In 2015, Lenny Pozner was sitting in a bar watching TV.
Next to him, another guy was watching the same TV.
The news came on, an item about the government, and the other guy got agitated.
Goddamn government was trying to take away everyone’s guns, that was why they faked that school shooting at Sandy Hook two years back.
They claimed 20 kids and 6 teachers were killed, but no one died, they were all actors.
He knew it was faked because one of the kids they killed, Noah Pozner, he’d seen his picture at another mass shooting in Pakistan.
The kid wasn’t killed at Sandy Hook at all, they were all just child actors.
Lenny said they weren’t actors, and he got his wallet out and showed the guy a picture of his son, Noah Pozner.
Lenny said that’s my son you’re talking about, show some respect.
The guy yelled “How much they paying you to pretend you had a son that got shot?”
He became abusive and yelling that Lenny was part of the conspiracy.
It was the start of a nightmare for Lenny.
Not only had his son been murdered, but he began getting abuse and threats.
People who believed the whole Sandy Hook massacre was faked by the government to take their guns away, the victims were all just actors.
The parents of other children killed at Sandy Hook had the same experience: accusations, abuse, death-threats.
But why would any sane person believe such a story, it’s clearly beyond nonsense.
And where did it all start, how did it grow so big so quickly?
It turns out it was a radio personality called Alex Jones.
The same radio personality that Donald Trump congratulated and called “amazing”.
Alex Jones has made a career out of extreme conspiracy theories.
He started the rumour that Barack Obama was an Arab, not born in America.
That the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center were masterminded by the Bush family.
That Obama and Hilary were covered in flies and reeked of sulphur because they were servants of the devil sent up from hell.
In the 21st century, what sane person could even entertain rubbish like this?
Media celebrities Orly Taitz and Clyde Lewis did, and they spread it to their listeners.
The Republican candidate for Oklahoma did, so did the Republican candidate for Colorado.
Mike Palacek and James Fetzer even wrote a book: ‘Nobody Died at Sandy Hook’.
In Iran, state sponsored Press TV said the killings happened, but they were the work of ‘Israeli death squads’.
Lenny Pozner decided the only way to get back at Alex Jones was to sue him.
But even in court it wasn’t just accepted that his son had died.
He had to have samples taken from his own body and from the corpse of his son, so the DNA would prove they were related.
Observers say that Alex Jones’ method isn’t to prove or disprove anything.
It’s to make everyone doubt everything, in which case anything could be true.
And any crazy theories are suddenly credible simply because any attempt to deny them is seen as a cover up, which proves they must be true.
His listeners hate the government, so whatever the government denies must be true.
It’s the same in elections, we don’t vote for people, we vote against people.
That’s how it works in most markets where there are two main competitors.
Instead of talking someone into our product, it’s often enough to talk them out of the competition, what used to be called ‘a knocking campaign’.
It works when our product is the only alternative.
Around 400BC, there was a Sanskrit expression for it: “My enemy’s enemy is my friend”.
Dave,
I’m a long time reader and love your world/creative view. Which is why I know you’d be a great, one-off contributor to this project I’m working on. It’s called Gabberish, an online mag dedicated to advertising. Past contributors include Cindy Gallop, Ant Keogh, Matt Eastwood, Ant Melder. The list goes on.
My issue is about culture. All I’m asking is if you could answer the questions below and I’ll take care of the rest.
What do you define as good agency culture?
How important is understanding the culture of your audience?
Tips for making culture changing creative?
Tips for making creative which transcends cultures?
Conversely, if you’d like to be more involved, please don’t hesitate to email me. Your participation cannot be understated.
Thank You.
Pingback: Chuyện này chắc chắn thật, tôi nghe rồi mà - Blog Marketing Online by Sơn Tùng