Media Gone Wild

Media Gone Wild

One thing about retirement is you have a lot of time on your hands to watch, listen and read media stuff.  Some of the stuff makes me believe the media has lost its mind.  For example ads have gone wild.  If you listen or read car ads, you get the impression all cars are the same except for price. Not one ad lists the features and benefits of the car. You're expected to buy one because two ferry animals are bobbing and weaving to a fun song. I like the animals and the song, but what's in the car that is so compelling I should buy one. Another car ad expects you to buy their car because the tag line is "Zoom Zoom."


Prescription drug ads are the craziest. I am so bombarded with erectile dysfunction ads that I have to have a heart to heart talk with my penis every few days to make sure he is OK. Also, these ads only show two older people holding hands and making go-go eyes at each other while serine music is going on in the background. How is that going to convince me that by taking this pill little Johnny is going to stand up and salute when I need him to do so.


In addition, after the singing and dancing is over, the ad has someone speaking faster than a New York minute about all the side effects the drug is going to do to me. Hell, in print ads the product's ad is on the left page and the entire right page is dedicated to listing all the side effects. 


Lastly, does every drug have constipation as a significant side effect? Almost every ad for a prescription drug has constipation as the outcome of using the drug. At 68 I already have enough problems in the bathroom. I don't want a drug that helps my high blood pressure drug bind me up more than I already am. As a matter of fact, the more I have to push in the bathroom the higher my blood pressure. That might mean I need a higher dose of the drug that might stop me from going altogether.


Of course there is a solution, take another drug to help me go. However, that drug has side effects that might make me take another drug. The circle goes on and on and the Pharmaceutical companies are laughing all the way to the bank.


Then there are ads that I have no freaking idea what the hell they're selling.  They have beautiful images, great sound effects and good looking people. But, the only way you can figure out what they're selling is if you can understand the meaning of their tag line or look to the bottom right side of the ad to see the company's name. That might work if you know what the company sells. If you don't, just enjoy the art of the ad because you're not going to buy something you don't know what the hell it is. 


I spent many years in marketing and sales. The first rule of selling is to get the listener to clearly understand the benefits of your product. There are so many ads that never even bother with benefits. They just want you to be entertained by their ad in the hopes that will get you to buy. I think the media people are tricking companies into thinking entertainment sells. The reason I believe this is because as a marketer we always wanted to do creative work. Just telling the customer what the product does and the benefits of such is not very creative.


Now on the dark side, the media is all about eyeballs. The more eyeballs that see listen to or read their stuff, the more money they make. Putting a mass murderer and terrorist picture on the front of a popular magazine just to get more eyeballs is disgusting.  This full of hate individual looks like a rock star and this magazine (who is all about rock stars) is encouraging other lunatics to try to do bad things so they can get their picture promoted.  This is media gone wild to the extreme.


Now, what the hell dos all this have to do with happiness. Nothing if you're not constipated (just joking). However, truth be told media does have a significant effect on our lives. It's all over us and as hard as we might try we can't get away from it. The happiness issue is how we respond to this bombardment.


If our core is mostly happy, we won't let the media affect us in a negative way. If our core is happy, we will sift through all the bullshit and find the stuff that enlightens, motivates, informs and puts a smile on our face. If our core is shaky when it comes to happiness, I suggest you take everything said or printed in the media as a grain of salt and skip through the ads (DVRs rule) and/or turn the page or change the channel if the media is throwing negative crap at you.

You are in control of the media. The media is not in control of you. Get the most positive stuff you can out of the wild and crazy media.