The Submarine Blanket
Paul Graham has a new essay called The Submarine. It's about how PR firms drive much of what we read as "news." Graham first learned of this during his experiences with a startup - a startup which payed $16,000 per month to a PR firm to drum up media interest. Before reading the essay I hadn't connected the dots but now they seem to be jumping out at me. Graham wrote:
"When Windows 95 was launched, people waited outside stores at midnight to buy the first copies. None of them would have been there without PR firms, who generated such a buzz in the news media that it became self-reinforcing, like a nuclear chain reaction."
Although I missed the launch of Windows 95 I'll never forget being in Lexington, KY for the launch of Windows 98. The local CompUSA opened at midnight and during the previous day people started to line up outside the doors at around 5:00pm. I have to admit that I did go to the store that night, a half an hour after midnight so I wouldn't have to line up. It wasn't Windows 98 but I did see a copy of Starcraft for $14. I asked the clerk if he was sure of it and he said, in a haughty southern geek dialect, that the sticker was on the box to inform the customer of the price. At the register it rang up at $49.99 based on the barcode, but we called over the pseudo geek and he had to give it to me for $14.
In Barnes & Nobles yesterday, I made an instant connection to Graham's article when I saw George Lucas on the cover of the latest Wired. The hype machine has started, the PR and marketing firms are busy. Graham's article deals with stories that come from PR firms that we might consider news, but we have to lump in the massive promotional affairs of Hollywood cinema.
Meanwhile, TV Guide is gearing up to produce multiple Star Wars covers for it's May issue, and USA Today is profiling Darth Vader. I wonder if it's going to be McDonalds or Burger King that partners up for merchandising; I bought some ugly cups when Phantom Menace was released hoping that they'd fetch me some money on eBay someday - they are either trashed or lost in Buena Park at this point.
Hype is real and PR firms are quintessential America. We love a big, over the top, audacious, and novel affair into which we can put our hearts, souls, and money.
Hollywood isn't the only candidate of that raffish mix of PR, marketing, and hype. Everyone gets involved these days whether it's the government marketing themselves to disaffected Arabs, or an industry that funds studies to drum up interest in their products.
Perhaps a little over a year ago I was at church in Brookings when the pastor began to talk about the Purpose Driven® Life. The entire congregation was going to spend 40 days doing all things Purpose Driven®. And, of course, you had to get the gear: The Purpose Driven® Life book, the Purpose Driven® Journal (available in hardcover and deluxe), the Purpose Driven® Starter Kits (several editions for small groups), the Purpose Driven® Video Curriculum, the Purpose Driven® Soundtrack, even the Purpose Driven® Life Grad Book amongst the other things standing by right outside the church sanctuary.
Several churches I've been to have made the push, most recently one K and I visited in Sioux Falls.
Is hype dishonest? Not always - most of the things pushed our way are fairly straightforward and truthful. As Graham says:
"PR is not dishonest. Not quite. In fact, the reason the best PR firms are so effective is precisely that they aren't dishonest. They give reporters [David: and governments, and pastors... ] genuinely valuable information."
"If anyone is dishonest, it's the reporters [David: and governments, and pastors... ]. The main reason PR firms exist is that reporters[David: and governments, and pastors... ] are lazy. Or, to put it more nicely, overworked. Really they ought to be out there digging up stories for themselves. But it's so tempting to sit in their offices and let PR firms bring the stories to them. After all, they know good PR firms won't lie to them."
But the thing to add to this is that we love it. We love fanfare and excitement and buzz. South Dakota is a bit different but in California people made excuses for themselves to get hyped up. Not only would people line up for Star Wars, they'd dress as the main characters. We'd cheer in the theatre for previews. We'd stand in line to buy the first XYZ that was slated to come out. We knew it was hype all along, but we were all about it1.
1Speaking of which, I need to find someone to see ROTS with...
10:37:30 PM 
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