Kudos to Fed Ex Marketing and Yet Another Sign of the Apocalypse
Somebody at Memphis based Fed Ex’s marketing department should be getting a huge bonus. Once again the shipping giant manages to put itself right smack dab in the middle of the news in a positive light and I found myself applauding the effort. It seems that some penguins that had been evacuated from the gulf coast either right before or right after Hurricane Katrina hit were taken back there. They arrived by Fed Ex cargo jet. Not only was this made into a media event, but someone (I guess Fed Ex) provided the purple carpet (one of Fed Ex’s colors). You got to hand it to those folks. They know how to get their company out in front of the cameras and the publicity and goodwill more than paid for the transport of the penguins.
And here is yet another Sign of the Apocalypse.
I’ve never bought into the Reality Show genre. I saw about ten minutes of Survivor when it first aired and thought it was a waste of my time. I still do. The Great Race, American Idol and whatever show Paris Hilton was in that made her famous along with the others. I know they are quite popular and if that is your cup of tea, more power to you. IMHO these reality shows are contrived. They are cheap to make and the viewing audience loves them. I used to hear my co-workers talking about who won what. I can’t believe how much news time has been, is and will be spent on covering some controversy stemming from these shows. I always cringed when I had to read some story on the morning news about CBS’ Survivor.
But the Sign of the Apocalypse is that almost 50 million people voted in the latest round of American Idol. That’s almost as many people who voted for each of the presidential candidates. Let me think about this: folks are as concerned about who wins a modern version of the “Ted Mack Amatuer Hour” as who will head the most powerful country in the world, set policy in motion that affects our daily lives and will help decide our future. I guess I just don’t get it.
I’m told the shows are addictive and that if I would just watch a couple of them all the way through, I too would be hooked. No, I think I’ll pass.
Let’s see: Cheap to make, extremely addictive, and makes someone a lot of money. Sounds to me like the networks finally figured out a way to make video versions of crystal meth.
joelarkins 
May 25, 2006 at 12:44 pm
One thing, Joe. I’m almost sure that 50 million people didn’t vote. They only had 64 million total votes, and studies have shown most people vote at least five times. Some hundreds of times. So while it’s accurate to say that Idol gets more votes it isn’t more people.