The aftermath of the 1990s ‘reality show’ era has led to a new form of “celebrity” which has transformed under-talented, intellectually below-average, narcissist people, you know, the kind who would lack the basic ability to collect stubs at the movie ticket counter, into wealthy and glamorous online “experts on everything.”
The latest media craze of “social influencers” happens to be a show about nothing; however, unlike “Seinfeld,” almost none of today’s characters display any redeemable characteristics to add balance to the smirking, virtue signaling, holier than thou attitude that eventually becomes the “newly empowered” star of the show.
The internet “influencer” has become mainstream; but it seems, to me, that this fad has begun to get to the point of implosion, as the little out-of-control internet influencers are actually exposing (quite literally sometimes, just by being themselves) the woke agendas of what the far-left considers completely reasonable societal change.
You know, the whole idea of creating a utopia where everyone has equality or have built up the “equity” to spread equality by reducing their perceived personal privileges, like having a previous privilege erased by also belonging to a recognized marginalized group or gaining enough credentials to enjoy a special “victim” status.
Being labeled and confirmed to have reached the status of victim, the “zequity” aspirant can then claim to suffer from an assortment of maladies such as autism, ADHD, PTSD and PTSD; this gives them access to medication that sometimes render the mind-tongue filter inactive and the utopian may be prone to fits ranging from confusion to angst and even rage.
The brochures for the woke utopia would include glossy photos based on the theme of “rugged individualism,” only the new meaning for the word ‘rugged’ refers more to a sense of style reminiscent of the outdoors along with the smell of pine. Individualism, as a word, can be summed up as a non-conformist choosing a new hair color, saying to the stylist: “I don’t care which colors we use, but I don’t want to clash with (name drop).”
We can’t appropriate someone else’s individuality, now can we!
A swelling majority of true liberal free-thinkers are beginning to realize that many of the people who marched under the “trust the science” banner and called their critics “bat-s$#% crazy conspiracists” were actually spreading WuHan generated bat dung directly into television sets or computer screens all over the world.
Thanks to the influencer’s inability to walk a red carpet and smile without uttering some inane phrase, such as “from the rivers to the seas,” later admitting during questioning that they had no idea which river or which sea they ware referring to, people are losing any adoration they once had for the Paparazzi chased bunch of eco-vegan-glutenfreean celebs who are now appropriating the mannerisms of vaunted civil rights legends down to their accents to attempt to remain relevant in an age where the vast majority wants to simply move on.
The sad thing is, is that if history would have gone down in a different direction, then social media influencers might have developed into something much different and could have been a benefit to the overall society, rather than poster children for the tag line, “Woke means broke.”
Imagine if the television program, “The View,” were to have Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Julia Child, Joan Rivers and Amelia Earhart on billed as an all-female guest panel. The pre-agreed topics to be discussed would be sexuality from a woman’s point of view, French cuisine, haute couture faux pas and aviation; I believe that if that program were streamed on the internet, it would be compelling to watch.
Viewers would get to watch a panel of recognizable women, all of whom wrote best-selling books, were considered experts in their fields, contributed to the humanities and even endorsed products shown in magazines and TV everywhere.
Amelia Earhart was fond of promoting Beech Nut Tomato Juice, but the nonsmoker, every once and a while, also enjoyed a Lucky Strike cigarette on camera for a buck from time to time.
Those women were doers, they were mavericks and were standout members of the society at large, no matter their gender.
Those women could have been the prototype of the perfect internet influencer, but alas.
Instead, what the world got out of the reality show era was the era of the idiot internet expert influencer: This time imagine a panel composed of Kylie Jenner, Beyoncé, Alyssa Milano, Dillion Mulvany and Her Royal Haughtiness Duchess of Sussex Megan Markle.
The only reason we know the names of any of these people is because the big media is pushing them, well, they have pushed them, financially that is and we can hardly ignore their omnipresent and vacuous glare visible from the headlines and emanating on giant screens.
Today’s official/unofficial definition of celebrity is that of someone who identifies as such. A celebrity today is someone with access to a camera and decides they are the next “it” thing; the newest celebrity plowing down the red carpet is not Lizzo, who is talented, in my opinion, but Jae’lynn Chaney, a transgender version of the Cool-Aid Man who bravely forced the airlines to comp him/her/they/them/it a free seat because ZIM’s girth took up an entire section of fuselage.
Virtually none of the so-called “internet influencers” I can turn over have ever done anything in life, that, would be considered even remotely interesting to the masses living in the United States, or anywhere else for that matter.
