Re: Vision Quest, sponsored by Sony
Have you gotten a load of the deceptive little ad unit Sony has sponsored and embedded in the front-page headlines of our Salon.com?
I know times are tough for everyone, and I’m sure Salon could use the cash, so I’m not really faulting anyone. There was a time when even I was willing to dress up in a gold lame’ halter top and distribute shots of a Jaegermeister-like substance to drunk college kids (I didn’t actually make the cut, which was even more humiliating). One does what one has to do.
Personally, I’m more interested in the tactics used in this particular ad-ticle:
It’s formatted to look like a regular Salon article, except for the literary quality. It reads exactly like ad copy, with no sense of individuality to it.
The story is about a couple that goes on an ecologically themed trip around the world. They see green alligators and long-necked geese, humpy-backed camels and chimpanzees… all recorded, presumably, with Sony’s fine line of digital imaging equipment. They never actually mention it in the copy, which is interesting.
But my all time favorite part is this quote:
“’I started the trip with a major attachment to money issues, which is normal in America,’ Val says. ‘By the end, I was completely free of that. And I haven't gotten back into any old bad habits.’”
Followed by this typical Salon-like continuance:
“Visit "The Shoot". Learn about digital cameras/camcorders, CLIE handhelds, Net MD recorders, and VAIO computers.”
There’s something brazen yet naive about this. They’re trying to appeal to the Salon reader: educated, discerning, creative, and probably professional (at least, I like to think). People with high ideals and technological savvy. People with disposable incomes.
But at the same time, people who are (supposedly) not inclined to bourgeois conspicuous consumption.
This ad is either “me too”-ing by saying, “You are concerned about the environment and not impressed by shallow consumerism. Neither are we! Buy our stuff!”
Or they look at us and say, “You like to believe you have substance and maturity, but we know the truth. You’re just as impressed with shiny new things, and yourselves when you can afford them, as anyone else is. Okay, we’ll play along. You’re over your ‘money issues’. Now here are our new models.”
The way I look at it, Sony is either misguided, or misguided like a fox.
1:37:27 PM 
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