What if advertising wasn't annoying? What if, every time you saw an ad, you gained information about a product or service that you hadn't even realized existed, but was exactly the type of thing you wanted to spend money on. Maybe it solves a problem you never thought solvable, or makes you aware of a community of people who share ideas that you imagined were yours.
I know, it sounds like I'm drinking the consumerist Kool-Aid. But this is exactly where internet ads are heading. Increasingly, the various different aspects of the web (traditional sites, messageboards, blogs, social networks, multimedia, etc) are conglomerating into one type of "internet experience," where you supply the market with personal info and it tailors content to your sensibilities. I see it as a win-win. Advertisers and merchants get to hawk their wares and I get to hear about stuff that I need/want, rather than settling for junk that the TV wants to convince me that I want.
Case in point: Facebook ad for a comic book called Rumschpringe: Fallaces Sunt Rerum Species (Things are not as they seem.)
I might be giving Facebook advertising too much credit, but I'm pretty sure that I got this link because my "interests" have, in the past, included the tags "comics" and "complexity." Note that I said IN THE PAST. Those interests aren't there anymore, but I betcha anything Facebook held onto them. Probably in the fine print somewhere. I don't even care. This is an awesome way to get the word out about something that I wouldn't have ever heard of myself.
Set in a fictional Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the graphic novel deconstructs three of the six brutal murders that happened in the rural area over the past 3 years (e.g. the Amish school shooting.)
Following the story, a brief discussion of purpose, introducing Systems Theory and Cultural-Cognitive Networks as perspectives to explore the necessary challenges for communities to reduce the Columbine-style violence we seem to be seeing everywhere.
The word "rumschpringe" means, in Pennsylvania Dutch, "to jump around." It is used to represent the Amish adolescent's Rite of Passage where they are expected to go out and explore the larger world. Only after experiencing secular life during their "rumschpringe" can they be formally baptized into their faith.
Rumschpringe seeks to present new media outlets and projects to "push back" on the nonsense. Thus far, Rumschpringe has produced this comic, numerous local live events in Lancaster County, and is on the second year (2009) of an annual open-call independent film competition.
At present, we are working on another comic about the economy (a revamped reworking of Fredrick von Heyak's: The Road to Serfdom) and a children's book about the nature of freedom.
I mean, seriously? An indie comic label based in Lancaster, PA? What chance in HELL does this business have of success? But as soon as I have some disposable income, this comic is going to be on my mind. Way to go, internet! Turns out that old-school commercial advertising was just the dark side of the force!
