Social Media is shattering the way advertising works and the last people to catch on are the big advertisers.
Since the advent of advertising the message has always been the message “I am telling you and thus, it’s true”. The ads got bigger, the media became more interesting, but it always was about who had the biggest voice – from the local car dealers literally yelling about best selection and lowest prices to the giant fast foods and CPG companies filling our heads with the best TV spots, the most radio spots and the prettiest magazine ads. Really, it didn’t matter if the message was actually true, we heard it so many times that it became reality.
The great trancing of America: If I have this car then I will be happy, if I drink that beer then swimsuit models will love me, if I buy my kids happy meals, then they will be happy. The reality became a big fat monthly car payment forever because if you ever got close to paying it off you just had to have a new one, we all drank too much waiting for the swimsuit models to show up and, by and large, our kids wound up borderline obese and chock full of hormones and such.
The truth is, nobody in corporate america or corporate media is looking out for you – that’s not the way it works, that’s not their job. Their “job” is to sell you cars – not to determine if you need one, to sell you beer – not to determine if you’ve had enough, to sell you hamburgers and fries and shakes – not to determine if you were on the road to becoming just another over-fed and under nourished American.
So? Why is Social Media different? Because we are not driven to convince each other to do something, we can engage in the flow of Social interaction, the honest dialog of recommendations and sharing of ideas and resources. We are Americans, we buy stuff – that’s good. To a point.
What’s different now is the balance of power has shifted; it’s no longer in the hands of a few, it’s no longer about what you are allowed to see on TV – there are hundreds of channels, millions if you include YouTube. There was a saying about not being able to fight people who bought ink by the barrel, the newspapers controlled what we were told and the advertisers controlled what they told us. Turns out that’s not true anymore.
Advertisers must be truthful with us, because without that truthfulness we will get mad – and tell each other about it. Without honesty and decency and respect from big companies and their advertising we won’t be their customers anymore and what’s more, we will spread the word: “Danger! Rip-off, Danger! Bad Service” and it’s not about bitching at the water cooler – it’s about alerting our friends and connections, thousands of them and asking them to spread the word, hundreds of thousands of times. The power is now in the hands of the many, and that’s a good thing. It makes the world a better place.
