[9876] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: networkMCI ads
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Pete Cottrell)
Tue Jan 25 13:35:08 1994
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 94 13:34:09 -0500
From: pete@cs.umd.edu (Pete Cottrell)
To: com-priv@psi.com, francis@avalle.insoft.com
Anybody here from MCI able to assign credit?
I think I would have asked the question as "Anyone here from MCI able to
assign the blame?" - I hate these commercials. I think that part of it is
the fact that experienced people can easily raise an eyebrow at items
directed towards "everyone else" (we all picked the hell out of movies
like "Wargames" and "Sneakers"), but beyond that, I see these ads as
pure gloss that barely touches on what they're actually referring to
and doesn't touch at all on any of the substantive issues (cost, privacy,
equity, etc) associated with making an "information highway" a reality.
I know, I know, these are end-users who don't care about that and you
couldn't slap all this into a commercial anyway. Yes, it's called
advertising, and the information highway is a Magic Biscuit that we'll
all partake of and become one. Let's all go lie down in a field of lilies
and think wonderful thoughts.
It's a company being one of the first to try to cash in and that's how
the game's played, I guess. But I think it is all too cute, and too
meaningless.
But hey, I like the cinematography; nice juxtaposition of lights and
darks...
