Nasa is going to the moon (Again!)
Last September we were all (and I mean everyone, from my mom to my colleagues, to the cleaner in the street) bombarded and talking about the new rocket by NASA, more specifically the United States that's heading to the moon. "America is going back to the moon!" everyone was exclaiming, and I dare to assume no one even knew why it was important and what is the significance of that news. Especially when in recent years both China and India respectively claimed their little basis there, and every country almost can send rockets to space from the rich yet inexperienced Arabic countries to the embargoed Iran and N. Korea. Read on if you are interested in a new take that you probably didn't hear about yet.
A short disclaimer before you start reading the rest of the article, this is NOT a political piece, I will be discussing?#Marketing,?#PR, and?#Business?and #Economy, so without further ado...
When I first saw a video shared on my WhatsApp groups of NASA's plan to send a rocket to the moon it didn't grab my attention as anything special, my exact thoughts were "AGAIN, so what...!", but a day or two after that I noticed that my social media and the MSM were congested with hype and EVERYONE who is anyone was talking about it which gave me the intention to write this article and address the "Hype"...
However, I decided to wait, wait for more information & analysis, and wait for the actual mission to be a success, and let me tell you how happy my instincts and ego are for that decision because until today, almost a month later from the fanfare there were no rockets launched to the sky (not from the United States at least) and no moon landing, just a series of delays, issues and fires (literally) as the news slowly faded and quietly disappeared as if it was never even there, it was reminiscent to the English singing "footballs coming back" and " we are the champions" without it ever coming to realization for over 50 years yet you hear them every season without fail. for the past so what happened ?!
Almost all the neutral news pieces I read about the mission were talking about how futile it is, pointless, expensive, and a grand show (for now a failed one) of muscles. and that's exactly what it was, America had to assert itself in the world and especially in these difficult times that it is still the world power and leader, both on earth and space, both in power and technology, specifically its two technological rivals China and India caught up to its comfortable position of ruling space since the fall of the soviet union. All of this was not news, the news was why both china and India despite their obvious effort to be in the limelight having achieved the moon landing, didn't get international attention (India did a better job than china on this front to be fair) that the US got before even launching the rocket (which I have to keep repeating that the dates keep getting pushed even after the fanfare). The answer is very simple, and no it's not because America owns the media ( which it partially does) the answer is that America invented modern PR and marketing.
The marketing Middle (dark) Ages
Our story starts at the turn of the last century when a group of men were born who will not be mentioned as those who changed the world but they definitely did change the "image" of it and how everyone else views it at the very least. While the rest of the world was struggling against colonialism, and colonialists struggling to stay in power, Europe specifically and its adjacent neighbors were locked in a not-so-cold war preparing for the two big ones, America which was named later the "sleeping giant" was slowly waking up... it was a hot spot for everything new and innovative, it was after all the era of Graham bell and Edison, even the brilliant Nikolas Tesla who was ethnically a Serb lived in N.Y.C.
With the rapid advancement of industries, technologies, and inventions which each deserves a book let alone an article to talk about, meant that markets now can be ready to receive new products, there was an important yet initially subtle shift in the industrial revolution, while before manufacturing was based on demand, now it was based on what's new and innovative, it means that industries were now making products that either people didn't need (or know they need), and products that didn't even have the necessary infrastructure for them ready yet (like cars and telephones), which lead to a need to educate and inform the public more about these products and since the need was not there....it had to be created!
Enter the PR and marketing geniuses (renaissance)...
Who were of course mostly American, apart from perhaps David Oglivy who was British, but the rapid advances, discoveries, inventions and the second industrial revolution that took place mainly in the United States, alongside ofcourse modern "Democracy" and politics gave chance and open space for a new type of artists and creative people to rise, people who will promote the products and sell them to those that don't need them, people like?Albert Lasker?"the man who sold America" (1880 – 1952), who saved the Orange and raisin farmers which had more products than demands and made orange juice a staple for American and world breakfast.?Edward Bernays?(1891-1995) who is considered to be the father of?PR?and who even coined the term was apart from his services, helping politicians in their campaigns and was one of the greatest anti-propagandists of WW1 also managed to convince the whole nation to adopt bacon and eggs as the healthy all American breakfast (somehow these marketers are always concerned with how we start our day). To continue our name dropping I like to mention Ivy-Lee who became famous after helping the Pennsylvania county cover up or rather brilliantly Un-cover a train wreck and shift the public attention, that got him the attention of the Nazi regime and the Rockefellers as well as the tobacco and automobiles industry who were some of his major clients ( you get the idea) and of course, I have to mention J. Walter Thompson who was the first to hire artists and writers to create ads (so he was the first to promote "Content Creation"?) and his company went on to be a leader in the marketing and advertisement industry with innovative ideas like "sex sells" and celebrity testimonials, you can see already how marketing in its light and dark side shaped the modern American and all of our lifestyles and world views.
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Most of these "men" were American and they shaped amongst other things the image and perhaps even the lifestyle of America, the result of which we see today where the world adopted American lifestyle, fashion, and even food with the great soft power of PR and Marketing coupled with an even more subtle neo-colonialism, and the proof is 99.9% who is reading this article now believe that orange juice is important in the morning, have heard of or tried McDonald's, and even think that dirking 7UP is good for your stomach.
Enter the first moon landing...
The first moon landing was a grand affair that didn't need any advertisement or marketing (not that it lacked it), all you needed was a TV or a radio and you would be interested to be part of the first man landing on the moon ( I can only imagine as I wasn't even born yet ), it was an event truly worthy of getting the attention of the whole world, it was a show of might and possibilities, first and foremost of the human race, and secondly of the reigning champion of world superpowers (The USA), wealth and technological advances. The soviets must have felt then what the Americans felt today when china not only put a man on the moon but built a moon-base.
That's when the marketers' job was getting easier, they had solid industries and good quality products and innovations to back up their claims (to an extent) they knew how to alter your perception but at least deliver satisfying results with their products, even smoking, they were that shiny pretty package that let you buy that product that you probably didn't need but it was a good product non the less, when American cars, refrigerators, TVs and other brands were the best.
Fast forward to NASA's second try
Some women would tell you, having a second baby is easier than the first, but that was not true for NASA, as their widely and wildly hyped up second trip to the moon didn't manage to even launch so it could fail, was lacking in terms of technology and innovation, in fact, while right next door Elon musk had cheaper better solutions they went to the more traditional and expensive methods they were used to, and it answers the question I had at the beginning of the article, why was everyone talking about it? simply because America invented modern marketing and PR amongst other useful things, and it seems that their use of it is as strong as ever ( I believe that's what actually won them the cold war and the main reason for the soviets' loss, effective PR campaigns and selling mirages). so now that we know that American marketing is alive and well, the question becomes does it have the industries, quality products, and innovation to back it up? the answer is obvious I'm afraid because just like NASA, other American industries have been suffering, apart from some niche industries like electric automobiles for example the US is not leading the world industrially anymore as most of the products and known brands we have today if not Chinese are either Japanese or European when we talk about best practices and best products American ones are not at the forefront anymore, and even those products that lead the world today from America are run and managed by people from other places, Elons south African, googles CEO is Indian...etc.
In conclusion, the American Market became like an empty egg, a strong pristine white shell on the outside which is the image (marketing) but hollow and empty on the inside. Is there hope? it seems that there is a rallying of American industries happening yet again at the cusp of the third world war...exactly how it happened the first two times... which opens up a lot of conspiracy and politically related questions which I will safely steer clear from. but I would like to ask you a question for the comments section: do you think America today is where the USSR was in the 80s ? and can they turn around their economy to the juggernaut it was?