How would you feel if your mom tried to sell you toothpaste at a funeral?

I am interested in what other people think about this. Do you think it is okay for megacorps to get people you know to market to you in day-to-day life?

I read a really disturbing entry in author William Gibson's blog today. The New York Times Magazine wrote a long profile of a creepy company who hires your friends and neighbors and family members to shill products to you. The article actually talked about more than one person who worked on promoting products at a funeral. I've read Pattern Recognition and it struck me as more of a cyberculture but current novel and not really science fiction. It was about maybe the day after tomorrow, which at this point is today. There was a lot of coolhunting and niche marketing described in it, although I don't think William Gibson ever thought it would be used as an instruction manual by the marketing people who read it. It is kind of horrible to think that your friend is doing work for Proctor & Gamble or some such when you think you are just hanging out.

Here is what the New York Times Magazine said in their mention of Gibson's book:

"One reward Bollaert did collect from BzzAgent was, of all things, the William Gibson novel ''Pattern Recognition'' -- an actual paranoid science-fiction novel about a future in which corporations have become so powerful they can bribe flunkies to infiltrate your life and talk up products. ''It made me think, when somebody says something about a product - I wonder. That gave me a little pause,'' she said. Earlier in our conversation, I touted my iPod. Wouldn't she feel differently about my comments, I asked, if it turned out that I'd gotten it from Apple or a BzzAgent equivalent? ''That's true,'' she said. ''But you know what? If you start questioning everyone's motives, then you'll be in a home with tinfoil on your head.""

And here is William Gibson's eloquent and accurate reply:

Let me get this straight: Because I imagined, without knowing that BzzAgent existed, that this sort of thing not only could but would be done, the fact that BzzAgent exists makes me "paranoid"? Or is it merely the imagining that makes me "paranoid"?

Pattern Recognition isn't "about a future", of course, and the present reality, judging by this piece, is one in which corporations have become so powerful that they can *recruit unpaid volunteers* to infiltrate your life and talk up products -- a twist I evidently wasn't quite paranoid enough to imagine.

if the toothpaste was any good, i would at least listen.

they'd have to be paying me pretty well to push a product i didn't at least partly believe in (incidentally, people, go out right now and buy the DVD of "Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex").

if she was trying to sell me Viagra or so-called penis extension pills, i'd be a little perturbed.

uh, and in conclusion, i'd like to add that anyone who would risk a friendship by trying to sell crap that the target didn't want or need isn't a friend.

(tiny voice) but i really need the money!
(me) i'll pay you more than they're paying you, just for you to shut up.

This sounds like a lot of very smart people overthinking a practice we already do on instinct. People have always tried to recommend and push products on other people...from the cosmetic focused "parties" of the past to the call from your friend telling you to check out this new (insert product here). Be it by known effort or not they are doing the bidding of advertisers and have been for ages...look at any fashion whore teen...some look like walking Nike ads's others look like a stereotype for a certains scene...hell go to any mall and you'll see many people are willing walking advertising products telling the whole world they should buy something without saying a word.

Would it shock me to be pitched toothpaste at a funeral? No...it would disturb me if I actually started to listen and discuss such a thing AT a fuenral. I'd like to the think the dead body in front of me will hold my attention.

Side note: Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is crap of a series...sucked in Japanese...sucks even more in english. Save your cash for the film sequal finally hitting U.S. shores or buy the comix.

Depends on who's funeral it was.**

this sounds like my aunt who got caught up Amway (ok, so she makes a huge deal that she no longer works for amway, but some other company that they changed thier name to) and was trying to sell her products at an afterparty for my great aunt's funeral (who had just commited suicide and everyone was extremely upset)! it was sickening! she was slipping relatives her "business" card and pamphlets, i hate her!

yeah, if anyone needs toothepaste, it's the corpse! ;)

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Originally Posted by Tequila Zaire

This sounds like a lot of very smart people overthinking a practice we already do on instinct. People have always tried to recommend and push products on other people...from the cosmetic focused "parties" of the past to the call from your friend telling you to check out this new (insert product here). Be it by known effort or not they are doing the bidding of advertisers and have been for ages...look at any fashion whore teen...some look like walking Nike ads's others look like a stereotype for a certains scene...hell go to any mall and you'll see many people are willing walking advertising products telling the whole world they should buy something without saying a word.

Would it shock me to be pitched toothpaste at a funeral? No...it would disturb me if I actually started to listen and discuss such a thing AT a fuenral. I'd like to the think the dead body in front of me will hold my attention.

Side note: Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is crap of a series...sucked in Japanese...sucks even more in english. Save your cash for the film sequal finally hitting U.S. shores or buy the comix.

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I've always been one to tell people about anything good I discover, but I think having a marketing firm harnessing that power and convincing people it is good to do things like Molly described . . . well, it just feels kind of dishonest. I mean, I hope that people who like Blue Blood will tell their friends about it, but it would creep me out if they were doing it at really inappropriate times and I think it would depress me to pay someone to make that happen.

maybe if it was cigaretes and liquor cause god knows id need a smoke and a drink at any funeral

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Originally Posted by AmeliaG

I've always been one to tell people about anything good I discover, but I think having a marketing firm harnessing that power and convincing people it is good to do things like Molly described . . . well, it just feels kind of dishonest. I mean, I hope that people who like Blue Blood will tell their friends about it, but it would creep me out if they were doing it at really inappropriate times and I think it would depress me to pay someone to make that happen.

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Guess i'm jsut part of the parinoid crowd that feels in this age of insane advertising that a good chunk or our recommendations are subconciously motivated...I've caught myself recommending items I've never used at times...creeped me out. So the way I see this stuff has more of an effect if it's subversivly done than going the more direct and scummy route of hiring people...easier too. I just think we're already doing a lot of the creepier parts of science fiction and oblivious to it.