Dewmocracy in America

Mountain Dew is running an ad campaign called "DEWmocracy":

Its website features a video:

"enter behind these city walls
into a dark nation governed by corporate lords
profit and greed rule
creative freedom is strictly forbidden
but one will be chosen
THE JOURNEY: into the underworld of dewmocracy
THE QUEST: to unearth the elixir of freedom
THE CALLING: to restore the spirit of man
now a new generation has risen
and must fulfill its destiny
to create the ultimate softdrink
the next mountain dew
your journey through dewmocracy.com
will leave you to create the next
color, flavor, name, and label...
your creation will become the new mountain dew
from the virtual world to the real world"

Our species' long history of rebelling against oppression and fighting for freedom  culminates in Pepsi giving me a journey, a quest, a calling, against corporate lords.

The Mountain Dew Marketers are salivating for proclamations that this is the Future of Marketing.

There's no hint of irony. It's not even a lame homage to those who went before us and sacrificed for freedom. At a time in history when people feel more powerless and when important movements are trying to take hold, Mountain Dew pushes people to tune it all out with its shit.

Mountain Dew even rips-off some imagery from Apple's 1984 ad. People love the 1984 ad because it was true: Apple actually did empower people with their tools and democratize things. It's a real calling.

1984 was around the time that Steve Jobs recruited John Scully from Pepsi (maker of Mountain Dew) by saying: "Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want a chance to change the world?"

Now in 2007, Apple's message is to give the people "a little video for everyone". It's the age of YouTube, the democratization of broadcast. Yet, Apple -- instead of inventing Flickr, YouTube, eBay, Facebook, or other empowering technologies -- just promotes the revolution as movies & TV shows:

So Apple is pretty similar to Dish Pro of Parsippany, NJ -- standing up for an important movement:

People actually do need a journey, a quest, a calling.

Great minds and talented people are working hard to turn TV and Dewmocracy into movements.

Lighten up, you may tell me. Let those great minds and talented people Pursue Happiness and pay their mortgage. Save your civics lesson for when you retire from Meetup and teach at junior college.

I predict we'll see true movements emerge in years ahead, powered by people & the internet... and all the while, people will ignore most ads and the Future of Marketing is become about making better products.

The kind of people who do dumb marketing, like this Dewmacracy shit, will find another journey, quest, calling.