You want HOW much?…. - December 10, 2007
With the writer’s strike in full swing, and everyone within the industry expressing pessimism about how long it will actually last, the rest of us are wondering how long we’ll be forced to watch Jay Leno and his circa 1992 mullet interview the guy that played Dillon on Beverly Hills 90210. We all know that the writers strike means re-runs, re-caps and even worse movies than we had before. But there’s something even bigger at stake here. Something that is a little bit scary.
Last week a “major and unprecedented” deal was offered by the studios to the writers, which the writers promptly rejected. The writers saw it as a major “setback” and the stale mate continued on. The deal had to do with divvying up future internet media revenues. (You know, like shorts of Will Ferrell being yelled at by a drunk 3-year-old or seeing Andy Samberg punch some dude in the throat right as he is biting into a sandwich. That kind of stuff.) The two sides can’t agree on what this sort of content is worth. In fact, no one can. Michael Lynton, chairman of Sony Pictures, said in a recent interview, “It’s in the zeitgeist now — we’re at a moment in time where people don’t know how to value things. Art and media are a reflection of society. And if you no longer have an internal sense of what the dollar or a tank of gas is worth, it’s no surprise that you don’t know what content on the Internet is worth either.”
Could it be though, that the reason we don’t know how to place a value on this form of entertainment is because we don’t know what entertainment is anymore? We are inundated by all kinds of entertainment on an hourly basis. Could it be that the lines of reality and entertainment have so been blurred that we cannot discern which is which? I mean, even the news is shoved down our throats in an “entertaining” way, and by someone that seems more “likeable and entertaining”. We have blogs that keep us “informed” on what a specific celebrity is wearing or what product they endorse today. But it’s all “just for entertainment”.
So, if the world is slowly losing its appreciation and understanding of art and creativity, where does that leave us as advertising professionals? Are we going to have to start wearing pirate costumes to work and riding unicycles while juggling in order to “entertain” a client that wants to get the same attention that some 17-year-old in Boise is getting because he videoed himself getting kicked in the groin by his sister? Am I going to have to get kicked in the groin in order to sell a product now? I’m scared about that. Yes, about the getting kicked part, but more so because I’m going to have to live in a culture that is so dumbed-down that and creatively numb, that watching some clown on television yell at me about a new dishwashing detergent that is “fun to watch work” will become a national pastime. I’ll be out of a job and out of my mind. I don’t want to raise kids in that world. But if I do, I guess I’ll be sure to teach them how to kick each other in the crotches. I mean, they need to earn a living one day.