A break from the politics

[madame_zora]

Originally posted by jonb@Jan 1 2005, 09:59 PM
I'm not even sure most people with marketing degrees know much about marketing. Nothing I hate more than hearing about genital herpes while I'm eating lunch.

[post=271329]Quoted post[/post]​

I know what you mean, some things just don't need to be on tv. If someone needs tampons, jock itch medicine, herpes ointment and tha like, they can find out about it from their doctor or pharmacist, or a simple trip to the drugstore. I see no valid reason for advertising for something that someone has to have. Even many condom ads go far beyond what is necessary to advertise the product. I guess a bit of psychology and philosophy would go a long way here.

 

[jonb]

Well, it's like the old joke about so much spam: If you're going to do something illegal (e.g., cheap warez, MAKE.MONEY.FAST, kiddie porn, alternative "medicine"), don't you think you shouldn't tell 256 newsgroups about it?

 

[madame_zora]

Hey, that's a great idea- when I get my website going for my costumes, I'll get with you to get a list of newsgroups- I'll be rich in no time!

 

[jonb]

Yup, we'll get about $50 -- and about 20,000 flames. Can flames be sold on the open market?

Well, at least I'll have material to read if I'm ever in an elected office and need to filibuster.

 

[madame_zora]

Sorry, jonb, you're far too intelligent to ever be a politician, inless you hire the world's best spin group. Nonetheless, you'd have all our votes here but there's only 8000 of us so you'd better start out small (pun intended). City council perhaps?

 

[big_peter]

(-sorry, Pecker, your first reply wasn't very amusing)

As for me - I didn't get here alone (nevermind the God-no god issue) and I can't do all my living without the assistance of others... therefore I am 'just a fellow traveller' and owe a debt of gratitude and support to others (by design or chance) along the way.

I came to that simple truth when depressed in my high school days, and it holds even several decades later... "I am my brother's keeper", if you want to use another's quote (JC, if I recall), and anyone who takes on a "libertartian" angle isn't acknowledging the debt I learned about in my leading paragraph.

I ain't rich, but I owe lots of non-monetary debts to all of you! (yes, I mean that, even though I know so little about you all&#33

I'll close with the near-political definition (sorry if I'm too close to entangling the pol. with the phil.) - A libertarian is an anarchist with a credit line.

 

[LuckyLuke]

Originally posted by madame_zora+Jan 2 2005, 07:11 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(madame_zora &#064; Jan 2 2005, 07:11 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteBegin-jonb@Jan 1 2005, 09:59 PM
I&#39;m not even sure most people with marketing degrees know much about marketing. Nothing I hate more than hearing about genital herpes while I&#39;m eating lunch.

[post=271329]Quoted post[/post]​

I know what you mean, some things just don&#39;t need to be on tv. If someone needs tampons, jock itch medicine, herpes ointment and tha like, they can find out about it from their doctor or pharmacist, or a simple trip to the drugstore. I see no valid reason for advertising for something that someone has to have. Even many condom ads go far beyond what is necessary to advertise the product. I guess a bit of psychology and philosophy would go a long way here.

[post=271469]Quoted post[/post]​

[/b][/quote]
Couple of things here...

Marketing and tv advertising works. Grossing you out while you are eating your lunch by talking about herpes makes lots of people rich. Like it or lump it. All the statistics, surveys, feedback loops and focus groups that marketing types obsess over, do pay dividends - figuratively as well as literally.

As I&#39;ve explained to my tv-watching sister so many times, if you don&#39;t like or don&#39;t understand a commercial, you are NOT THE TARGET. And if you are not part of the target audience, they don&#39;t care what you think about their commercial. This is exactly where herpes and your lunch comes in.

And madame_zora, you are entirely correct. However, you are missing the point. People who need something, usually just go out and get it. Advertising has nothing to do with that. Advertising is entirely concerned with convincing people who don&#39;t need something, that they might in fact need it after all or perhaps just in case, or maybe to be cool, but just go out and buy it anyway because you just have to have it&#33; That&#39;s what its all about.

Indeed, psychology and philosophy does go a long way here - sociology and political science as well. Politics has been packaged under these processes for decades now. Btw, the seminal work in the field of what is now known as "public relations and advertising" was originally called "Propaganda Studies" back in 1920&#39;s. Indeed, media studies is one of my strongest interests and Marshal McLuhan and Chomsky are by far the most interesting &#39;big name&#39; theorists in the field.

 

[madame_zora]

LuckyLuke, actually I love marketing ploys as much as the next guy, I&#39;m a career salesman so I do understand the reasons for them. It&#39;s just that some of them are so damned unseemly&#33; Our society is so repressive in some ways but so overt in others- oh yeah, IT&#39;S ALWAYS ABOUT THE MONEY&#33; <cardinal rule of sales>

Funeral homes were not allowed to advertise until recently, and still can&#39;t in some areas. In these places people are more likely to be taken advantage of because they are not aware until the time of need what the going prices are. Despite it appearing grotesque for them to advertise, I am aware of the benefits to the public if it is. The same is not always true of all products. Drug companies advertising pills that they don&#39;t even tell you what they do is absurd, and should be illegal, Wellbutrin is a good example. After saying absolutely nothing about what it treats, the comercial says "ask your doctor if Wellbutrin is right for you". Good way to trun doctors into street pharmacists, not that they wouldn&#39;t push them on you themselves for the kickbacks they receive. Many physicians make almost as much money on these kickbacks as they do in their practise&#33; Very well paid salesmen lure them in with gifts and outright money for being a "top seller" of their particular product. The salesmen are also bonused on how many doctors they enlist on their programs. It&#39;s ALWAYS the money.

