The People's Tek
Took a look at two more recent versions of the people’s tek.
Make no mistake, I'm all for "the people."
But sometimes it takes "the people" a while to figure what to do with newly available technology. And even when they do figure it out the results can be, well, kind of interesting :^)
The video de jour at YouTube as I write?
Lonely Girl: Lazydork is Better Than You
Well, ok. Lazydork probably pumps up more geeks than Luke nuking the Death Star. As for the rest of us, hmmmmmm....:^)
Ran across Spot Runner too.
It’s an LA startup that offers small businesses an affordable way to buy TV ads aimed at local markets.
They use a Blogger tech model. Pre-designed ads (instead of templates) that can be modified for each customer.
Accountants and lawyers and dentists and coffee shops can run their own local tv ads for a $499 set up fee and ten bucks each time the add is shown. Spot Runner sells spots for the local market on ESPN, Bravo, and CNN among others.
It’s pretty cool that a whole lot more small businesses will get air time at affordable prices if Spot Runner survives and prospers.
But do any of us really want to see the results? At least in the short run?
I grew up with local Cal Worthington used car ads in LA with a middle aged fool dressed like Roy Rogers walking a Bengal tiger (“My Dog Spot”) around a used car lot hawking road kill. And later, I had the privilege of local Larry S. Parker ads with a geeky lawyer shouting into the camera about how tough he was combined with interviews with lots of low IQ folks testifying to how Larry saved their butts.
If LazyDork and Cal and Larry are any indication of what Spot Runner may unleash on the world, wow, you've gotta believe this democratic technology thing could really get ugly. And pretty funny.
posted by Wordcat at 12:33 AM
2 Comments:
I remember Cal Worthington & his dog spot ("Go see Cal...") The funny thing is that 20+ years later, now there are 1/2 hour paid ads on cable of people selling cars out of local lots. Its almost funny. I'm just not sure how effective it is.
In capitalism, it seems that the two great evils are too little & too much competition. It seems like Spot Runner my open up ads where there is currently too little competition, allowing "the little guy" a foothold. On the other hand, they might just flood the ad market with cheap, corny, etc. ads that just flood people entirely.
Yeah, I'm with you Scott. Better to let the little guy in and put up with the schlock.
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