Saturday, May 16, 2009

Tabloid Marketing?

I originally wrote this entry on October 7, 2004, and published it on blogs.sun.com.


Attitudes about what "we" do and do not "want the industry to devolve into" can be really novel and original, and yet totally false.


Yes, and as if, the industry, is at "our" exclusive disposal. As if, it exists because "we" are here. Obviously, the industry goes on, and "we" are not gods.


Imagine some copy machine manufacturer stating that "we really do not want the industry to devolve into electronic chit-chat" by way of expressing his opposition to digital document exchange replacing hard copy exchanges. "No e-mail please, it is chit-chat!"


Well, this sort of we-know-it-all-and-are-superior-to-all-the-others-who-just-dont-get-it attitude does happen in the real world. It happens too often.


"We don't want the industry to devolve into tabloid marketing," says (to the WSJ, Oct. 7, 2004, page B3) a marketing vice president for one of H-P's server computer units. (Let's keep the name out of this blog.) According to him, Sun has "crossed the line" with its latest comments about H-P on blogs.sun.com . . .


So, what's more of a tabloid, People or blogs.sun.com? And what about full-page ads on the WSJ and elsewhere? They are literally tabloid marketing. Aren't they?


It is funny how words resist those who insist on changing their original meaning . . .