Monday, October 9, 2006
Brand Loyalty Gone Wild
Read this article in today's Times about consumer control of marketing, and now I'm freaked out. This participatory media was great when it meant that fans could cheaply make spinoffs of their favorite show, re-splice a trailer, or create and distribute a music video. But allowing fans to make ADS for companies? Some of these brand loyalty nuts are even dressing their BMWs for Halloween! Are we turning into Japan??
On the one hand, it's allowing consumers to control the marketing could have a lot of benefits - it could lower the internalized costs of products. It could even force manufacturers to conform to the ideals consumers espouse for them, rather than the other way around. On the other hand, I'm going to miss the good old days when an ad would tell me what to buy and what to think and I could feel justified in doing the exact opposite.
On the one hand, it's allowing consumers to control the marketing could have a lot of benefits - it could lower the internalized costs of products. It could even force manufacturers to conform to the ideals consumers espouse for them, rather than the other way around. On the other hand, I'm going to miss the good old days when an ad would tell me what to buy and what to think and I could feel justified in doing the exact opposite.
