On Wed, Jun 30, 2010 at 11:39 AM, Constance Warner <cawar...@his.com> wrote:
> But much of the marketing for smartphones concerns just such convenience > issues as picking a restaurant (or a store, or some other way of consuming); > so this isn't my idea. In nearly all the commercials I've seen, > convenience and consumption are the main selling points of smartphones and > portable smart devices. There's an app, we are told, for all sorts of > ephemeral stuff; but I haven't yet heard of an app to target the company > that's most likely to get you a job, or the app to tell you which hospital > has the best outcomes and lowest infection rates, when you have to undergo > some kind of medical procedure. Maybe really useful apps like these exist, > but they aren't in the commercials. Well put. Conspicuous and consumptive consumerism is most definitely a key component of almost all advertising for cell phones, smart ones or otherwise, along with constant unbridled joy. Part of the advertising imagery is that having such devices will apparently help to make one rich as well as popular, providing the funding necessary to be able to routinely eat out, go to the theater, take in the show, just generally always having fun with a happy smile upon your face. Never will you see an ad where a cell phone is delivering any bad news. All cell phone calls generate happiness and abundant joy. Not at all as in real life. No bill collectors there or anyone pleading, "Help me. I've fallen and I can't get up." But, hey, it's marketing at its best...or worst. Countless folks actually buy into it, living out huge portions of their daily lives on personal cell phones, spending hours a day gaping at or talking into a box in their hand, and that thing appears to be the most important aspect of their existence. These are also the folks that the cell phone industry depend upon the most, the junkies. Steve ************************************************************************* ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *************************************************************************
