Eric Lauritzen Info » Entertainment

What can I learn from Camping and the Rapture that wasn’t

Eric Lauritzen — Sun, 22 May 2011 18:33:53 +0000

Robert Fitzpatrick of New York had put his money where his faith is: The 60-year-old retiree spent $140,000 — almost everything he had — on hundreds of billboards proclaiming the Armagedon that Camping predicted.

via abcnews.go.com

I don’t watch much TV so I hadn’t heard about all this silliness until a day or two before the end of the world. In fact I still don’t know all the details like “who is this guy?”

My big question is how did he do this? How did he come from nowhere and generate this much publicity and attention and then convince some of these people to do something big, like part with thousands of dollars, change their behavior, etc. In sales, this is called a conversion. I guess they call it that in religion too…. hmmmmm….

If he can get this many people to act on something that is so “out there” after he already promised and didn’t deliver he’s doing something right in terms of marketing.

Imagine how far just a little of that would go if it were something that is actually tangible, real, and beneficial were involved like a good product, a worthwhile charity, etc.

1. I’m guessing that for starters he knew his audience – he first appealed to people in the market for doomsday and the end of the world. There’s a niche for everything. He identified and isolated the people who were eager and anxious to buy what he’s selling and connected directly with them by offering a solution to their problem. He filled the rapture-shaped hole in their heart.

2. He went big. There are lots of nuts out there saying things like “the end is near.” This guy got specific and promised to deliver big. He slapped a date and time on it and threw in earthquakes and cataclysm, etc.

3. Utilized free publicity. I imagine the word spread faster among his skeptics than it did the believers.

4. Exclusivity. People are more likely to buy something when they feel like its a special deal just for them. It makes them feel special and a part of something. This sales tactic is an oldie but goodie.

5. Urgency. Another old saw. “Act now while supplies last.” Putting a date on it forced people to choose between going all-in and fretting or jeering on the sidelines.

Connection between commercials, news, and other media

Eric Lauritzen — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 15:00:58 +0000

Its been months now since I took part in any TV watching, newspaper reading, radio listening, or use of any other media except the Web that has commercials or advertisements. Without going too deeply into all the benefits of this in my life suffice to say I never look back, never miss TV or radio, and surely don’t miss the commercials. I find myself wondering often “where did I ever get the time to watch TV?” That’s probably the best part – I got a whole bunch of time back.

As the distance between me and the media has grown I’ve spent a little time looking at what drives the whole thing. I’ve identified some obvious connections and opened some questions.

Obvious connection: TV content exists to get people to watch commercials. Commercials exist to change your mind.

When I watched TV my usuals were new analysis shows or just news and channels like National Geographic, Discovery, History, etc. Funny how I sort of prided myself on the “educational and informative” choice of content. That was kind of like being proud of eating fruit for choosing a banana split over the fudge brownie sundae.

The types of commercials I remember most were things like investment and stock buying companies, cholesterol medicine, depression medicine, restaurants and fast food, junk food, weight loss products, male enhancement and erection pills, and toilet paper. I’m sure there were more.

So, following the train of thought that media content, including the news, is nothing more than a mechanism to drive you to watch commercials, and that commercials serve no other purpose to change your mind – specifically to create or amplify a need in your mind, look at what they want to create a need for.

How much of a stretch is it to assume that no matter how enriching the actual between-commercial content is, if the entire enterprise as a whole does not fail at its main purpose, I’m going to be walking around believing on some level or resisting the belief that my money isn’t safe and productive, I’m fat and about to have a heart attack, I’m depressed, I’d be so much happier with some sloppy ribs or a triple cheeseburger or ten layer burrito, that the unit isn’t stiff enough or big enough, and that even my toilet paper is substandard.

Funny thing is – since I’ve been media free I don’t worry much about money at all, I’m happy with my weight and health and should be because my weight and health is very good, I suffer no symptoms of depression, I don’t like the idea of eating food that’s bad for me, my unit is fine, and so is my toilet paper.

One of the startling connections is all the cholesterol medicines, weight loss schemes, and all the junk/fast food/restaurant commercials. Talk about a self-licking ice cream cone! They sell you Big Macs, potato chips, baby back ribs, beer, and soft drinks to clog the arteries then sell you the pills to unclog them and the snake oil and gizmos to get rid of the fat you put on eating that crap.

The dating sites need you to be lonely and the investment brokers need you to be worried about your future and the toilet paper companies need you to have an irritated bottom – enter drug companies to sell you depression and anxiety pills.

