I'm a Britney hater.
Well, I don't consider myself as such. I think she's released one amazing single, a few other decent ones, and a whole lot of filler. But it appears Britney fans (like fans of other pop artists and artifacts) live by the credo "if you ain't with us, you're against us". And given that, I guess I'm against.
So why the interest? Why do I read Britney threads and post in them? Because although I'm not interested in Britney Spears the Woman, or Britney Spears the Musician (giggle), or the music put out by same...I'm extremely interested in everything around it. You might say I'm interested in Britney Spears the Phenomenon.
I don't care for her new music. I gave it a couple listens - enh. But I'm fascinated by what's going on around it. For instance:
* Her "tour-not-tour" of the spring/summer - who set that up? To what end, specifically?
* She's in the tabloids constantly - how? Why? How does one get that ball rolling?
* Child custody hearings. Why now? To what end?
* The VMAs. Who set it up? Despite what can be charitably called a "flawed" performance, it ended up pushing the song forward more than anyone could have hoped. Intentional? If so, who's the genius?
* Her fans. It's certainly not just "I like these songs". Many feel that she's not only supremely talented, but that everything she's put out is stellar. (Sorry, I don't think that's true of ANYONE.) It's obviously not just the music - what's behind this? How does the label get an artist there? In absence of Britney, do the fans just latch elsewhere?
* Britney herself. A willing participant, or an unwitting pawn?
I often end bits like this with a quote from Crow T Robot - "I'm glad I'm not a puppet." I've always just let the quote stand on its own, but today, perhaps I'll explain it. I don't anticipate many people understanding, but hey, I'm in a weird mood.
The joke, of course, is that Crow IS a puppet. He's obviously being manipulated by a guy crouching down behind the podium, but either doesn't notice or just hasn't realized it yet.
We're being manipulated as well. Not so blatantly, and not in a "grand scheme" sort of way, but in mild, subtler, less harmful ways. Every time I buy a Diet Pepsi instead of a generic diet cola (and it's a lot of the time), it's because I've been manipulated. I somehow believe that the name-brand more-expensive cola is somehow superior to the no-name generic equivalent. But I've tried them both. I think they're both equally good. They don't taste precisely the same, but I have no preference of one over the other. But I buy Diet Pepsi more often. Why? Because it's been drummed into me. Because I drink it at restaurants (at $2 a glass), and see the ads. So when I'm at the store, and I see the pretty blue package, that's the one I grab.
We like to think advertising and marketing and promotion has absolutely no effect on what we do. Wrong. Companies don't spend billions of dollars in the hopes that maybe something will work. It DOES work. And we might think it works on others, but not us. Huh-uh. It DOES have an effect. Maybe not all of it, and maybe not a vast one. But enough to make you pick Diet Pepsi over the generic. Enough to make you believe that Abercrombie & Fitch shirts actually ARE ten times better than the ones at Target, and that "it's not a motorcycle unless it's a Harley", and that the new Adam Sandler film really is gonna be funny. That's what they do, and they're REALLY good at it. They've had over a hundred years to learn what makes us tick, and they're getting better every day.
In the early days, it was "Buy Dr McQuackenstein's Miracle Tonic". But we, as a species, bore eventually of the "same ol same ol". So the ads got more clever. They discovered the brilliance of a slogan. Tell anyone alive in 1980 "Oh what a feeling", and they'll probably say "Toyota". (They may actually jump in the air in slow motion, if they can pull it off.) They learned the power of the testimonial. "Famous actor James Coco uses Brut, and so should you." When we got bored with that, they went for the subtle sell. In sports, companies sponsored everything from halftime shows to instant replays to the friggin' stadiums. (Invesco Field at Mile High!) Sprite did a whole campaign aimed square at the African-American community, using a soft sell but commanding them to "obey your thirst". And although 7-Up and Sprite are nearly indistinguishable, Sprite's the one chosen three times out of four.
And so it goes. Which brings up back to Ms Spears. When she mounted her non-attended, overly-expensive, slogfest tour, that shouldn't've been a blip on anybody's radar. But it was. But I didn't see it as "Washed-up has-been has awful tour experience." I saw it as simply, "Don't forget - her name is BRITNEY SPEARS." Every time she's in the tabloids or on TV, I don't see a puffery news piece - I see a commercial. Her dulfest VMA performance sent people scurrying to YouTube - including many people who wouldn't have given a rat's ass if she had put on a good performance. I'm guessing exposure to "Gimme More" increased at least 100-fold due only to that performance. And the song was the most downloaded song the week it became available.
"I'm glad I'm not a puppet." - Crow T Robot.
Lex
