Pepsi Creates Huge Orwellian Fascist ARG Campaign

[FourthBase]

And some folks scoffed at the idea of Coke this past Summer marketing a bucket-sized drink called "HUGO" on the side of city buses in Spanish.
I wrote that this was to pre-empt any efforts to grafitti support for Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez in hispanic communities.

Now THAT has some legs.

(Please give us a Hugh-ology! One big thread!
Not to say you're topicjacking, but one big thread would be USEFUL)

Homonyms-
Dewmocracy, doom-ocracy. "Extreme politics, dude!"

Great catch, Hugh!

Don't forget that Coke invented Fanta to keep doing Nazi business during WWII.

Please de-construct this Snopes entry on Fanta, for our benefit:

http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/fanta.asp

Obviously, the first problem is that they have framed the entire connection between Fanta, Nazi Germany, and Coca Cola profits as a myth, under the single rumor that "a Nazi invented Fanta". That site disgusts me.

[orz]

And some folks scoffed at the idea of Coke this past Summer marketing a bucket-sized drink called "HUGO" on the side of city buses in Spanish.

Yeah because that was a really absurd leap of logic. This on the other hand is actually pretty sinister yet silly, and in no way supports your tenuous Hugo idea.

[AlicetheKurious]

Here in the Middle East, for a while there was a big production Coke commercial that had crowds of young people in a street demonstration, wearing kaffiyehs, led by the Egyptian actor who played the part of the terrorist recruiter in "Syriana" -- he was wearing a kaffiyeh as well, and with one fist in the air, he was leading the thousands of young people to...a Coca-Cola future.

I guess I must not have been the only tv watcher who was disgusted, because the ad didn't stay on the air very long...

[professorpan]

I can imagine the hacks at the creative agency hired by Pepsi to create this campaign cracking up reading the reactions here.

First, it's not an ARG by any stretch of the definition -- just a dumb web game to get people to drink a hideous beverage.

It's a mishmash of science fiction cliches, not anything sinister. I wonder how many of you who see this as some kind of dark machination ever play computer games, read books/comics, or watch movies. If you did, you'd realize how trite and formulaic the whole rebel-goes-against-evil-corporate-barons-in-gritty-futuristic-setting really is.

To succeed, you will need all of your cunning and strength. Each Chamber is blocked by a Guardian and ruled by a Master, epic creatures of adventure and deception. There are enemies to fight, lessons to learn, and tools to earn – like a 2-sided battle axe or a coral divining rod to point the way. And there are points to be scored. The more points you win, the greater your fame in the fellowship of Seekers everywhere.

Ooooh, sign me up, Dungeon Master!

The reflexive "OMG! This is so like stuff on RI that it must be an elite plot!" reaction/posting is getting silly. Why is it so hard to understand that dark conspiracies and all they entail -- fascistic and occult imagery, power elites, dystopian settings -- are part and parcel of the modern imagination? Or even, as this goofy PR campaign points out, hackneyed conventions?

[Hugh Manatee Wins]

The reflexive "OMG! This is so like stuff on RI that it must be an elite plot!" reaction/posting is getting silly.

I agree that the title of this thread is over-hyped and, unfortunately, that can discredit the idea that advertising agencies and psy-ops beaurocracies share the same audiences and methods and goals and even are inter-linked at the higher levels.

Fascism is the alliance of corporations and the State. This alliance has long been most visible in the nearly-indistinguishable media of propaganda and advertising.

The history of public relations and psy-ops perps is perfectly embodied in the person of Edward Bernays who helped sell WWI working for George Creel, bacon, cigarettes, and helped the CIA stage a coup in Guatemala, too.

The Public Relations Society of America has been including Pentagon public affairs people for a few years because commerce and State are both trying to overcome resistance to Americanized globalization, a form of economic warfare that has long relied on the foot-in-the-door missionaries like Disney and Coke.

So 8bitagent has a tendency to over-advertise his threads in the titles but the topic has documented historical precedent.

Plus there is enormous concern in the US government about children's minds because of Vietnam Syndrome II, 9/11 truth, CIA assassinations exposed online, Katrina, global warming, election fraud, etc.

This is why there's a kind of thought crime bill in the Senate called the 'Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Bill' that's meant to ward off a return of 'the sixties.'

So every little linguistic trick in the book to desensitize kids to 'conspiracy culture,' meaning military-intelligence psy-ops culture, is being used in the consumer landscape of entertainment and food.

Yes, there are industry copycats but that is how opinion leaders are used to obtain 'force magnification,' by getting followers. Like when Disney hypes "pirates" and everyone else piles on to take advantage of the industry leader and thereby dilutes the image of 'skull and bones' that for a brief window of time around the 2004 presidential campaign shined some light on that Yale fraternity both Kerry and W belong to.