I could write a whole other post on the possibilities of where the “news” content fits in with all this. I mean, you know someone chooses what’s going to be news and what’s not right? Dozens, hundreds, maybe thousands of women disappear or are abused but there’s only one missing white woman of the week. Again, that’s another post.

Do I think people are strategizing in a smoke-filled windowless room about how to continue pulling this off? No, not really – its more a product of the collective consciousness. I don’t know what’s pulling the crazy train or who’s driving or exactly where its going, I’m just happy to be off it.

A month without TV

Eric Lauritzen — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 05:38:25 +0000

No applause please. It wasn’t like I went from the typical 3 – 4 hour per day average to zero all at once. I had been steadily losing interest in it while growing more and more tired of the commercials for a long time.

If anyone were to ask me how I did it, I guess that’s the answer. Get tired of it. Ask yourself if you really like what you are watching and failing that, watch less and do other stuff.

As to why I have no plans to return to the tube I like what being without it has done for my mind and soul. I also like the extra time and constructive things I’m doing that filled the vacuum created by less TV.

I read a lot more. And “reading more” is something I’ve been saying I want to do most of my life. There’s more time where I’m actually tuned into what is going on with my family. I taste the food I eat now that I’m not washing it down with cable news.

One thing that occured to me once I had already began my TV fast is that all the news and other information (think conditioning) that is piped at me when they aren’t showing commercials can be intended for little else other than making me stay in front of the TV and watch the commercials.

The same people who decide what is important enough to transmit into your brain also want you to buy the “male enhancement” pills, the antidepressants, the viagra. Then the beer, candy, fast food, junk food, soda – and oh yeah, the weight loss and exercise stuff.

I’m just done with it.

Antique Road Show meets Orange County Choppers

Eric Lauritzen — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:30:24 +0000

I’ve watched the Antique Road Show on PBS a few times and always liked it. I used to enjoy Orange County Choppers back when it was new – not so much these days. Can’t put my finger on why exactly.

Right now I have my Tivo set to catch Pawn Stars. I can’t put my finger on why I like this show either, but I do. My time spent watching television is very limited. (I choose to waste my time here on the internet where I get to push more buttons.) Many days I watch no network television at all outside of a little news. So, when I devote my attention to something, it is because I like it, not because I’m filling time.

Pawn Stars is about this guy who runs a pawn shop in Las Vegas with his father and young 20-something son. The old man is crusty around the edges, the kid is…well, he’s a twenty-something male and that says enough, and the owner is sort of a no nonsense everyman type of guy. Who knows a lot about antiques, art, and other stuff, and when he doesn’t he seems to know who does and can summon them to his shop within a day. The miracle of television.

The entire show usually consists of people bringing interesting items in to sell. Antique war weapons and memorabilia, a mysterious jet fighter ejection chair, works of art, pleasure boats, Pac Man machines – you name it. A few minutes is given to each item. You see them wheel and deal on the price. As often as not, some expert comes in and reveals whether the item is a fake or genuine and suggests its worth.

Of course, there’s always some sort of internal drama. One show it was the kid buying the boat which apparently violates some golden rule of pawn shop-running. He got himself in deep kim chee for that one. But it worked out and the boat ended up being a bargain. Another time the old man got fed up with the cussing and instituted the cuss jar. Then there was the bet between the young guy and his grandfather over whether he could sell a watch at a certain price. If the kid lost, he had to wear a suit – if the old man lost, he had to wear baggy jeans. Gramps lost and looked ridiculous in the baggy jeans.

So, if you liked Antique Road Show, but don’t like how slow people talk on PBS, give Pawn Stars on the History Channel a try. Let me know what you think of the program in the comments.

Been watching HBO’s True Blood – first season

Eric Lauritzen — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 08:41:21 +0000

Some of these HBO series are better than most new movies these days. True Blood is a vampire story with the twist that the vampires are living among us – they have come out of the closet so to speak. The storyline flows really well against this backdrop because the whole vampire aspect is made so much more believable that the typical on screen vamp tale.

: Image by Getty Images via Daylife

There is sort of a new age explanation for what animates vampires, many of the traditional powers and weaknesses of vampires are handled as myth, and there is sort of a political and cultural tension that is analogous to the way homosexuals and other minorities are and were treated both by law and society.

So, I’ll put this up with the other good HBO series that paved the way – The Sopranos, Deadwood, Six Feet Under, and Rome.

I’m one episode into “Big Love.” If that first episode is an indicator of the rest of the season, I doubt I’ll be as enthusiastic should I ever blog about it.