An Idea of Mine (This Title Was Suggested By a Marketing Executive)

I think I have a good idea that can both deal with the illegal alien issue as well as take care of other problems. Now, keep in mind that I'm no expert on this subject, but here goes. Often when the issue of illegal aliens is being discussed someone will invariably ask, "But, who is going to do those menial jobs that Americans don't want to do?"
Here's my suggestion. I say we make everyone with a degree in Marketing do those jobs. Think about it. Have you ever known anyone with a marketing degree to really understand what makes for a good promotion or an ad campagne? I haven't.
Sure, they have plenty of graphs and charts and demographics. But, when it comes to understanding how to really, sucessfully promote a product or service, they are clueless. I'm sure there are some exceptions. And, if you're marketing-degreed and a client of our company, you are one of those exceptions.
But, as a rule, I see the "brainiacs" on a fairly regular basis, making such asanine decisions. Here, I'll give you an example. We were speaking with a realtor recently who had hired a marketing consultant to help him promote his business. The consultant had told the realtor that to really have a successful print advertising campagne, he shouldn't put his name or phone number in his ad. Huh?
Seems that, according to Mr. Big-Shot Marketing Guy, if you don't put your name or phone number in the ad, it will make the truly wealthy prospects put forth the effort to search for you. My suggestion to the realtor is that he pay us not to put his ad in our magazine. Then the exceptionally wealthy prospects would have to work even that much harder.
Something else you see done by those marketing professionals is to spend more time mentioning your competition than your client. That's been true in political advertising for years. And, think about how stupid it is. For instance, take the current governor's race in Virginia. You did know their was one, didn't you. Most of the ads I hear for Jerry Kilgore mention Tim Kaine far more frequently than they do Jerry Kilgore. I heard one this morning that was Tim Kaine this and Tim Kaine that. Now, I was driving down the highway, not really paying attention to the radio, and the only name I'm hearing is Tim Kaine's. Then at the end, this guy comes on, with an accent that suggests he's auditioning for the role of Li'l Abner, and he says, "I'm Jerry Kilgore and I paid for this ad."
Now, I'm guessing the ad must have been saying something negative about Kaine, but, I'm only guessing that because I doubt Jerry Kilgore is campaigning for his opponent. I'm sure a number of people will go to the polls and vote for Kaine because that's the name they recognize, and not because of any knowledge of who he is or what he stands for.
It's not just political advertising. I've seen soft drink commercials on TV. They're either for Coke or Pepsi. I can't remember which, but the commercial shows both. Why would you spend millions of dollars to show millions of people pictures of your competition? I'll answer that, if you don't mind. You do it because some Marketing-degreed moron tells you that makes for good advertising.
I think it's these same guys who are responsible for the extermination of creativity in advertising, as well as broadcasting these days. They're so anxious to hold on to their jobs, and they realize (or think) the only way they can do that is by trying to out-bland one another, that no one is willing to suggest anything exciting.
And so what are we left with? I'll tell you. We're left with hundreds of television channels and the most popular shows are things like Dancing With the Stars. Arthur Murray came up with that idea fifty years ago. But, it gets good ratings, so now we have all these creative geniuses proposing shows like Skating With Celebrities and Knitting With Athlethes and Scrapbooking With Former Models. Well, I have a great new reality show I'm pitching to the networks - Picking Lettuce With Marketing Executives. And, I'm pretty sure UPN is going to pick it up for a mid-season replacement.