The World Wrestling Federation toys included in 1998 a "New World Order" series with the blurb on the back of the package reading:
"Be part of the New World Order's world of excitement and mayhem..."

Right now the psy-ops specialists are advising the USG on how to 're-brand' USA, Inc. to deal with that war and torture public relations problem.

I almost expect them to try changing the name of this country the way cigarette-pusher Phillip Morris became 'Altria,' ..."the country formerly known as..."

on edit: spellin

[8bitagent]

I can imagine the hacks at the creative agency hired by Pepsi to create this campaign cracking up reading the reactions here.

First, it's not an ARG by any stretch of the definition -- just a dumb web game to get people to drink a hideous beverage.

It's a mishmash of science fiction cliches, not anything sinister. I wonder how many of you who see this as some kind of dark machination ever play computer games, read books/comics, or watch movies. If you did, you'd realize how trite and formulaic the whole rebel-goes-against-evil-corporate-barons-in-gritty-futuristic-setting really is.

To succeed, you will need all of your cunning and strength. Each Chamber is blocked by a Guardian and ruled by a Master, epic creatures of adventure and deception. There are enemies to fight, lessons to learn, and tools to earn – like a 2-sided battle axe or a coral divining rod to point the way. And there are points to be scored. The more points you win, the greater your fame in the fellowship of Seekers everywhere.

Ooooh, sign me up, Dungeon Master!

The reflexive "OMG! This is so like stuff on RI that it must be an elite plot!" reaction/posting is getting silly. Why is it so hard to understand that dark conspiracies and all they entail -- fascistic and occult imagery, power elites, dystopian settings -- are part and parcel of the modern imagination? Or even, as this goofy PR campaign points out, hackneyed conventions?

I never said or alluded to this as being some sort of indoctrination program.

It's just ironic Pepsi is creating this "resistance" pop game against an evil corporate fascistic tyranny when Pepsi itself as well as Coca Cola has been PART of this fascist corporate system that's resulted in many deaths and water supplies ruined worldwide.

Also, entertainment media loves using subculture memes as the thrust of it's underlying themes.

Revenge of the Sith, Children of Men, V For Vendetta:
All about governments who stage false flag terrorism on its people blamed on someone else, with a police state and wars created from this hideous pretext.

[professorpan]

Sorry if I misinterpreted, 8-bit, but you did ask:

More mining of "conspiracy culture" and classic themes to hawk a new product, or something else?

[FourthBase]

I can imagine the hacks at the creative agency hired by Pepsi to create this campaign cracking up reading the reactions here.

First, it's not an ARG by any stretch of the definition -- just a dumb web game to get people to drink a hideous beverage.

It's a mishmash of science fiction cliches, not anything sinister. I wonder how many of you who see this as some kind of dark machination ever play computer games, read books/comics, or watch movies. If you did, you'd realize how trite and formulaic the whole rebel-goes-against-evil-corporate-barons-in-gritty-futuristic-setting really is.

But pan...Isn't that kind of the point? That by oversaturating us with mostly lame fictitious conspiracy stories, that by making the very concept of fighting against grim futuristic conspiracies a trite formula: the earnestly paranoid perspective of a conspiracy theorist is discredited as unrealistic and even worse uncool buffoonery? Meanwhile, the non-paranoid just get more and more accustomed to the dark machinations as mundane facts of life?

The reflexive "OMG! This is so like stuff on RI that it must be an elite plot!" reaction/posting is getting silly. Why is it so hard to understand that dark conspiracies and all they entail -- fascistic and occult imagery, power elites, dystopian settings -- are part and parcel of the modern imagination? Or even, as this goofy PR campaign points out, hackneyed conventions?

It feels like you have a very large blind spot here.

[Hugh Manatee Wins]

PROF PAN HERE: BIG OOPS! Sorry -- I edited Hugh's response, instead of my posting my own.

My apologies to Hugh and everyone else following this thread. I hit the "edit" button instead of quote -- first time I've done that.

Just wanted to point it out before I got accused of censorship. Sorry, folks, I'll be more careful.

HMW here and I originally wrote-
History- Pan's 'blind spot' has been in evidence for over two years now as he repeatedly negates anything I write by claiming that:
>there's no need for psy-ops
>it couldn't be done
>finding it is just "confirmation bias"
>any that is admitted to is "old news"
>it's silly to imagine some "omnipotent over-arching conspiracy"
....and many other straw man minimizations of 100 year-old psy-ops culture.

"Ho hum, you kook." Don't get too bogged down by Pan's denials as I did.


HMW here coming in to clean up moderator Pan's accidental edit of my post-

Pan wrote the following as a response to me--

I've never denied PSYOPS, and you know that. I deny your allegations of PSYOPS where none exist (ad nauseum, easily found in the archives).

And quit mischaracterizing my arguments. Anyone who has followed our discussions knows you're being disingenuous with your list.

