Mundane Madness in Marketing

Woke Ads, Fads, and the Next Generation

In the last several years of what feels like perpetual outrage in the world of 24 Hour Punditry, a phrase is often touted, muttered and proclaimed in almost axiomatic fashion- Whether as an “I told you so” or a confident conclusion, the phrase, “Go Woke, Go Broke.” Found when any popular product, intellectual property, franchise, or brand seems to wade into the waters of social commentary, shedding its apolitical skin in front of the consumer. And what almost immediately follows is the usual gaggle of commentators, youtubers, and essayists will tout the phrase as some sort of smug reassurance. Said in a way that we as consumers in a free market, will act as the ethic of care, vote with our wallets, and punish these market actors accordingly.

“See, after Dylan Mulvaney went on with Anheuser-Busch people went to boycott!”

“The Oscars had their lowest viewership ever!”

“Miller is next!”

And despite these proclamations, the phrase, “Go Woke, Go Broke” is nothing more than cope. The superbowl did have its worst ratings in years, but that’s not going to stop PSAs about racial justice or the players themselves taking a knee, or the millions being spent on front groups for inner city programs that will serve as nothing more than moving bodies for political action. Netflix may have taken a hit from Cuties, but did that stop them from blackwashing Cleopatra? All the more with cringe-inducing marketing and historical revisionism. Traditional thinking about profit share must accommodate the much more valuable commodity which is changing the culture.

Which Way, Beer Drinker?

What a better way to maximize profit than to condition a consumer base to enjoy the very products you make? Social engineering, political programming, advertising all works to frame the nature of the discussion around the culture we live in. The concept of cultivation theory provides a helpful lens of analysis in how the mainstream media, advertising, and the regime can push the transgressive envelope even further.

Cultivation theory is a communication theory whose very primary tenet is that the more time people spend “living” or watching and consuming television media, the more likely they are to believe that the real world social reality aligns with the television reality. And in turn, their media reality becomes their day to day practices, rituals, and total conceptualization of how life should be outside of the media, leading to a constant state of exposure and influx of propaganda flowing in at all times. This is how you get things like this:

And then this;

While I am happy to report that the current pushback against Anheuser-Busch and Miller is still ongoing, the question becomes for how long? Netflix continues to support historical revisionism, blatant propaganda, and a clearly defined progressive message despite Cleopatra, and before that, Cuties. Even now as I write this, Target continues its push with transgender, satanic themed clothing for minors.

The point of this advertising, at all fronts, is to normalize the transgressive, to make it mundane. You can already see the eyes roll every June during “Pride Month” or when the bastard son of Fidel Castro, Justin Trudeau makes some point about tolerance and diversity. As tiresome as it may be dealing with the non-stop barrage of assaulting the concept of childhood innocence, or the proposed and ongoing attacks on the rights of parents to ensure that their children aren’t sacrificed before Moloch’s new “gender reassignment” altar, going woke doesn’t make one go broke; rather, going woke ensures that the yoke of normalcy, familiarity and tradition are uprooted from your culture, children, and future. The goal is to cultivate the next generation of activists, to make the acceptance of even more perverse identities and policies likely, and that they can create more consumers of their dysgenic products faster than you can get people to rally behind a boycott.

The culture war is real, these are not just fads, and the future has been and continues to be very much at stake.