OWS social media marketing (is it more capitalist than capitalist?)

Whenever they decide it's time to sell out, I think there are some great thinkers behind Occupy Wall Street who will make pretty good one-percenters (that is, if they aren't already…).

O.W.S. seems to have its roots in the sixties counterculture.  In one of the great ironies of American history, the anti-capitalist hippie aesthetic has turned out to be a veritable gold mine for people who are willing to, well… capitalize.  Just thinking of a few:

Easy Rider

Hair

The Wonder Years

Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream

the "classic rock" radio format

festival concerts (example: Bonnaroo)

You could probably think of some others yourself.  How many Woodstock movies, retrospectives, box sets, t-shirts… How much profit have the suits made off of nostalgia for this one concert?  What about the side-effect of brands that are only tangentially, but fondly, connected to hippie culture (Marshall amplifiers, Harley Davidson motorcycles)?  Have you ever bought any hippie-inspired clothes in a Wal-Mart?  Is this anti-corporate?

Though hippie supporters like (beware, upcoming link somewhat NSFW) Bill Hicks would be loathe to admit it, counterculture or outcast movements become big and important only when they contain an element of brilliant marketing.  Sorry, Bill.  Much like hippies, the occupiers wish to avoid contributing to mainstream capitalist culture… except the occasional ad buy, of course.

The Occupy movement strikes me as a hippie movement for the internet and social-media savvy.  They spread their message through Twitter hashtags (#OWS, #OccupyWallStreet) and take videos of themselves getting arrested in hopes of going viral on YouTube.  This tumblr is in the running for most ubiquitous of the OWS memes.  It's a great viral campaign, because it's simple enough for people to easily interact with, but also flexible enough for people to be creative.

And if marketers in the business world aren't paying close attention to this stuff, they aren't doing their jobs.  Call me cynical, but if you can sell a movement this way, I don't think it's a big stretch to believe you can sell a product this way.

Hey guys, you can go ahead and keep destroying the capitalist mentality and all.  But meanwhile, in the spirit of your movement, a few capitalists are probably going to be borrowing your stuff for free.

Meet the New (media) Boss/Sopa Nazis

What no blog updates in a while?  I have excuse!  I went black for S.O.P.A. way before anyone else!

OK, maybe not, but I have to come back out of hiding to address the biggest social media story of the year.  Short year so far.  But still.

[Wouldn’t it be ironic if Wikipedia sued me for displaying this copyrighted image without their permission?]

The Stop Online Piracy Act strikes me as one of those little pieces of Congressional legislation that could potentially become law without you ever noticing, until some in-the-know friend casually mentions it to you months later.  I mean, let’s face it, it’s not exactly the sexiest bill in the world.  There are no soldiers shipping off to war, or money going in or out of your paycheck, for the most part.  It’s all background-lawyery stuff.  Who can I count on to distill all this obscure bullshit for me?  Why, the newly un-blocked Wikipedia, of course:

“The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is a law (bill) of the United States proposed in 2011 to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods. Proposals include barring advertising networks and payment facilities from conducting business with allegedly infringing websites, barring search engines from linking to the sites, and requiring Internet service providers (ISP) to block access to the sites. The bill would criminalize the streaming of such content, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison.”

SOPA (and its Senate sibling with an even cuter acronym, PIPA) carries draconian consequences for websites that infringe copyright, or are even accused of infringement.  Ten years ago, would there have been any real opposition to this?  Were any politicians warned that there would be public relations hell to pay if they didn’t, say, save the original Napster?  There were extremely powerful interests lined up against Napster.  And almost none to support it.

But the website business ain’t kids’ stuff anymore.  The internet, as many of you know… is serious business.  Very serious:

"Facebook opposes SOPA and PIPA, and we will continue to oppose any laws that will hurt the internet."

Mark Zuckerberg.  Net worth: $17.5 billion.

On Wednesday, January 18^th, Google promoted an online petition against SOPA and PIPA.  Wikipedia (the thing you’re actually looking for whenever you type a search term into Google) blocked itself in protest of the bills.  Zuckerberg posted his statement on behalf of Facebook.  Lolcats cried.  And I have never seen a story light up my Facebook or Twitter feed quite like this.  SOPA was the only thing being talked about.

[No, no, no.  Wrong SOPA!]

I have Republican friends who protested Obamacare and Democrat friends who protested the Iraq war, but no amount of protest marches or Tea Parties could stop these things from happening.  The medical care of an entire nation, or soldiers killing and dying, might be important things.  But if you threaten the existence of funny YouTube parodies, only then will the entire internet rebel.

Reaction from legislators was profound.  Around dinner time on Wednesday, I found this listing of the bills’ supporters and opponents.  It listed 80 supporters and 32 opponents.  It now lists 63 supporters and 122 opponents.  By Wednesday night, even PIPA co-sponsor Marco Rubio had turned against the bill.

[No, no, no.  Wrong PIPA! (pippa)]

It feels good, doesn’t it?  The entertainment industry can rant all they want about their special-interest dollars, but it doesn’t matter.  You’re stickin’ it to The Man.  The people have spoken.  No sopa for you, you big corporate bad guys who control all information!

But is that really true anymore?  Do powerful figures in the old media and old Hollywood control our information?  Psshaw!  Of course not!  You get all your information from reading blogs and Wikipedia articles!  And when Wikipedia asked you to jump, you asked how high.  We may be in love with our favorite websites, but now that the hangover from the big SOPA push is over, let’s not kid ourselves about who we wound up in bed with.

Meet the new boss, my friends.