Saab hopes you maintain your identity
In an interesting marketing move, Saab has launched a new website touting individuality:
http://www.maintainyouridentity.net
What makes this interesting is that Saab is taking a chance, especially at a time when “Individuality” has never been more synonomous with conformity than it does today.
I think it started about 5-8 years ago in music/fashion, when “alternative” was co-opted by the media to mean “just another different mainstream style”.
A quick synopsis:
Music
Then: grassroots grunge music rose out of nowhere
Recently: media, corporations latched onto it
Now: the media campaign to “push” music has gone out of control (boy bands, bubblegum rock, manufactured artists with no talent, & payola as evidence)
Movies
Then: groundbreaking films by visionaries with original ideas
Recently: formulaic, cross-marketed blockbusters typical
Now: constant remakes, adaptations, massive cross-sell marketing (movie scripts altered to include action scenes just to make the video game version more “playable”)
Politics
Now: Growing conservatism influences people’s attitudes on nearly every subject. Comfort in familiarity.
Television
Recently: formulaic clones of hit sitcoms, some experimentation with new genres (e.g. reality TV, Who wants to be a millionaire, etc.)
Now: clones of clones, reality TV pushed too far (almost post-modern), network control of creativity (even HBO is taking creative control away from the producers)
I predict that in the next 3-5 years you’ll see a massive anti-establishment movement of some sort, because we’ll collectively hit a breaking point where people long for more substance and more control. It happens every 10 years or so, and we’re overdue
‘76 disco –> ‘ 85 new wave –> ‘ 95 grunge –> what’s next???
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Just wondering…wasn’t the mid-late 70s uprising more appropriately Punk than Disco? Disco strikes me as relatively establishment…
Interestingly, I am on that website and have owned 5 SAABs (& 4 BMWs) since 1996. We argued at SAABnet.com about whether this was forced individualism or not, but hey I’ve got a message about being a very different sort of Civil Rights lawyer, and I love SAABs so there you go. We shall see where trends go from here; I think another anti-establishment time is in the mix, but it will be half-hearted because most folks don’t care so much anymore about any damn thing. In fact, Madison Avenue will probably direct the next revolution.