Entry 16:

Jim,

I thought for sure that you'd have a theory for why Tropicana managers weren't barging into your classroom, looking for one of your poets to convert juice into sun-filled moments of inspiration. Oh well. Onward.

I think consumption, and branding, is all about politics. You seem to think it has nothing to do with politics. That it's all about "needs," whatever those are. So let's move on to a killer article in the New York Times today, "Concerts Rock the Tiny Kingdom of Skullbonia." Skullbone's a town of 75 in western Tennessee that local entrepreneur Allen Blankenship has converted into a big-time concert venue for near-vintage (mostly country) rock bands. Seems to bring together a crowd that is strikingly white, xenophobic, racist for a Ku Klux bonding exercise. How does Skullbonia fit into your model of marketing as an apolitical mirror filling people's innate needs?

Always,
Doug