Ad Wars? Peace Now!

So, now they finally have the enemy entirely surrounded. No escape for the potential consumer anymore, say the so called ad big players and global networks. They claim to have zeroed in on the individual. Their magic formula? 360 degrees of ad and marketing weaponry. Total ad war is on the horizon.

A sigh of relief comes from the mouths of the ad agencies clients, after sleepless nights and horrendous nightmares about the consumer who threatened to ignore their advances. How scary was it, when they became increasingly immune to classic advertising and the internet age revealed the diversity of the human race. How freaked out was the ad biz getting when science proved their outputs to be recognized as communicational waste and (environ-)mental pollution.

Now the commerce strikes back and they are going to market, promote, product place, web 2.0., advertise, sponsor, hijack and customer relationship the people to death with the new big thing: 360 degrees of total brand and product presence. The consumers growing advertising immunity has been counterattacked with a strategy of the omnipresent brand. It won’t be long before they sneak messages into our dreams. They are probably working on that technique right now.

But, hang on for a sec: this doesn’t sound like an approach of somebody confident or sympathetic, likeable (and consumable). Do they seriously believe total presence will result in total consumption, total consideration or even sympathy? Won’t total brand presence result in even more advertising immunity? And won’t the consumer’s understandable indifference hereby be nourished to grow to antipathy, active animosity and rejection?

The gulf between marketers and the people is deepening dramatically. And rightly so! You evil twits!

Imagine how a dog reacts when surrounded by strangers. It will panic, whine, bark and in total despair will hit out, snap and bite. It will take on a defensive stance and its ultimate goal will be: to escape!

Things are going really devastatingly wrong. Yet, things could be going tremendously right.

We require communication diplomats credible enough to open peace talks between commercial sellers and commercial buyers. They are the ones to initiate peace roadmaps, media and ad disarmament negotiations. And they are necessary.

Why the fuck can't advertisers and those paying them believe in the mature individual and in human social behaviour traits (I mean, have you ever pulled a chick in a club by simply thinking of her or casting a glance? Come on, don’t be so stiff! You gotta put a bit more into it than that! )?

So, fuck 360 degrees. For 37,2 degrees is perfectly sufficient. Human temperature, human touch! But, first things first, who cares for all the places of the billboard charts if you can be a pop star with a number one?

Right then, so who's going to hold out the olive branch?

Peace now!