Why I Didn't Go Into Advertising

I love marketing, advertising, public relations and the like. I can talk about this stuff for a long time and goodness knows I have opinions.

But today, this happened:

The ever obvious Black Friday/ Rebecca Black's "Friday" connection. It's awful, it's obnoxious, and it's just annoying at best. It's already causing a scene on the internet. People have opinions, more bad than good. More dislike's than like's. When I first realized what this video was, I cringed... probably like half of America.

But, guys... mission accomplished. Everyone will now know about Kohl's Black Friday sale. It doesn't matter how much you hate the ad. You now know all about it.

It's funny to me the entitlement people feel when they share their opinion of disgust, when Kohl's is loving every second of it. It's getting people to talk, it's getting views, etc. Kind of like Rebecca Black herself, she was famous for being awful, but she was still famous. And she's now producing on a major record label.

Advertising is about getting it out there, regardless of how awful it is... as bad as that sounds. It's a tricky business with a ton of underhanded methods and secrets. Kohl's isn't stupid, folks. They're kind of brilliant.

It's fascinating to me, but it's sneaky. And I don't want my career to involve selling people things my whole life.

& that's what I think. Sorry that I write about boring things sometimes.

Staring

So, I’m on my way to Minnesota riding the Megabus for the first time. I had low expectations, but so far I am surprisingly pleased.

I think I’ve mastered the window stare. You know, when you can see someone’s reflection in the window thereby giving you a prime people watching cover? And then if they see you, they won’t be able to tell if you’re watching them or just staring out the window in pensive thought.

Anyway, all the passengers are way more friendly and way less sketchy than I thought. We stopped on the UW campus and picked up like 15 students. I’ve exchanged a few words with a couple of passengers, but nothing close to sustained conversation.

However, a few rows in front of me is a boy who is a freshman in college and a sweet woman I’m guessing in her late sixties. They have been in conversation since the moment they sat down. This boy has this extraordinary ability to converse. To be able to converse with a total stranger from an entirely different generation for five straight hours is amazing. Not to mention being able to carry a conversation and ALSO not be crazy narcissistic.

About three hours into the trip they exchanged names.

And then phone numbers.

It’s funny how different observing this is than how it would be if this woman was around his age. But she’s not. She’s a sweet lady with all her kids grown up and moved away.  She’s not a 19 year old girl he wants to ask on a date.

I think the fact that they exchanged phone numbers is the cutest thing of all.

But I don’t think I could do this. I don’t think I could make connections with all these different people I meet on public transportation knowing that I’d never see them again. I can’t handle that. I hold on to too much. I let everyone I connect with take a little piece of me, and I don’t forget about them.

Do you ever think about that? How that certain people you see/talk to/observe you will never run into again? I think about this too often. It’s such a depressing thought. Luckily, as it is with much of the human memory, it’s usually fleeting.

I think he’s caught me watching them in the window.

Maybe I need to work on that, after all.




Does anyone watch PanAm? Let's talk about it. :]
Oh! Links - One for cheap clothes and one for cheap coffee. What's better?!