middle of this lockdown. In that sense, I am convinced that this pandemic is also resulting in a second-order, totally unmitigated mental health epidemic, that will play out in interesting ways after this is over.
But that is all beside the point. At the end of the day, if any one line of thought leaves you with an elevated sense of anguish or existential stress, the only real way to mitigate that is by concurrently espousing a diametrically opposing philosophy and arguing the case in good faith metacognitively. If that sounds like the equivalent of psychological crossfit training, that's only because it is. At the end of the day, it is all still an exercise in futility of course, but at least you get to take the scenic route.
Since it sounded you liked Dylan, this is one gem that I keep revisiting every time I need to remind myself how futility and beauty are not necessarily mutually exclusive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVIWA9VTiN8
By referring to Meursault, I wondered if people are even partially experiencing him... his indifference/detachment. For many, neither time nor intellect may be needed to turn numb... it may just be a defence mechanism. Something like one of the 5 stages of grief? Are we experiencing a global quasi-grief? Which brings me to the next point. Yes, this unnatural state of being cooped up is sure to lead to mental health issues later. It is quite likely that people are manifesting behaviours regularly that would otherwise come up rarely.
While you may be 100% correct about the metacognitive exercise, I guess one should have the ability to identify the alternative philosophy in the first place? I don't mean to suggest that it will never happen; given time, I may get there but I may be stuck in a cycle of frustration till then. Apologies for rambling, but I am unable to convey exactly what I mean well. Writing the above makes me think of stories from the Bala Bhagvatam where individuals are stuck in a rut till divine realisation takes place.
Read the song lyrics and the point is well-made. Listened to BD a lot in college (who doesn't) but find the lyrical twists in Leo Cohen's work more enjoyable now.