It’s the End of Corporate Wankery as We Know It
Okay, it’s time for some more bold pronouncements.
I think that today marks the end of corporate wankery as we know it. Meaningless mission statements, impenetrable double-speak, chest-pounding talk of "leadership" and "global front-runners" all fall away. The traditional notion of "the big box brand" is dead. The bigger, better, grow-at-all-costs mentality is over.
Why?
One simple site: http://buynlarge.com/
Go ahead. Click on it. Looks like any other global megaconglomerate’s site, doesn’t it? Except for a few odd turns of phrase. "The family that pays together, stays together." "The world’s premier engineering, robotics, construction, retail, consumer goods, space, science, and media company." T-shirts with 1000 words of legal disclaimers like "The Buy n Large Corporation acknowledges that this shirt may or may not be worn according to the Buy n Large standardized undergarments usage agreement (BnLSG3ba). Viewpoints and endorsements made by this shirt’s wearer/owner (the Customer) do not represent the Buy n Large Corporation, its affiliates, partners or sub-brands . . ." A new video game console that features a "new Joyspend controller, which allows kids to adjust their investment portfolios without interfering with game play." A drug designed to simulate the shopping experience.
Yes, this is an alternate reality site. It’s a site for a company that doesn’t exist. But the sheer depth, breadth, and comprehensiveness of the site, the way they take apart every single silly self-congratulatory, inward-looking bit of corp-speak and corporate positioning is breathtaking. Someone spent a lot of time to develop all this content and make it fit together into a single, seamless, chilling whole.
And the people who spent a lot of time on it are none other than Disney.
Yes, that Disney.
Yes, Disney as in Disney who owns Pixar.
The site succeeds on many levels. It’s a great way to promote their upcoming movie WALL•E. And it’s a wonderful way to give people a glimpse of the events that led to the world of the movie. But, most of all, I think, it’s a scary commentary on the vapid, rah-rah, ultimately meaningless corporate wankery we see every time we visit a large company’s website. Or call customer service. Or visit a store.
And when Disney is doing that, it’s the end of an era.
June 9th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
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