Alex here. I came across this link recently, and thought it might be a good topic for discussion. Frankly, I\’m not sure how I feel about it. Wade and I are gonna bat around a few items, and then we\’ll leave the comment floor open to y\’all. So feel free to weigh in at any time.
Selling Cocaine in stores: Good Idea, Bad Idea, or Stupid Idea?
Alex:
I\’ll be honest – I have mixed feelings here. For sheer notoriety, they\’ve done a good job. It\’s controversial to some degree, it\’s going to get people talking (obviously), and as such it\’s probably going to make enough money to be worth whatever investment has been put forth.
I think by and large it\’s a stupid idea. I don\’t think it\’s necessarily sending a harmful message; most people should be able to distinguish drinking a beverage called Cocaine from doing a drug called cocaine. It\’s already been done, really, what with Coke and coke. Still, modeling your propaganda after common drug use parlance isn\’t helping. It just sounds a little bit too much like a company that two stoned college kids dreamed up one night and somehow no one managed to stop them from making it a reality. It may gain some notoriety for a brief period, but unless it\’s a truly superb tasting product, I can\’t see it lasting.
Wade:
\”HEAD ON! Apply directly to the forehead.\”
everyone i\’ve heard talk about that blasted commercial says how annoying it is. and yet… everyone knows the product. and that\’s the point. we tend to be such chumps, such cattle, so easily herded by ad wizards into talking about a product (even if the ad is annoying), thinking about the product, which leads to buying the product.
enter Cocaine: The Beverage! the two stoned college kids alex references above are actually geniuses. create something with a controversial name, something that\’s bound to get panties in a bundle at the PTA or the evangelical church, and you\’ve got enough buzz to generate a profit. doesn\’t matter if your product is any good or not. how many people drank jolt cola when they were younger? i did, and it tasted like crap. and i never felt any sort of caffeine rush afterwards. i drank it because it was in a shiny red can, with big bold letters saying (in essence) \”this is bad for you.\”
assuming this product sticks around for a few years (which it won\’t) and soph or max walks in drinking a can of Cocaine: The Beverage! some day. will i be upset that they\’re drinking something that shares a name with an illegal drug? no. will i be upset that they\’ve fallen into the consumerism / marketing traps? probably not, because it\’s almost inevitable not to.
not impossible, though. first: become a regular reader of this. second: get a DVR. one of the unanticipated benefits is being able to fast-forward through all commercials. i don\’t recall seeing *one* political ad this past fall, and it was wonderful.
yet, i still can\’t stop hearing about \”HEAD ON! Apply directly to the forehead.\”
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