Seth is wrong again. He claims there is no trickery or insincerity in marketing. Of course there is. We all know this. We also know that Seth is doing this to attract attention. Attracting attention is the is the third pillar of marketing. So Seth here is doing a fine job of proving that marketing is about trickery, insincerity in the service of attracting attention even as he claims it is not. Wonderful.
OK, he might not be insincere. He might just not know any better.
Now I have no dispute about the utility of marketing. It IS essential. Someone has to bellow out "Hot Dogs" if you want to sell any. But don't go claiming that marketing doesn't encompass everything from figuring out what people want to rolling back the odometers with a cordless drill. It does. You can't just limit it to the more savory parts of town.
And I have to add that the marketing of "ideas" that you want to spread is not always "right" or sufficient. When you leave the realm of self-help books and iPods and enter the world of political and social ideas serious examination of what you believe passionately in should be a requirement. Unfortunately there are many who don't attempt to dig deeper than what others have told them to believe.
In this world passion is in abundance, truth is in short supply.
