"Pizzaonia Emerging" courtesy of the Pizzaonian Art Institute, Abe Straction, curator
BROTHER GIOVANNI’S JOURNAL…………….
Every time I portalize back to Pizzaonia from the United States I have to sit for a day or two to let the clutter filter out of my thoughts. It only takes a few days in the U.S. to be completely inundated with commercial messages. They are as ubiquitous as the billions of micro waves that penetrate every space available. At least, you are not as aware of the micro waves.
If you concentrate on what you are hearing and seeing on television and/or radio, you become aware that you are being swamped by commercials, occasionally interrupted by programing. The only escape is to watch and listen to their public television stations. I will, however, confess to you that after a couple of hours with public broadcasting stations, you are ready for some commercials.
So where does that leave me after a short stay here – for one I start looking for the nearest Portotran so I can get back to Pizzaonia.
Don’t get me wrong. I love the United States. This is my native country. Unfortunately, everyone here is selling something. It is so bad that if they don’t have a product to sell, they create one with an idea which can be capsulized into a clever tweet and then made into a movement that requires membership, and of course, a fee to join. Someone needs to work on a drug that will prevent intended viral content from going viral.
Marketing is so pervasive that billions of dollars are spent on advertising that sells and promotes products and software on how to learn to market better. Which obviously means that marketing products that market marketing, may be the most lucrative businesses here? You figure it out.
How did all of this happen - or is it obvious that a democratic capitalistic country and economy would inevitably make selling more important than what is being sold? I know this sounds crazy, but is it possible that this is what happened?
Brother Franco and I have speculated from our distant perch in Pizzaonia that two things may have brought this about.
One, globalization has taken place. Companies that once were exclusively American are now multi-national and see their country of origin as a market and little else. Whether they sell their products to an American, Chinese or Saudi Arabian makes little difference to them as long as their products get sold.
Two, combine automation with globalization and the outsourcing of everyday manufacturing jobs to other parts of the world, and you are left with jobs that are about services and not actual products.
What are services? Services can run the gamut from cleaning hotel rooms to highly complex design engineers. They either make a product for the digital world, or they are working with a service product. Ironically, the most service oriented job of them all, direct selling, is now being done more and more in the virtual world. What happens when they invent machines that can clean rooms, fix beds and serve food? It does not take long to figure out that you only need so many design engineers.
What does that leave – you guessed it – marketing? And yes, eventually as stated, the marketing of marketing becomes bigger than the market or the product. Sound crazy? I hope so, because if it isn’t I have some marketing software on marketing that I would like to sell you.
Till next time……
John Frank Giovanni, commenting for "The Pizzaonian" a division of the Pizzaonian Newsertainment Network, Diveri Meneto, editor
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