m-cause

I often enjoy reading the anti-consumption/marketing crowd; they keep the persuasion folks (like me) honest.  Here are some good links that I stumbled on recently.

Retail-anarchy:  This blog is basically a rant about how far consumption has gone today.  There are some great links and fun posts in the blog…a book will be out soon as well I believe.

As human beings, we are all built to consume, but if we all did it more responsibly and thought more about what we were buying…the Retail-anarchy guy would likely be satisfied.

Product Placement Video:  This is a fun video and narrative (from the brand mascot’s perspective) on the state of advertising today.  I enjoyed the video overall, however, it can be a bit dry and definitely runs too long.  If you are in the ad industry you will probably appreciate the video even more. (Tks Rob Walker for the tip)

Social ideas, not social media:  This isn’t an anti-marketing or anti-consumption rant…it is just a bit of reminder that social ideas are what we should be focused on–not the hottest shiny new social media toy.  Between the lines in this article, you can almost hear author Gareth Kay thinking (though he didn’t write it) “if I hear one more person mention Twitter, i’ll go nuts!”  If you find yourself agreeing with Gareth, you will like Bob Gilbreath’s blog over at Marketing with Meaning.  Bob understands the power of social media, but focuses his commentary on the power of meaningful marketing ideas.  I highly recommend this blog if you haven’t checked it out yet.

Consumers International Blog:  This is a blog chronicling the global consumer movement…I like this blog; it would be great to see a few more links or a blogroll on the site; I would like to see who they are reading.

THE CONSUMERIST:  I’ve been reading the consumerist for a while, but haven’t linked to them.  So, here is a plug for this big “anti” blog…they are keeping companies/industries on their toes for sure.

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