h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I assumed it's the 'magazines' that are vapid. They will be making vast amounts more money than any sleb. But the slebs will be tempted by those 'bogey men'.

They will just be like *people* Some utterly corrupted; some not.

(IMO)

surely no one here is 'looking down' at the work that Katie Price does, are they?

or Katie Price?

In a nutshell, Effers.

It's neither the slebs or their fans that are contemptible. It's the economic structure.

I'll make a Marxist of you yet.

Yes I thought that a bit after I wrote it.

I'm a Marxist, without all the annoying ideology that goes with it

(Seriously no-one could love Mother Russia as much as me and not have it in the blood. When I read Tolstoy's Anna Karennina I realised they are naturally Communist/Marxist like me...that's why it could work a bit there.

Russian people/masses have it in the blood.

>> But really though, how much talent does looking vacant with no clothes on actually need?

Quite a bit really. You have to not look cold, awkward, in physical pain, embarrassed, self-conscious or self-aware.

really can't pull off the 'not cold look' me

shiver, shudder

pass me a woolly jumper...

Good points. (And making sure your nipples aren't to tightened up, sticking out and surrounded by goose bumps ).

@Bluey

Hmm. I'm more of a EuroCommie myself. We don't have ideology so much as Analysis. And better fashion sense than the Soviet Union,

(If that's not too vapid. )

I'm just a lover of Mother Russia.

The first time I went there under the Soviet system it was a such a shock to see no adverts anywhere..absolutely none.

And then we came back via Austria..my god the shock of seeing adverts again...and how totally stupid they are...and you go into a shop and there are a million different brands of toothpaste. (There was one type when I first visited. It was absolutely fine).

I visited the CCCP shortly after Gorbachev came in. I had a wild time!

I also went to Prague in about '91/'92. We stayed on a street which had one, meagre grocery store (But a market at the end). In 2001 I was at a conference and he venue was near the same street. It was all boutiques and banks and dvd rental stores.

"Faced with a bunch of pseudo-intellectuals sneering at them or hysterical activists berating them, I can't blame folk for going home, shutting the door on reality and settling down to watch Corrie."

Re-type that for "... settling down to play Skyrim/LARP/read sci-fi/work on h2g2", I probably fall squarely into that camp too.

Escapism is pretty much entrenched, it's just how we choose to do it that differs. I don't give a monkey's about TV and magazines and so on, but that doesn't mean I don't choose to get sucked into a fantasy world where my character is the most important person in the world.

On the plus side, apart from Games Workshop, people tend not to try to extract too much money from me or give too much of a stuff about how I should aspire to be that escapist dream in real life, which seems to be an unfortunate knock-on effect of the consumer/celebrity culture thing.

>>On the plus side, apart from Games Workshop, people tend not to try to extract too much money from me or give too much of a stuff about how I should aspire to be that escapist dream in real life, which seems to be an unfortunate knock-on effect of the consumer/celebrity culture thing.

Oh, I wouldn't count on it. Marketing is directed as precisely at the niche as at the sleb-worshipping niche. You might not notice it - but then the sleb fans probably don't either. I'm sure it's also marketed at the grumpy Marxist niche too.

"I'm sure it's also marketed at the grumpy Marxist niche too."

*A simple advertising billboard. White background, black text. A stylised potato rendered in red dominates the field. The text reads: "POTATOES. EAT THEM FOR GOODNESS, COMRADE."*

At least it's obviously unrealistic of me to want to be an axe-toting lizard in real life. Or a tree with ideals of Killing All The Hoomans.
I do agree though, there have been plenty examples of various fantasy realms promoting ideals, especially in women. Women in Reasonable Armour (http://womenfighters.tumblr.com/), anyone?

Women in Reasonable Armour... I still don't understand why that is regarded as less sexy than maille bikinis and swords which are frankly unweildable.

I think the problem with a lot of Geek-targetted advertising is that it's done either by ad-men who don't really understand geekery and Get It Wrong or it's done by geeks who conform to the geek stereotype so well that even other geeks bullied them in school.

The best geek-advertising is the stuff that isn't actually targeted at geeks. The TV ads for Skyrim are a perfect example of this.

>>At least it's obviously unrealistic of me to want to be an axe-toting lizard in real life.

People who want to be an axe-toting lizard also bought...

And:

>>I think the problem with a lot of Geek-targetted advertising is that it's done either by ad-men who don't really understand geekery and Get It Wrong

You're missing the subtlety, though. They'll not be trying to sell you geeky products marketed for their geek appeal. You will form a Demographic. It won't necessarily be homogeneous. but there will be certain types of product you will be more or less likely to by than others and certain advertising sources you will be more or less likely to see. There will also be marketing techniques which work better or worse on you. An ad for a deodorant in OK magazine will not be designed with you in mind.

People in advertising are not dumb. It is a competitive, lucrative business which (unfortunately) attracts some of the brightest and best. It would also be remarkable if they did not employ a fair few s of their own with a deep understanding of ology.

But you won't notice it. Their campaigns will not feature lizard warriors or interestingly curved armour.

Or they will... subtley woven into that ad about chocolate.