So there is yet another BBC TV series set in my home town of Blackpool. In recent years there has been “The Pleasure Beach” – awful real life characters exposed (i used to work there), the drama “Blackpool” which was great, if odd and now BBC3′s Funland. These shows always upset me as to how they portray the town, all seediness, dark corners, twisted dealings and scum. It’s pathetic.
The reality is much much worse…
Writing this entry actually hurts me, more than I can say, but it needs to be written. I had a drink with an old friend who works in a sphere very close to mine – interactive TV advertising – and we really had a difference of opinion that has thown me sideways. Our conversation, after the usual gossip and catching up, veered to the advertising industry, which I normally keep as far from as practically possible. Our chat turned towards the future and this is where we diverged dramatically (as we always do). He insisted that the media buying and owning staus quo would remain in play indefintely whatever happened technologically in the near future – I have a more optimistic view that we might finally be liberated from the strangle of heavyweight advertising interests.
It got nasty, he cited the fact that News International could demand a war when required, buy respected movie ‘review’ opinion when needed for any advertisers need. I throw back the destruction of flakey hollywood prospective blockbusters after a first night SMS frenzy from a disappointed crowd.
The battle between old monolithic “do what we tell yo” media and new distributed “I’ll ask my friends, thanks” media has shaken me. I am shocked with the fierceness of his fight, the belief in the power of advertising. Am I following the wrong path here? Is this a battle that dispite the best minds of our generation, we just get bought out by Murdoch and eat the corporate dollar? Is there a point?
With all the hoo-har going on about the BBC iMP project both in public and behind the scenes, why the hell not:
Tape It Off The Internet.com pops it’s barely formed head over the precipice. It’s just a public place to work out some of the ideas for now, while we build on recent R&D projects for a non-tv-on-web medium, avoiding legal issues but sowing the seeds for a robust social tv focussed community.
Or something…