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Unmarketable: Brandalism, Copyfighting, Mocketing, and the Erosion of Integrity
by Anne Elizabeth Moore

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/65239.Unmarketable_Brandalism_Copyfighting_Mocketing_and_the_Erosion_of_Integrity?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Unmarketable: Brandalism, Copyfighting, Mocketing, and the Erosion of Integrity" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170631571m/65239.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/65239.Unmarketable_Brandalism_Copyfighting_Mocketing_and_the_Erosion_of_Integrity?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Unmarketable: Brandalism, Copyfighting, Mocketing, and the Erosion of Integrity</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/24477.Anne_Elizabeth_Moore">Anne Elizabeth Moore</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/21727419?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 3 of 5 stars Advertising is everywhere. It's gone beyond the usual TV ad, billboards, the sides of buses. Now on entire vehicles, digitally inserted into sportscasts, cleverly placed in TV shows and movies. Ads' very ubiquity threatens to make them irrelevant. The old standard, the 30-second TV spot, gets attention only during the Superbowl, if those wringing their hands and wailing about the advent of the DVR are to be believed. In response, ads get put everywhere else, integrated into the modern landscape. This phenomenon in itself, however, is dangerous to the marketer. Attention is all in spreading the word about brands and products. But the problem with being part of the landscape that what is familiar will fade into the background. Thus, anyone looking to market anything is forced to find ever more creative and attention-grabbing ways of going about it in order to be successful. 
 
 Unmarketable outlines these methods, used alongside the traditional ways. They aim to generate attention without being blatant about it, subtly subverting the target audience's attention. Or not so subtly, in some cases. The book generally decries these new marketing methods as co-opting "underground culture" - whatever that means; author Anne Elizabeth Moore doesn't define it to my satisfaction, possibly in anticipation of some degree of preaching to the choir. Although, given the amount of "Look at us! What are we doing? How did we let ourselves be suckered into becoming corporate shills without even being handsomely compensated?" attitude evident throughout, perhaps preaching to the choir is the point. 
 
 Moore's audience, the tribe of punk/DIY/underground artist types, are also anti-establishment and anti-corporate; this makes the co-optation of the culture all the more vital to advertisers and their success all the more shocking. And Moore is certainly shocked at how easily it was achieved, especially having been drawn in herself, and wonders how it is possible to fight against the air of inevitability in selling out. However, the vast majority of the book is devoted to describing the what and how of various successful (either through favorable or unfavorable means) corporate underground marketing strategies, and disappointingly little to how to combat it. Her ultimate suggestion is to hold some things, "our emotion, our relationships, our ability to voice dissent, our integrity" sacred, and "unmarketable." But if that very integrity, as amply demonstrated throughout the book, is so easily, and sometimes without realizing it, sold, how, exactly, is one to hold on to it? How do you keep giving The Man the finger when The Man will pay you to tell him to go to hell? 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/871932?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Dawn's review
rating:
bookshelves: non-fiction

Advertising is everywhere. It's gone beyond the usual TV ad, billboards, the sides of buses. Now on entire vehicles, digitally inserted into sportscasts, cleverly placed in TV shows and movies. Ads' very ubiquity threatens to make them irrelevant. The old standard, the 30-second TV spot, gets attention only during the Superbowl, if those wringing their hands and wailing about the advent of the DVR are to be believed. In response, ads get put everywhere else, integrated into the modern landscape. This phenomenon in itself, however, is dangerous to the marketer. Attention is all in spreading the word about brands and products. But the problem with being part of the landscape that what is familiar will fade into the background. Thus, anyone looking to market anything is forced to find ever more creative and attention-grabbing ways of going about it in order to be successful.

Unmarketable outlines these methods, used alongside the traditional ways. They aim to generate attention...more Advertising is everywhere. It's gone beyond the usual TV ad, billboards, the sides of buses. Now on entire vehicles, digitally inserted into sportscasts, cleverly placed in TV shows and movies. Ads' very ubiquity threatens to make them irrelevant. The old standard, the 30-second TV spot, gets attention only during the Superbowl, if those wringing their hands and wailing about the advent of the DVR are to be believed. In response, ads get put everywhere else, integrated into the modern landscape. This phenomenon in itself, however, is dangerous to the marketer. Attention is all in spreading the word about brands and products. But the problem with being part of the landscape that what is familiar will fade into the background. Thus, anyone looking to market anything is forced to find ever more creative and attention-grabbing ways of going about it in order to be successful.

Unmarketable outlines these methods, used alongside the traditional ways. They aim to generate attention without being blatant about it, subtly subverting the target audience's attention. Or not so subtly, in some cases. The book generally decries these new marketing methods as co-opting "underground culture" - whatever that means; author Anne Elizabeth Moore doesn't define it to my satisfaction, possibly in anticipation of some degree of preaching to the choir. Although, given the amount of "Look at us! What are we doing? How did we let ourselves be suckered into becoming corporate shills without even being handsomely compensated?" attitude evident throughout, perhaps preaching to the choir is the point.

Moore's audience, the tribe of punk/DIY/underground artist types, are also anti-establishment and anti-corporate; this makes the co-optation of the culture all the more vital to advertisers and their success all the more shocking. And Moore is certainly shocked at how easily it was achieved, especially having been drawn in herself, and wonders how it is possible to fight against the air of inevitability in selling out. However, the vast majority of the book is devoted to describing the what and how of various successful (either through favorable or unfavorable means) corporate underground marketing strategies, and disappointingly little to how to combat it. Her ultimate suggestion is to hold some things, "our emotion, our relationships, our ability to voice dissent, our integrity" sacred, and "unmarketable." But if that very integrity, as amply demonstrated throughout the book, is so easily, and sometimes without realizing it, sold, how, exactly, is one to hold on to it? How do you keep giving The Man the finger when The Man will pay you to tell him to go to hell? ...less

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