Commericals are generally aimed at the national average reading level- fourth grade&#33; You will almost never see a commercial that&#39;s too heady to understand. You are so right in saying, if you&#39;re not the target audience they don&#39;t care about you at all. I was really just being an elitist ass in wishing I didn&#39;t have to see certain things- oh wait, I forgot- I DID disconnect my cable box&#33; Try to get to me now, you advertising fokkers&#33;

 

[cypher13]

1. Love and respect the Goddess, the Earth and all living things

2. Harm nothing through hate

3. Minimalism can be good, as too often I mistake complexity with profundity.

 

[Kimahri]

Empricism is the basis of my life philosophy and then I apply some eastern philosophies in to round out my thoughts.

 

[surferboy]

Hmm...

- Have fun and live with no regrets
- Karma is real&#33;
- If ya can&#39;t laugh at yerself, ya might as well end it now

This one&#39;s sorta political...

- If our society becomes one where one cannot get offended, then we no longer live in a free society. So, please, stop this censorship shit.

 

[13788]

doubtless_mouse: Here&#39;s mine in a nut shell,

"If I don&#39;t wake up, I can&#39;t complain...If I do wake up, I can&#39;t complain."

Life is to great to be tied down with complaints. Don&#39;t get me wrong, like all people there are days when I want to pull all my hair out, scream from the top of my lungs, and just don&#39;t understand things, but my ideas on life are more grand than that. I am not talking about specifics, instead I am refering to the bigger picture.

Ramblings from the Mouse.

 

[Freddie53]

Originally posted by Pecker@Oct 19 2004, 05:44 PM
Well, let&#39;s see...God put us here on Earth to learn to make good decisions...the greatest work we can do is within the walls of our own home...the best gardener is the one who has no trouble giving away all that zucchini...and finally...the road to hell is paved with democrats.

[post=260304]Quoted post[/post]​

Tis true Pecker. We Democrats volunteered to provide pavement so there would be good road bed for you Republicans to travel on your trip to Hell. Then we will roll up and make our journey to Demo Heaven. We will get there of course riding on a donkey just as Mary did so long ago as shw was with child. Quick get a shovel. It is getting deep in here. :excl:

 

[Freddie53]

Originally posted by AllHazzardi@Oct 19 2004, 12:53 PM
Being a philosophy minor, I am always interested in hearing these from other people, it tells you a lot about the person, and what they expect. It tells you if they can go beyond what&#39;s presented to them and start thinking of what &#39;could be&#39;. It&#39;s an endlessly discussed subject, because each person sees a different piece of the pie. So I ask you all...

What&#39;s your philosophy of life?

[post=260266]Quoted post[/post]​

What I write today might differ a lot from what I might write another day, but here goes:

1. Things are to be enjoyed, but happiness comes from within.
2. Happiness comes from being with peace with yourself and being at peace with your creator as you understand the Creator and as the Creator reveals itself to you.
3. There are some eternal truths including, integrity, honesty, compassion, love, responsibility, and wisdom. (This is not a complete list. Just off the top of my head.) There are some eternal falsehoods that bring pain to people. Hatred, deceit, wrongful uninvited lust, greed, dishonesty and murder to name a few.
4. Our own happiness depends much on how well we follow those truths and we fall in the trap of living those falsehoods.
5. The Creator is still creating. Perfection is not here yet. For those who strive for it and stay in tune with the Creator that person will eventually find perfection which is also interpreted as completeness. This usally comes in the next world.
6. Consider the consequences. All actions have them. Some consequences are good and some are not.
7, This is not a static world, Things are always changing. Revere and celebrate the good things of the past, but keep focus on relationships and things of the future. The past can&#39;t be changed, the present is only a second. Only the future can be changed.
8. There is suffering and disappointment in this world. The Creator is not through creating. In time there will be complete perfection for all who desire it. All sorrow and suffering will vanish for those who seek the perfection.
9. Not all religion is good. Only those facets of religion that encourage being in peace witht the Creator and with your fellow man are good. Let the bad parts of religions slide to be back burner.
10. While there is probably only one real true eternal truth in this world as well as the next, no one person has a handle on it to tell others that have all the answers. But we all will know what is eternallly good and what is eternally bad in due time either here on earth or in the wordl to come.
11. The Creator strives to become in total communion with every person who has lived, is living or will every live. No human is left out.
12. Not all humans will choose to be in communion with the Creator.

I don&#39;t know what happens to those who don&#39;t seek the compete perfection. I suspect they eventually cease to exist. I don&#39;t plan on finding out.