Remember that dumb-as-shit book I mentioned a few months back, a HarperCollins property that intended to upend the stodgy old mindset of marketing executives everywhere by using the word "punk" in the title of a book and the word "edgy" in their press release? (http://www.punkplanet.com/anne_elizabeth_moore/blog/get_off_your_ass_and...)
Well, given a little bit of time, they've now—finally!—woven enough rope with which we can help them hang themselves. And you can join the fun!
As a part of the marketing campaign for this ridiculus dumbness, they've created a "boycott" website at www.punkstinks.com. This is not only extremely dumb—who is going to believe this inanity worthy of political engagement—but also cheapens the idea of the boycott. Which, frankly, is one of the very few avenues for political dissent we have anymore in our late-capitalist arsenal. Finally, and most egregiously, this fake-boycott-as-marketing-campaign-project enlists dissent itself as a tool for selling.
We can't have that. We need to retain options for speaking out against bullshits big and small. And we need to protect, at all costs, even the perception of freedom of speech. We have enough trouble making dissent heard when it is utilized organically; let's not also allow it to be sold from the start.
Please join me in a campaign to make it clear—to the people who wrote the book, to the NewsCorpers who put it out, and to anyone else we can find that is interested in retaining options for engaged activism and dissent in our ever-incorporating culture—that our dissent is not a sales tool.
Here's the first post I put up:
"the revolution will not be posted to this website
Using dissent as a tool for selling more product is one of the most egregious mistakes a marketing firm can undertake. Unfortunately, adopting a boycott as a part of a marketing campaign will only underscore the effectiveness of further boycotts. And in a democracy, we need all the possiblities for dissent that we can possibly muster."
Wanna help? Here's what I suggest:
1. Login to www.punkstinks.com. Create a user name and password, the magazine's or otherwise. Whatever you're comfy with.
2. Repost the above or write something new WITHOUT MENTIONING THE NAME OF THE BOOK. Make it clear that what you are objecting to is the use of the boycott as a marketing tool; *not* whatever dumbass product they are selling with the fake boycott. Mentioning the name of the book defeats the purpose of this project: DO NOT MENTION THE BOOK, although we can probably all agree it is really, really dumb.
3. Keep it positive! Be polite, charming and cute. Why not?
4. Tell your friends.
5. Repost here what you posted there; I imagine your comments will be deleted fairly immediately, and we'll want a record of your anti-marketing campaign.
Awesome! E-me with questions or concerns!
using this fake boycott site as a means to market something—anything—is incredibly underhanded and cynical. please consider removing it."
you'll notice i'm using the mag's name—mostly 'cause i don't want harpercollins trying to send me the stupid book.