The Hidden (in Plain Sight) Persuaders

The New York Times > Magazine > The Hidden (in Plain Sight) Persuaders
The article is long, but worth the effort.

Yikes. This article from the New York Times Magazine details a particular company that recruits volunteers for word-of-mouth "buzz" marketing campaigns, and it intrigued me all of the way through. This has a lot of implications, and there are a lot of items to think about here - maybe more to worry about than to be excited about.

People are out on the street, pimping products with genuine revolutionary zeal, who have been put up to it by companies paying 6-figure fees to create sales. The people seem to do it for a sense of belonging, for knowing about something cool before other people do, and it gives them something to talk about. In short, it makes them feel cool. One person feels like it's changed his life, brought him out of his shell, enabled him to engage people in all sorts of public places and venues. What they (the so-called "BzzAgents") don't talk about is their motivations. Most people won't TELL you they're doing "buzz" marketing - and that has, to me, some creepy implications for the commodifation of everyday commercial speech. Sure, they genuinely likethe product they're "Bzzing" (in the parlance of the company that the article is about), but they're NOT telling you that they have another motivation for pimping the product. It's not monetary currency, but the "BzzAgents" are getting paid in a sort of social currency that renders their recommendation - no matter how genuine - duplicitous.

As someone who is a compulsive "recommender" this idea is both attractive and repulsive. I love to talk and I love to recommend things that are good to people. But I also have a great love of authenticity.

In the long run, if you work in marketing, you'll need to know about this, because in an era where people are exhausted with advertising and marketing messages, this is working. And I'm not sure I'm pleased about it.

Your thoughts?