Yak Facts Issue #5: Repeat as necessary
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Yak Facts 18 November, 1998
Issue #6 Repeat as necessary
************************************************************In This Week's Issue:
- The Ultimate Marketing Scheme
- Let's Eat
- On the Web
- Call to Action
- This Week in Be Dope
- Credits
The Ultimate Marketing Scheme
There is a fine line between strategic advertising and sporadic advertising. We used to know where the line was. Then somebody sold the line to Coca-Cola so they could replace it with computer-generated polar bears. Now it seems everything is up for sale.
Now, I'm not here to speak about the evils of "selling out" to advertising. I'm sure you've also noticed the ads running across the top of Be Dope. I'd even sell a bit more ad space if the opportunity came up. What I won't do is turn every pixel of possible space into billboards for other companies. I won't use "product placement" strategies in my stories. And I won't sell the very color off of my pages to anyone (as HotWired is doing).
Moderation is a term lost to most people today. This thought crossed my mind as I got into line at my local supermarket and noticed the movie advertisements pasted on to the plastic bars used to separate on person's groceries from another. But at least that is obvious. What's worse is seeing products and movies become closely intertwined as, say, the last James Bond. It's to the point where every time I hear a brand name mentioned in a TV show or movie that I stop paying attention and wonder how much the brand had to pay to get mentioned.
The BeOS Bible
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On The Web
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Call to Action
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This Week In Be Dope
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Credits!
Editor, Writer, Ratwatcher: Mike Popovic
Copyeditor: None, obviously
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All content Copyright 1998 Mike Popovic except where noted otherwise. You may not reuse, reprint, repost or otherwise fondle said content without my permission. This especially includes you Be news site folks. If someone wants to know what's going on here, they have to subscribe. Feel free to say something like "The Be Dope newsletter went out today and it was fantastic! So go subscribe at http://www.bedope.com/newsletter/"
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This too will pass.
