Commentary

Einstein's Corner: An Antonym for Predatory

A friend of mine recently defined the current marketing and advertising environment as "predatory," a wonderfully animated modifier. Now, this friend has no apparent bones to pick with the marketing or advertising industries beyond the typical consumer gripes about viral marketing, spam, spyware, pop-up windows, and eardrum-crushing TV ads. So his evocation of the word "predatory" took me a little by surprise--and made me think.

One can only assume the presence of predators in the corresponding presence of prey. Buzzards don't circle overhead unless the carrion is down below, just as lions don't prowl the Serengeti at night unless something--some prey--is on the menu.

It seems to me that my friend's description of the marketing and advertising business as predatory is pretty close to the mark. Given the choice, the prey will always flee the predator, and that appears to be what's happening now, as more and more consumers invest in new technologies designed exclusively to help avoid advertising and marketing predators. Our message to consumers is simple and direct: Go where you will, do what you want. We will hunt you down.

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The fragmenting flight of our prey and the increasing numbers of competing predators always on the hunt compel us to move deeper into the brush with each new hunting excursion, and deeper into the night to find prey that once congregated in broad daylight around the watering hole. Indeed, few--if any--predator species have evolved with more alacrity and speed than the marketing and advertising industries.

Whereas we once relied more on our own abilities to disarm and persuade, we now rely more on the sheer confusion and ignorance of our prey. We have evolved from diurnal to nocturnal hunters.

Viral marketing, spam, product placement, pop-up windows, spyware, and other less savory forms of advertising and marketing are now the behaviors most associated (at least by the prey) with our behavior. Of course it's a lousy association, one legitimate marketers are quick to distance themselves from--at least until the rumble in our bellies awakens us at dusk...

Our recent reputation as predators explains in part why so many consumers are now looking for ways to flee from us. They simply feel like prey--tracked and hunted down like animals.

Perhaps our search for a solution to the massive consumer flight from the recent onslaught of marketing and advertising predators should begin with a simple question: What's the alternative form of behavior? What can we do differently if we don't want consumers to think of us and react to us as predators?

On a whim, I thought it might be an instructive exercise to consult my reference library to find a suitable antonym for 'predatory.' It was: I couldn't find one...

Can you?

Many thanks, as always, and best to you and yours...

Please note: The Einstein's Corner discussion group at http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/einsteinscorner/ is dedicated to exploring the adverse effects of our addictions to technology and media on the quality of our lives, both at work and at home. Please feel free to drop by and join the discussion.

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