If you're not paying for the product, you are the product!
If you're paying for the product, you are the product.

If you're not paying for the product, you are the product!

“If you are not paying for it, you're not the customer; you're the product being sold.”

Came across this raw and hitting idea online, tracked it back to an Andrew Lewis who’s become famous with it, being mass-retweeted.

It’s not a unique thought, we all know it. But the articulation made it extremely relatable and easy to remember. In a world where distractions are a business, it’s nice to find such simple sentences that hit home and transform into heuristics.

I went a step deeper and found this video published back in 1973 by Richard Serra. It’s become established art, being hosted by MoMA on their website.

"The product of Television, Commercial Television, is the Audience.
Television delivers people to an advertiser.
There is no such thing as mass media in the United States except for television.
Mass media means that a medium can deliver masses of people.
Commercial television delivers 20 million people a minute.
In commercial broadcasting the viewer pays for the privilege of having himself sold.
It is the consumer who is consumed.
You are the product of t.v.
You are delivered to the advertiser, who is the customer.
He consumes you.
The viewer is not responsible for programming------
You are the end product.
You are the end product delivered En Masse to the advertiser.
You are the product of t.v."

Darting back from the time to now. ‘Consumers is being consumed’ rings disappointingly true even now. Watch the entire video to see how Richard extends his concepts to news and the entire media state. The entire encapsulation in a sarcastic television outlook adds incredible flavor, and forewarning.

It's just a point of quiet contemplation, for someone to absorb or reject the given proposition. But, nevertheless its important to know what the outside-in view of our world is.

Pierre Lonchampt, Ph.D.

Supporting Innovators and Leaders in Healthtech, Medtech and Creativetech | Expert Consulting & Advisory - Frac Exec | Innovation | AI | Regulations | SaMD | Design | Science | Ethics | Transparency | Future | Music

2 年

You're right - except that your 2010 revival was not the first revival that month: https://twitter.com/timoreilly/status/22823381903 preceded it by 10 days

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