Millions of People... Aren't Reading This Blog [Where the Hell Was I?]

February 15, 2005

Millions of People... Aren't Reading This Blog

Why is so much advertising predicated on what people around us are doing?

(And have I railed about this before? This already seems really familiar somehow. Seven hundred topics in a year and a half will do that to you, I guess. And the alcohol doesn't help, either.)

Maybe it's just me, but all I want to hear about are the merits of the particular product or service or entertaining diversion in question. It's irrelevant to me if it's the 'most popular' or 'award-winning', or that 'millions of people can't be wrong'.

Well, of course they can. That's just ludicrous. First of all, remember that most people are fundamentally different than you, with different needs and priorities -- they're a different gender, or outside your age group, or in a wildly different tax bracket. Or maybe they pull their toilet paper over the front of the roll, instead of from the back. Freakshows.

And besides that, some people are idiots. Not all people, mind you. Not even most people. Unless you're late for work, of course. Then everyone around you is a cluebag. And they're out to get you.

But the point is, you can't possibly trust the decisions of others when it comes to your own choices. I just think of all the people out there who drive SUVs, or wear nice suits to work, or cheer for the Yankees, or watch The Golden Girls. How are those people going to help me? And what would my preferences mean to them?

I don't know -- maybe this type of advertising really works. Maybe we're not supposed to think about it too hard, and most people don't.

(Those are 'back of the roll toilet paper' people, I bet. They probably wear suits to Yankee games. I'm just saying.)

Anyway... eh. I forget what my point was. Some random commercial claimed 'seven million people can't be wrong' a little while ago, and started this whole thread. And I had nothing else for you tonight, so there you go. Instant blog post. I guess TV is good for something, after all. I should have listened to all those millions of people earlier, eh?