I believe in America and the American spirit. We were founded on incredible ideals from outstanding visionaries like Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. Right now the Kardashians capture the nation's attention. In a recent article from New York magazine about J.Crew president, Jenna Lyons, Tyler Brûlé, the founder of Monocle magazine, was quoted saying, "The U.S. still tries to dumb down the message to make it as appealing as possible to as many people as possible[.] In a very clever way, J.Crew has taken the customer up with them rather than going in the opposite direction." The author expounds on his statement, spelling it out further, saying, "This is a polite way of saying that Lyons has managed to elevate mall tastes to approach her own."
Reading articles such as this, give me hope, but when you flip through magazines unable to distinguish products, people and brands from each other, it's hard not to wonder if we've all given up our distinctive voices and differences to make a buck. I frequently find myself musing about the intersections of money, talent, and influence. Persuasion is power and wealth. Persuade the masses, create a need, provide the product at the right price and the sales should follow. What of the integrity of the product? I believe it is very rare for something to be both commercially popular and critically lauded, to reach the masses you usually have to cater to the lowest common denominator. Is it possible to provide excellence and have a sustainable business? Is it possible to have fame at the level of Katy Perry and sing songs about more than blacking out and kissing girls? If you want to be powerful and influential, is a possible to keep intact your originality, your authenticity, or is "selling out" just part of the journey on the road to monetary gain?
In Slovoj Zizek's book, First as Tragedy, Then as Farce, John
Maynard Keynes states, "we have reached the third degree where we devote
our intelligence to anticipating what average opinion expects average
opinion to be." This could easily be substituted as my explanation of my job function in corporate retail for a leading department store. Buyers don't pick the most beautiful or the most functional, they pick the product with the most general appeal and the item with the highest profit margin to add to the bottom line. Do we have to shrewdly take a gamble on which we'd rather live without; love or money?
