PowerPointing In The Den Of Whores
About a year and a half ago, I was invited down to Miami to give a powerpoint to a bunch of marketers about how internet-empowered consumers were going to destroy their companies and force them to do business better.
Beyond the funny pictures and horrifying examples, I stressed the themes of transparency, integrity, responsiveness and humility. Most of all, respect for your customers. (You can watch a portion of my presentation here). To my surprise, it went over really well at the conference. The audience was engaged and enthused and laughing, even though I was slagging them left and right. I felt relieved and elated. I really seemed to be making an impact! Though, the first question afterwards was what were the site's demographics, which should have been my first sign that something wasn't sinking in quite right. Still I was on my little cloud and only grew more encouraged, cocksure, even, by the various conversations I had afterwards on the bus, boat ride, at the dinner, and in the drinking that followed.
Late into the evening, after everyone was thoroughly lubricated and sitting around one of those fancy hotel pools that line Ocean Drive, my new friends started to encourage me to sell my readers' data. Email addresses and tracking cookies and behaviors and so forth could get matched up to user records in one of those massive data places and chopped up and resold to companies for a tidy sum, I was told. They encouraged me to "grab a piece for myself" for all the hard work I had done. Say what? Hadn't they seen the whole series of slides about respecting user privacy and how opt-in was king? Didn't they see the one with the pickpocket and the one with the squirrel who didn't want his data peanuts stolen? Maybe they figured it was all just my "shtick." Maybe they were just so inside the machine that they couldn't fathom anything wrong with their proposition. Maybe they wanted to see how corruptible I was.
In any event, I said I wasn't interested. Some money costs too much. They replied with something like, you are from Mars and I thought, damn right, I'm proud to be a Martian.
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Comments:
you rule ben. I've been in situations semi-similar so many times. And every time I am beyond uncomfortable, and I just want to tell those people how sad i think they are. There's a lot of them in d.c.
As a resident of this limp dick state, you're spot on with the description of the many people who come here and try to steal, cheat, and outright rob us blind.
Except I know whores that have more morals than marketeers do. Ethical sluttiness? Whatever.
Until those folks stop acting like rabid pit bulls seeing the world as their meaty assed mailman, we're screwed with regardes to commercial privacy.
So you told them you felt there was still good inside of them, and they replied "you don't know the power of capitalism!"
a year and a half ago? you should have posted this the next day to us.
Awesome, Ben. Thanks for not selling our data, and for sticking up for good ethics.
Do you think the crowd you did your presentation to actually learned anything, or cared about what you said, or was it that they were mentally salivating over the tastiness of the site demographics?
I get that a lot too. It's the so-called 'normal' people that don't see that THEY are the one's who are clearly insane and delusional.
Remember, there is no compassion among thieves (read as modern businessmen). They are what they are, and to hell with the rest of us. These are the people who don't see anything wrong with stealing candy from babies...or taking a obscenely huge bonus while the company they were supposed to keep solvent goes down in flames.
"The audience was engaged and enthused and laughing."
It's pretty clear why they were laughing. Anyway, thanks for not selling out!
Consumerist is fighting the good fight and always has. I love this site. You give me facts and tell me what's going on with no bias except toward sticking up for people like me. Keep it up, Ben - and the rest of the team - and thank you.
There was definitely some irony in your new drinking buddies' proposal to sell reader information. I don't actually think there's anything wrong with it (though again, it's ironic) as long as there's full disclosure to readers about that sort of thing. Sad to say that even considering the ethical implications probably puts you ahead of the vast majority of your peers...
www.corporatepoop.com
I always thought whores have rec-rooms, not dens? Or just 60's era whores?
Just goes to show the relentless power of "groupthink." It's possible for a group to be so invested in certain ideas and behaviors, that they can even laugh at how absurd those ideas and behaviors are, yet in the end walk away completely forgetting their absurdity, and continue to hold those ideas and keep engaging in those behaviors.
Yes, human beings are irrational creatures.
But, a year and a half ago, Consumerist was owned by Gawker, which has ads served by DoubleClick, which uses tracking cookies.
Does that make your former employers whores too?
Also, it's worth noting that, had Consumers Union (which is rather a unique organization) not stepped in, Consumerist would have been shut down. In general, those "whores" are what keep blogs in business.
