More Pitchmen than Products?

I get all manners of dubious and shady email — as I am pretty sure you do, as well.

In this morning's 300-odd pieces of "overnight junk" was a proposition from someone who'd seen some of my writing, my blogs and my artwork. Which was kind of cool, given that I am usually reached out to by spambots rather than actual humans. This was actually a human.

I'm WATCHING you, with my big eyes!

I won't go into the deeper details of the offer; I just wanted to hone in on one phrase in the sales pitch:

... if you've made the transition from Creative to Influencer...

Those words brought home the truth of a trend I have been noticing for several years now: There are more and more people "pitching" things rather than actually "creating" them. Along with the secondary thought: There's little reward in actually being creative, but lots of reward in promoting creativity.

Which strikes me as a bit of a sick sad world...

Film School, Product Placement and Influencing...

I guess I started paying more attention when our daughter (now 27) was in film school, studying cinematography and set design... and I really got a sense of the sheer depth of the importance of "product placement" in movies... and what a huge industry that is.

Influencing people.

Autumn leaf in the sun...

Of course, that has been true for a long time.

What's just a little... disturbing... to me is the extent to which this has all progressed; to where it is being suggested to me as a "creative" (artist, writer) that I might be considering moving from actually being a creative to being an "influencer."

Not sure, exactly, why I am finding it disturbing.

Perhaps it hails back to my childhood where I discovered people often were far better off as a result of simply talking about "something," rather than actually doing that "something."

I suppose I have just been more of a hands-on type, and felt put off by those who seemed to profit from — pretty much — empty air.

Ironic, isn't it, that now I spend quite a bit of time blogging, which is all about social connection and "influencing" while there isn't really much of a product.

Lacy leaves and spider trails...

Sales Pitches and... Sustainability

It's entirely possible that I don't fully grok how the world works, but I think most of my dis-ease arises from the fact that "selling air" is ultimately not sustainable. It's a short-term house of cards that will be blown down when someone notices that the proverbial "Emperor" actually isn't wearing any clothes.

Like the entire consumer society (or most of it, anyway) that's mostly made up of profits going to layers of middle men that stand between original producer and end user. As a result of which a pile of wood, bricks, wiring and pipes that cost $50,000 + a fair profit of $50,000 to the building contractor somehow "magically" becomes a house I have to pay $375,000. $100,000 of "reality" and $275,000 of "air."

Of course, many will just say "Yeah, but that's capitalism and the free market!"

Maybe so, but doesn't that make a whole lot of people amazingly blind and incredibly stupid? But I shall refrain from belaboring that point, as it would make an entire 3000-word essay, all by itself.

It just strikes me as a little alarming that there seem to be more people trying to get rewarded for selling stuff than there actually is stuff to be sold... and their salaries seem to be paving my road to poverty...

Hope you all had a great weekend!

How about YOU? Seen any unusual or crazy sales pitches recently? What were they? Are there parts of what we call "the economy" that just make NO sense to you? Know any good examples of "air" being sold? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!

(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Created at 181210 00:25 PST