As a retired marketing executive I recognize perception is reality.
Example, Global Warming. If we knew the billions of dollars in free advertising the media has given the idea, it would be thousands of times more than the biggest advertising budget of the largest media buyer. We have been inundated with messages telling us the planet is in peril. For the life of me, I can’t remember one message that questions global warming. Hence, it is reality. We have been told time and time again that it is reality. Never a balanced story, just the ice peeling off that computer generated glacier Gore used.
Another example. ANWR is always portrayed as the last bastion of pristine wilderness in the United States. Here’s a piece of reality you will never see on network TV. Go to: http://navlog.org/anwr_truth.pdf .
Example, Obama stands for change. He says it over and over. He never defines it, just says it. Truth, he stands for nothing. He has never voted on any delicate issue in the Illinois house nor the senate. He did vote against the Iraq war. So, he just stands for change. That’s it, change. Keep the message simple and people will remember the message.
Example, the Iraq war is going badly. That was the message night after night on the prime time news. You knew it was a mistake and it was one man’s mistake, Bush. Bush’s war, Bush’s war going badly. When it stopped going badly, no news. No news about the good news. No news about Bush’s success in Iraq. No kudos to Gates or Petreaus for fixing it.
I saw a network special on a Holocaust hero. Great story, but all that happened a long, long time ago. How about a story on an Iraq hero? I recognize the media is predominantly Jewish, but I’m not. I believe the Holocaust happened. I’m just a little tired of having it rehashed every day as if it were current news. Of all the groups in the US in an approval rating, the military and the troops rank first. All that without any media help.
The U.S. media is a big marketing machine. They want you to want Obama for president. They want it so badly they will give him 75% of the air time between now and November and his will be positive and McCain’s will be more negative. Yesterday they were both courting the Hispanic vote. Omaba was shown speaking Spanish. McCain was shown being heckled. How’s that for fair and balanced? Obama will raise $500 million and spend most of that selling us on him. This will be a big edge over McCain. Then the media will leverage that advantage by giving him 5-10 minutes more every day. Another $500 million if you had to buy it.
The media wants to shape our reality. They know exactly how to do it. They have been doing it for years. Say it, say it again, and tomorrow say it again. Like erosion, over time it works. It wears away our ability to question things like global warming. Try it. At the next cocktail party just say:" global warming is a bunch of baloney." See what kind of response you get. It still hasn’t cost enough yet to be challenged. In Europe where they have been facing the economic impact of global warming overkill it’s different. At a cocktail party there the one who is defending global warming will be in the minority. Until enough airlines go broke, enough of your neighbors are out of work, enough plants close, enough financial institutions go bust, enough pain is inflicted on enough Americans, it will be reality. As soon as the reality creators see it’s a lost cause, they will go on to a new reality they want to sell us. They won’t be around to bury the idea. They never are.
As I write, the network is creating reality for us about gun laws. The Supreme Court struck down gun restrictions. The media is mad. Really mad. They are interviewing 3 people in Chicago who have lost family members. They are upset that Daley’s gun ban in Chicago is going to be overturned. Daley is really ranting and raving. Of course, there is no mention of the increasing violence in Chicago since the gun ban. The police have a swat team trying to keep peace in the neighborhoods. Do any stories point out the truth? No, all the stories are to make us believe the deaths by gun will increase in Chicago because of the Supreme Court. That’s the out Daley has been looking for. He’s got a problem he can’t fix and now it’s the Supreme Courts problem and the media will help him sell that every day.
It’s no different than a beer commercial. If you drink a certain brand of beer you will be hanging out on a beach playing volleyball with young beautiful people. Perception is reality. Remember that next time you watch the evening news.