It still amazes me that people can sit through a whole presentation on this sort of thing, and not get the point. While we don't pay, we're still customers of The Consumerist. The product provided is interesting consumer related news, and our payment is in pageviews. I think the problem is that they've all gotten to the point where they don't see the data they're selling as people's privacy, they just see it as a way to make another buck. Any un-utilized source of income is a sin to them. This is where local businesses and those that act like them often shine - they care enough to act like their customers are humans too, because they care about them. People go back to these sorts of retailers, because they feel like a valued person, instead of only a source of income.
Thanks for fighting the good fight- but, unfortunately, things like "ethics", "morals", and just basic business sense disappear when easy money can be made.
@nbs2: Ditto, I was expecting this post to end with "But now I'm strapped for cash so I sold you out bitches"
One forgets that Consumerist can and does make money, albeit not "profit" levels. There is that tip jar. They just don't resort to selling information to do it. They rely on the collective giving power of the internet.
@pecan 3.14159265: Though, ironically, I'm still getting spam from Consumer Reports, despite repeatedly unsubscribing, from their acquisition of Consumerist emails.
@Chumas:
You could have used the word "DOGS" insead of "pit bulls" and have gotten the same point across.
Thanks for perpetuating the stereotype, jackass.
I wonder if they were secretly making bets with each other about how easy it would be to get you to sell out. I smell a rat here.
@SkokieGuy: Here I was, all excited that my new house has a rec room. But now I'm just a lowly whore.
When you said "Miami" I knew that this story would end in disappointment.
@trixrabbit: Between picking out a Porsche and the twice monthly flights to the Caymans Ben has been very busy.
In other news, has any one else been getting emails targeted at "customers who know value"?
@Hooray4Zoidberg: ROFL! Adding 'bitches' to the end of something really does make it funnier.
I did hesitate when they had those posts asking commenters to update/add their emails so they would be able to log in when the site transitions. Sketchy, sketchy.
Didn't they see the one with the pickpocket and the one with the squirrel who didn't want his data peanuts stolen
For real?!! Can we get a super heart feature?
Maybe they thought you were the Colbert of Consumer Issues. Where the consumer is a big issue.
@floraposte: No it's very easy to tell. They come up to you and say stuff like "You're from Mars" and "You wear tin-foil hats", etc...
Dugg, for the king of consumers.
@trixrabbit: This little story got cut from a longer piece I've been working on so I decided to toss it up on the site as a post.
I saw this yesterday
[blog.seanbonner.com]
I can't remember who tweeted it, (may have been ben) but it's a good read, seems to fit with this article.
@pecan 3.14159265: Like how the Wikimedia Foundation reeled in way over 6Mil last fall. And they dont really even have "faces" like we do with the great editors from The Big C.
@cash_da_pibble: He also could have said fuzzy bunnies instead of mean old dogs, but that would have reduced his point even further. And you're out of line by calling people names.
@TinkishDelight: I want to know how he can provide a teaser like that and not let us download the presentation.
@Triterion: Shouldn't you be asking "from" since he's obviously Ben now and probably wasn't borne "Got invited"?
Also, what's the ending your sentence with "to"?
@cash_da_pibble: You could have used the word donkey instead of jackass. Thanks for perpetuating the stereotype, doofus.
@cash_da_pibble: having owned pit bulls and rotties, and having my ass chewed by a friggin yorkie, I feel I am quite well informed as to doggy violence.
I dare, nay-double dog dare-you to run through a piss poor neighborhood here and try to play nice with the pitbulls.
Asshat.
@Ben Popken: Ask and ye shall receive.
That this was a little tidbit related to a larger piece makes anxious to think about how scummy those scummy scums really are.
@Chumas:
I admit calling names is out of line and I apologize.
I was also emotionally upset and I should have restrained myself.
But slandering a breed by using it in such a fashion makes my life with my properly behaved APBT all that much harder.
A dog- for the most part- is what you make it.
@floraposte: umm...i've yet to receive a single thing from CR. are you sure the solicitations aren't coming from some other list?
@cash_da_pibble: appology accepted. :)
I've always gotten pittys and rotties from the pound, because noone wants em and they're damn loveable animals. it helps when the dogs see someone who is just a bigger dog in a cheap skin suit. :)
btw, that yorkie was an akc registered bastard that was put down because she attacked a child and tore up her owners hand. dogs are always what you make of em.
"I was got invited?" Hi, Got Invited, what did you change your name to?