Consumers to the rescue?

Will "loft" tableware and stubbies save the economy?

The Straight Goods Cyber Forum
with Larry Solway

Commentary:

  "How can you live in a "loft" that is on the first floor? That's impossible," scoffs my best friend. "A loft," he continues, "is under the roof."
  I assure him that I do live in a loft, at least that's what they are calling it because it is a converted factory or office space with all the plumbing and heating ductwork showing and the ceilings all about 11 feet up.
  "It's all marketing," I explain. "Right across the road there is a whole huge new building going up called 'lofts'."
  "But you can't have a 'new' loft. By definition it has to be a renovation of a former space AND that space has to be in the loft which is like the attic and it is right under the roof." He is becoming difficult and stubborn.
  But he is right.
  I just bought a whole new set of stainless steel cutlery with clear Lucite-type plastic handles. It is called "loft" tableware!

Which brings me the point: the economy is waiting to recover and it depends, especially in the U.S., which is lagging behind us, on how quickly the consumer comes to the rescue

  Which brings me the point: the economy is waiting to recover and it depends, especially in the U.S., which is lagging behind us, on how quickly the consumer comes to the rescue.
  "Ahah," I cry, in a moment of economic gestalt. "Eureka," I say, as Archimedes said when he lay in the bath and made the water overflow the tub.
  Back when I was a rookie in broadcasting I was given a book by a man named Borden. It was textbook of consumerism called The Economic Effects of Advertising, It declared that our economy prospered simply because products and services were advertised which led to a demand for those products and services which led to money changing hands and a lot of people buying "duff" which put a lot of other people to work. We were buying stuff that we had never really known we needed. We probably didn't. We needed food and we needed shelter and I think we needed education. Advertising convinced us that we needed deodorant and new cars every two years and this year's fashions and a lot of coloured sugared water that was sold under brands like Pepsi Cola and Coca-Cola.
  Nothing new. As recently as the 20s we began to realize that advertising made us consumers. Being consumers made manufacturers rich. Manufacturers getting rich meant they hired *(sometimes) more people. The wealth of the community increased. (Adam Smith is smiling.)
  I sat watching a Canadian play like he was finally going to win a PGA golf tournament. (His game imploded on Sunday.) Most remarkable to me are the golf equipment commercials. I watched one important pro insist that his winning was all linked to the ball he chose to use. More accuracy more distance. More money. The fact that there are ten other golf pros with equal enthusiasm endorsing the winning qualities of ten different golf balls doesn't seem to matter. It's all about who does the best advertising.
  Beer companies are the best. They attach a kind of social spirituality to their product, showing us that people enjoying their brand of brewski are having more fun at parties. They also charm us by changing the shape of the bottle. The only thing that never changes is that the beer itself, in a dowdy or flashy bottle, is the same. But consumers are driven by the suggestion that they are ahead of the rest with their choice.
  The purpose of advertising is to make commerce hum. I am not against it. I like stuff myself. I do drive a 12-year-old car and have little time for the blandishments of all the new car commercials. Count me as one who is helping the economy grind to a halt.
  But - I DO live in a loft.

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