The model of interaction with the iPad is to be a “consumer,” what William Gibson memorably described as “something the size of a baby hippo, the color of a week-old boiled potato, that lives by itself, in the dark, in a double-wide on the outskirts of Topeka. It’s covered with eyes and it sweats constantly. The sweat runs into those eyes and makes them sting. It has no mouth… no genitals, and can only express its mute extremes of murderous rage and infantile desire by changing the channels on a universal remote.
I’m loving this quote by William Gibson on the consumer, in the context of a Boing Boing post. Just today i was happy-clicking to find out more about the changing role of the consumer, and how at our office we think that the time of force-feeding is coming (thankfully) to an end.
Maybe not as quickly as we hope. Inertia is a terrible monster.
But the picture William Gibson paints is a wonderful one to instill a sense or urgency and change the dystopic future he is describing. Let’s make sure as an industry that we don’t just stop force-feeding our listeners, but rather take the lead and guide the advertising industry to an interactive, exciting, world-improving role.
At the core, advertising isn’t evil. When there is a crowd of producers that need to distinguish themselves from each other, there is a need for each one of them to reach their buyers in a unique way. Out of three hundred apple producers, who will you buy from? Advertising helps shape your opinion.
But the manner in which advertising is conducted can be evil. When it lies to the consumer, mistreats them and relegates them to the role of a mute week-old boiled potato, two things can happen.
Your consumers give up to the continuous bombardment of rotten advertising and finally turn into baby hippos. Or they grow so resentful that they stage a revolution.
The alternative? Make it fun. Make it true. Make it engaging, intelligent, interactive. Invite the user to take part in your journey. Treat him like family. Get him out of the house and into the sun, the flowers, and his peers.
Do for advertising what the Wii is doing for videogames.
Let’s prove Gibson wrong.
