Not to be too snide or "I told you so," but the buzz on the radio today, be it NPR, the local country station, even the all news station, has been the changes, yet again, to Facebook.
Now, you get to snoop even more into your neighbors files - music, photos and Lord knows what else AND get bombarded with even more and bigger, yes that's right, BIGGER ads that follow you at every turn. Isn't that we all want? More ads?
We are not even immune from them in the sky! Yesterday, even with rain barely over the horizon the folks in the San Gabriel Valley, just east of Los Angeles, had to listen to the droning of a small plane hauling a huge GEICO banner behind it as it labored, and I do mean labored, back and forth just about all day. When it was overhead conversation stopped. It was that loud.
One of my favorite movies is Ridley Scott's BLADERUNNER. It shows an L.A. of the future where the smog has clearly won, the immigrant population is the majority and still with all of this, we are making replicants, genetic people that have a lifespan of limited years. The city is awash with ads, name brands that you can't miss as you follow the hero, played by Harrison Ford, who is an expert at ferreting out those replicants who try to slip into the mainstream.
The movie is awash with ads and not unlike those that bathe our buildings at night now. Ever seen nighttime photos of Shanghai, China? It is stunning. It was an amazing, groundbreaking movie, and like 2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY, has stood the test of time.
Kubrick really was the leader in this branding business. Who will ever forget the Pam Am space shuttle docking with the International Space Station to the music of "The Beautiful Blue Danube?" The AT&T call home. The Howard Johnson restaurant and the Hilton hotel?
Ads are everywhere today. Stadiums that used to be named for people are now named for corporations. I noticed that the Kodak Center in Hollywood is now the Dolby Center...same building but due to the misfortunes of Kodak they got a new sponsor. We can't even get away from them on the highways. This mile is sponsored by "The Local Bar" and what not.
So, I guess in retrospect, poor Facebook has to come up with some way to make some dough. It will just have to do it without me.
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