Talking
about art and softpower. A few weeks ago I woke up to the usual newsflash à
7.30 am. Usual local politics, Ukraine, ebola and so on.
Then, near
the end, they start talking about the New Iphone 6 presented by Apple (with all
the traditional ‘one more thing’ etc, etc).
I was
outraged.
Not by
Apple because for the matter, they are really the perfect incarnation of the
soft power.
Here is a
company doing which is simply a traditional commercial presentation of a new
product.
Of course
they do it the American way. With style, U2, catch phrases and such. Apple is
now renowned for that. It is a mass, it is expected.
And the crowds
all around the world go wild with the new products they are putting out.
Because
what they sell is a way of life, something that is supposed to be cool, Hype,
make your life easy like a stroll in the park. ( won’t be asking which park and
at what time….)
And all over
the world we got Medias relaying this.
And mind
you, not in specialized technology reportage. No, plain regular information,
just before the sport reviews.
What bugs
me the most is that not they do not speak about it.
We speak of movies that are out almost every
week, have some here and then news about a CD or a concert but these are well
categorised and moreover, most of the times, criticized.
They talk
about stuff but they really have tested before (or saw or heard).
But not
here. Not only Apple does have more coverage than the competition but the Medias
relay the information solely based on Apple declarations. No test whatsoever.
And it
makes me wonder as the song says, are they paid for that advertisement? Or is
it free ? Because I can understand (not condone mind you) if a newsroom’s been
greased to sell a product. But if they are doing it for free, it is as much
frightening as it is astonishing. To witness the power of the soft, cultural
and marketing prowess of selling something that makes it to the news. Imagine
the new fruit yogurt unveiled for you right before the weather report. Thrilling
isn’t it ? The soft power has many uses, it could be harnessed for ideology
like during the cold war but it is also a powerful economic tool as shown (and
a great communication bill saver to boot !).
But in the
end, the insidious power softened our perception of the world, making the keen
and sharp reporters believe that a commercial presentation is news. Meaning
that if you hear about it on the telly or the radio, then it is true, it is
important, it is worth investigating and moreover important to have and own !
If the
people we trust to give us information are starting to get tainted with the
slithering sneaky and insidious power used by merchants, we must rely on the
sharpness of our senses to continue to be astonished, even year after years,
that this kind of thing happens and are not so familiar that it seems so
natural to accept them.
And
nowadays, it is one hell of a fight.
