RE: Notes #24 - The Happy Smiley People Ad Agency
You deserve all the votes, mate! Here's a link that directly redirects people to your comment. I hope that helps ease any inconvenience for potential voters. My vote pushed your comment to the top for now, but others might get more valuable votes soon, so I don't want your entry to get lost.
These stories really captured that kind of groupthink that pervades in society today. One might argue that these Happy Smiley People, these soulless, brainless, shell of human beings are even worse than the zombies at the supermarket. There are better ways to go about what they're doing, yet they choose to be inefficient. I wonder if they do a good job with what they do. I wonder if those smiles really come from a place of happiness. Great stuff as always, my friend!
Thanks for providing that link. I had no idea how to do that (what a technical noob!). I have updated it. And thanks for the vote too.
The money collectors have proliferated of late. Ironically the vast majority of the money collected never sees the cause. Bypass all of that and spend the money in a more wise and beneficial way, especially if making donations. To me it's designed very cleverly to prey on people's sense of helplessness and guilt complex. It's a subtle variation of the Priest's Confessional. You're paying a stranger to alleviate you of your perceived shortcomings. Which ties back into the Ad Agency concept, the PR aspect, and as you mention, Group Think.
Wow, all of that from a little story about happy smiley people. But from a writer's perspective it is a theme of much interest to me. The human condition, or certainly one variant of it. The child like question to ask when perceiving cultural norms - WHY? Why do they do that, and why do I feel like I do when I see that?
Don't mention it, brother! That's included whenever I say that I'm happy to help out whenever I can :D
Yeah, I agree. In a way, that makes them predators, preying on guilt. It's all very psychological. There's a lot of science behind it, which I admire, but they're using it in the wrong context. Sure, the intention is good, rather the intended recipient. But, all the in-between is just wrong. They're robbing hapless people of their hard-earned money, and they should be held accountable for that. It's an unending cycle for sure.