Instant Getification
Have you seen the new ASK.COM television commercial? The purpose of the commercial is to illustrate the difference between the web search engines ASK and GOOGLE. Apparently ASK wants you to realize it has more available features than GOOGLE. I saw the commercial for the first time last weekend during a football game.
More than illustrating the difference from GOOGLE, I believe the ASK advertisement is a commentary on society.
Much of the commercial is spent in silence as the viewer watches a cursor move across the computer screen of the ASK search engine. Toward the end of the announcement the phrase “instant getification” appears on the screen. Then the announcer explains how ASK has more detail than its chief competitor GOOGLE.
Why do I think the ASK commercial is more of a commentary on society than it is on the search engine?
I think it is a commentary on our age because we live in a time of instant getification. The phrase is an obvious play on the words “instant GRATIFICATION.” It does not matter what you call it – getification or gratification – we are an impatient people. What we want we want now. Most people are not willing to wait or to work for what they want.
A prime example of INSTANT GETIFICATION is the new poverty initiative in New York City called “Opportunity NYC”. Have you read about this project?
The Mayor of New York, along with several other business leaders, raised $27 million for “Opportunity NYC”. “Opportunity NYC” rewards impoverished people for doing what is right.
If your 7th grade passes all tehir exit exams you get money. If you take your child to the dentist—cha ching! If you have an annual physical exam—off to the bank you go to cash your check.
I appreciate what one commentator said about “Opportunity NYC”. The spokesperson for the Manhattan Institute said, “We should have a real problem for rewarding people for doing what is moral.” I share her burden.
What is the result of “Opportunity NYC”? The answer is obvious. This project, along with so many other initiatives, feeds our society’s already voracious desire for instant getification. We live in an age of immediate indulgence.
And what is the answer? Be careful. There may not be an immediate solution to our dilemma.
More than illustrating the difference from GOOGLE, I believe the ASK advertisement is a commentary on society.
Much of the commercial is spent in silence as the viewer watches a cursor move across the computer screen of the ASK search engine. Toward the end of the announcement the phrase “instant getification” appears on the screen. Then the announcer explains how ASK has more detail than its chief competitor GOOGLE.
Why do I think the ASK commercial is more of a commentary on society than it is on the search engine?
I think it is a commentary on our age because we live in a time of instant getification. The phrase is an obvious play on the words “instant GRATIFICATION.” It does not matter what you call it – getification or gratification – we are an impatient people. What we want we want now. Most people are not willing to wait or to work for what they want.
A prime example of INSTANT GETIFICATION is the new poverty initiative in New York City called “Opportunity NYC”. Have you read about this project?
The Mayor of New York, along with several other business leaders, raised $27 million for “Opportunity NYC”. “Opportunity NYC” rewards impoverished people for doing what is right.
If your 7th grade passes all tehir exit exams you get money. If you take your child to the dentist—cha ching! If you have an annual physical exam—off to the bank you go to cash your check.
I appreciate what one commentator said about “Opportunity NYC”. The spokesperson for the Manhattan Institute said, “We should have a real problem for rewarding people for doing what is moral.” I share her burden.
What is the result of “Opportunity NYC”? The answer is obvious. This project, along with so many other initiatives, feeds our society’s already voracious desire for instant getification. We live in an age of immediate indulgence.
And what is the answer? Be careful. There may not be an immediate solution to our dilemma.
1 comment:
It is so true that we want what we want, when we want it and it is usually now. I am sad that our kids will not remember a life without drive thru's, they will never know what it is like to wait for a tape to rewind to your favorite song, they won't remember a time when you waited to get home to use the telephone, they won't remember a kitchen without a dishwasher and a microwave, and they won't remember what it was like to "dial up" your computer. Ah, those were the days!
I think it is disgusting that New York has to pay people to do the right thing. Natural consequences can be the most effective lesson. They are still there if we will use them.
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