By merging the roles as being a member of some marginalized family group that merged with members of the most elitist clans in the world, Megan Markle has only proven that vacant catch phrases combined with constant media coverage that is devoid of the temper tantrums we know must have happened backstage when the cameras were off, on purpose, is not enlightening entertainment.
Markle’s high end fruit jams and other high-priced celebrity signoffs, likely produced outside the USA, were meant to monetize the Duchess’ kind-hearted, down-home, carefully spun heritage and it turned out looking more like Queen Marie Antoinette showing off the latest from her cake-bakery.
Woke tropes and the actors that portrayed them now have about the same marketability as snake-oil salesmen, belated still in learning a lesson that Bud Light has for the umpteenth year since that company went woke and decided to replace its Spuds Mackenzie mascot with a fake transexual in Dylan Mulvaney.
Go figure, our ‘bro Spuds Mackenzie was actually a bitch all that time, and she was replaced by a man pretending to be a Disney Princess.
Mulvaney, a middle-age-approaching, five o’clock-shadow-he doesn’t-bother-hiding, “Bulge celebrator,” White, Sorta-Transexual, was apparently approved by Walt’s cryogenically frozen head to be forever deemed a girl, even though he, ahem, they, were, are, is actually a biological male.
A danger inherent in capitalism is that a hit in marketing for one company causes others to have the “trendency” to stick their neck out and appear hot as well. However, as with a volcanic eruption, following trends with blind abandon can lead to peril with the subtle change of wind direction.
Even though Bud Light continued to hemorrhage market share every time the image of the company’s tiara wearing celebrant of what she calls “girlhood,” other companies attempted their own woke trials that turned into trans-tribulations.
Some companies, such as Target and Starbuck’s, found themselves buying into the woke-consumer targeting method and found themselves wasting millions of dollars trying to market to an ultra-niche demographic to virtue-signal the woke message to people that actually bought the product already; therefore, expending money while seeing no financial return from new dedicated customers.
That is why I really had to chuckle when I saw the beginning ad in what is being called Jaguar’s “copy nothing” rebranding strategy. If the company did what I think they did, it was brilliant…and it looks like it worked.
In the ad, viewers are exposed to a nauseating, cliche-riddled 1970s onslaught of campy colors enveloped over dancers of whom could have once been Madonna’s dance coterie in the ’80s, to what seemed almost the perfect way to blend-in and show a forward-thinking, but hopelessly-outdated “Mod Squad” dressed as a band of weirdos, dancing to the beat of their own drum.
It is a sequence that means nothing and doesn’t feature a product, but just the phrase, “copy nothing.”
Well, perhaps Jaguar might have finally come to the realization that since they are a car company that has been historically plagued with moving parts problems and that Jaquar’s new answer, after over a century is to eliminate the moving parts and make an all-electric car.
Brilliant!
For the marketing campaign, Jaguar trotted out what people may consider the same woke stereotypes, but they then relegated its “stars” to just posing silhouettes on the couch and built up some suspense for the impending release of the car’s design by not showing the car.
Two days later, Jaquar released the concept images for the car and gone were the woke tropes.
People in the industry that have become somewhat jaded to the woke gimmicks actually paid attention to the car when the design was released and not to some scandal connected to the bobblehead “influencers” trying to sell their twisted perception of reality with shock imagery, but really more in need of a sock in the mouth with another one on standby for good measure.
I think Jaguar played a good game there, if the intent of the artistic endeavor was to be a parody of the masses allowing themselves to be put to woke sleep, only to find it to be Jaguar awakening them with some cliche-driven, realistically unattainable catch-phrase.
Clever, indeed.
However, it will only be those that eventually buy the new product will tell everyone else whether it was good marketing for a quality product, or just another ad campaign that worked. Jaguars tend to be too pricey for the wallets of most, whether working or otherwise.
I really hope I am right in saying that society is slowly separating the wheat from the chaff when it comes to allowing people with no expertise in anything worthwhile to brand themselves as experts in an openly desperate, ego-driven bid to make a buck by selling their insecurities and weaknesses as actually triumphs of will in disguise and leading innocent young people down what is proven to be a destructive path, always with unintended consequences and sometimes with irreversible damage inflicted.
Hopefully, this new Jag ad is not a further example of “trendency” gone awry, but is the beginning of the much-needed pushback against the internet ‘influencer’ prototype as a positive proponent of cultural change by broadcasting out the propagation of pathetic propaganda under the guise of a new, manufactured morality…All finished off with onions, peppers and barbeque sauce, for a limited time only.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Investigative Reporter and Editorial Page Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
