Comments on: Authenticity: The Big Lie http://mjbraide.com/mjblog/authenticity-the-big-lie/ What's on my mind... Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:48:30 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Robin Uchida http://mjbraide.com/mjblog/authenticity-the-big-lie/#comment-122 Robin Uchida Mon, 11 Aug 2008 13:53:43 +0000 http://mjbraide.com/mjblog/authenticity-the-big-lie/#comment-122 Perceiving authenticity? – I don’t know what this is, imagined honesty perhaps. Believing something is more or less authentic is another calamity, kind of like partial truths. Wanting authenticity may be description of hope for some or a product of guilt for others. It’s all a messy business really and at the point that a discussion about authenticity meets a discussion on marketing we have really introduced the poop to the fan. The whole business of “authentic marketing” smells like a conundrum to me. It seems to me the role of marketing is to improve a business opportunity by mediating an experience. Whether or not the outcome is real, genuine or deemed authentic is irrelevant ‘really’. Who am I to judge, as I type this while I sip on my Starbucks coffee? So while the flies seem to swarm around marketing more and authenticity less, there is no need to sink into despair, because there are solutions close at hand. As the marketer, will it be sleight of hand, the unrelenting allure of the popular or the idea that endorphins are where the heart is? As the audience, do I think, do I choose, or wait-a-minute, do I really need to eat “the best hamburger in Canada”? Marketing’s proposition after all is that abundance brings with it tough times, tough decisions and a tough life that can be made easier, faster, better - just ask Paris Hilton, she’s “like, totally ready to lead”. In short, I am of the view a discussion about authenticity beyond the normative is serious business and marketing is just business. Is business the realm for such a discussion? I hope it’s not a long discussion. Does this mean without authenticity there will only be disaster? I think we have more pressing things to worry about. And what does life without authenticity look like? At least we don’t have to look far. My ability to ‘perceive authenticity’ has been undermined by the assumption that I will love what I see when I find it. My personal project on authenticity has turned into a struggle with acceptance. To complete my current concept of authenticity I have to accept some very terrible things about the world as well as myself. Exploring authenticity has been horrifying as much as it has been heartwarming, alienating as much as nurturing, and both denigrating and inspiring. Much of this remains difficult for me to accept and impossible to love. You will recognize me on the street because I’m the guy with one lens missing from his sunglasses (the first rule of Fight Club is…). Here’s one survival strategy if not "hope for the real": “One must particularly achieve control over instinctive drives to achieve a healthy independence of society, for as long as we respond predictably to what feels good and what feels bad, it is easy for others to exploit our preferences for their own ends.” Mihaly Csiksczentmihalyi Advantage, marketer. Perceiving authenticity? – I don’t know what this is, imagined honesty perhaps. Believing something is more or less authentic is another calamity, kind of like partial truths. Wanting authenticity may be description of hope for some or a product of guilt for others. It’s all a messy business really and at the point that a discussion about authenticity meets a discussion on marketing we have really introduced the poop to the fan. The whole business of “authentic marketing” smells like a conundrum to me. It seems to me the role of marketing is to improve a business opportunity by mediating an experience. Whether or not the outcome is real, genuine or deemed authentic is irrelevant ‘really’. Who am I to judge, as I type this while I sip on my Starbucks coffee? So while the flies seem to swarm around marketing more and authenticity less, there is no need to sink into despair, because there are solutions close at hand. As the marketer, will it be sleight of hand, the unrelenting allure of the popular or the idea that endorphins are where the heart is? As the audience, do I think, do I choose, or wait-a-minute, do I really need to eat “the best hamburger in Canada”? Marketing’s proposition after all is that abundance brings with it tough times, tough decisions and a tough life that can be made easier, faster, better - just ask Paris Hilton, she’s “like, totally ready to lead”.

In short, I am of the view a discussion about authenticity beyond the normative is serious business and marketing is just business. Is business the realm for such a discussion? I hope it’s not a long discussion. Does this mean without authenticity there will only be disaster? I think we have more pressing things to worry about. And what does life without authenticity look like? At least we don’t have to look far.

My ability to ‘perceive authenticity’ has been undermined by the assumption that I will love what I see when I find it. My personal project on authenticity has turned into a struggle with acceptance. To complete my current concept of authenticity I have to accept some very terrible things about the world as well as myself. Exploring authenticity has been horrifying as much as it has been heartwarming, alienating as much as nurturing, and both denigrating and inspiring. Much of this remains difficult for me to accept and impossible to love. You will recognize me on the street because I’m the guy with one lens missing from his sunglasses (the first rule of Fight Club is…).

Here’s one survival strategy if not “hope for the real”:
“One must particularly achieve control over instinctive drives to achieve a healthy independence of society, for as long as we respond predictably to what feels good and what feels bad, it is easy for others to exploit our preferences for their own ends.” Mihaly Csiksczentmihalyi

Advantage, marketer.

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