• The Washington Post, Monday, May 14, 2007 11 AM

The traditional media model isn't just shifting, it's collapsing. It's a new world when consumers start taking the initiative to create marketing messages for companies whose products they like. However, brands are our culture, which means that when we take photos of ourselves with the products we love, as Cadillac asked its owners to do in a recent campaign, we do it with pride, and because we want to.

Doritos showed the rest of the world how it's done with the user-created commercials it aired during the Super Bowl. The idea: get the audience involved, they'll love your brand that much more, and you'll save a ton of money, too.

Super Bowl spots are a rare opportunity, but interactive Web sites with contests, games and email subscriber lists are everlasting. There are whole branded worlds to explore -- and many have little to do with shilliing products. But does an increase in branded content mean we should we be more or less suspicious of advertising? It's unclear, because there's a kind of democratization at work when an audience is empowered to act as its own filter. Instead it's testament to our brand-washed culture.

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