Pan, your "where none exist" has been a blanket denial of every instance I've pointed at.
And you have written several times 'why bother? Look around. Nobody cares.'

[populistindependent]

But pan...Isn't that kind of the point? That by oversaturating us with mostly lame fictitious conspiracy stories, that by making the very concept of fighting against grim futuristic conspiracies a trite formula: the earnestly paranoid perspective of a conspiracy theorist is discredited as unrealistic and even worse uncool buffoonery? Meanwhile, the non-paranoid just get more and more accustomed to the dark machinations as mundane facts of life?

Of course. Well said.

It is in the ridicule that most of the damage is done to social justice movements - not with tanks and troops. Commercial advertising dominates this ongoing effort at ridiculing social justice movements.

This idea that "hey maybe it is all innocent and they are just trying to make a buck selling a soft drink" denies the reality of the massive collaboration between corporations and the government, and the numerous connections between turning us into consuming idiots and the erosion of our power and freedom.

It always surprises me when people see commercialism as innocent - benign and ineffective and neutral. "Hey you are free to buy it or not, and they should be free to sell it to you."

Billions of dollars are spent on advertising. Those spending that kind of money on advertising certainly do not think it is benign or ineffective. Billions more are spent, not on selling, but on controlling and monopolizing markets - we are far from being "free to buy 'it' or not."

People are blind to the political messages in corporate commercials, the same way they are blind to the promotion of corporate interests in politics. In one arena, Pepsi is being sold versus Coke and in another Obama is being sold versus Clinton. This is all accepted by people as normal, as the only way things could ever be without them even being aware of that. It is assumed—the “free market” is the unspoken and deeply embraced and almost worshipped baseline for all human existence.

They think that “Pepsi” is the “choice” available for one set of “needs” and “Obama” for another, and so long as we have “choices” we are “free.” In both cases, what is really being sold to us is a particular way of looking at ourselves and our fellow beings. Otherwise, we would see that “Pepsi” and “Obama” are not anything we need or would even want. That is marketing (changing the buyers’ view of themselves) —not selling (changing the buyers view of the product) and the lines between marketing a product and marketing a candidate and marketing the interests of the wealthy and powerful have long since disappeared.

[professorpan]

But pan...Isn't that kind of the point? That by oversaturating us with mostly lame fictitious conspiracy stories, that by making the very concept of fighting against grim futuristic conspiracies a trite formula: the earnestly paranoid perspective of a conspiracy theorist is discredited as unrealistic and even worse uncool buffoonery? Meanwhile, the non-paranoid just get more and more accustomed to the dark machinations as mundane facts of life?

You might believe that, but I don't think the collective mind of writers, marketers, and producers is so well micromanaged or coordinated.

It feels like you have a very large blind spot here.

Again, that's okay if you believe that, but I see very little evidence that the entertainment media is managed at that level. (See the bazillion refutations of HMW's ideas for backup.)

[populistindependent]

Fascism is the alliance of corporations and the State. This alliance has long been most visible in the nearly-indistinguishable media of propaganda and advertising.

I find the resistance to your analyses to be odd and inexplicable. It is a constant source of amazement to me that people who are so good with words and who spend so much time with words - the intellectuals on the Internet boards - have such a low opinion of the power of words.

Of course words are the most powerful tools that the ruling class has, and of course the convergence of corporate power, militarism and state power - what was called fascism in Europe in the 30's - would start with a convergence and integration of the message.

People are coaxed into tyranny by words first and foremost, not muscled or tased into it. Of course. One of the most damaging aspects of the commercial propaganda is to ridicule and trivialize language and the power of communication, which cripples us. Even here, you will see someone post an anti-intellectual "what makes you think you are so smart" sneer once in a while and we often see people post variations on the "you can't do anything so just focus on changing yourself" dismissal of (there isn't even a word to use here that hasn't been hijacked - "collective action?" or "solidarity?" or "social justice movement?") - dismissals of the power of clear communications to bring people together and lead them to action. Yes, together. I guess the only time we are to consider doing anything together is if we are hired as extras for a commercial all standing on a hilltop waving a soft drink bottle, or when we are all sitting in the modern day version of the Coliseum cheering on our favorite gladiators.

"I'd like to teach the world to think..." Ooops am I promoting some sort of evil and nefarious agenda if I say that? Talk too much about our shared oppression, and the need for collective resistance, and the power of language in that struggle, and you will be red-baited and attacked. But we are to believe that the Pepsi commercial is completely innocent and benign and neutral?

Will Pepsi help remove belly-button lint?

[FourthBase]

>any that is admitted to is "old news"

Well, I think a good general rule of thumb is that if the corporate military intelligence elite was obsessing over something 20, 40, 60, 80 years ago...then assume they've never stopped obsessing over it, and assume that they've mastered and deployed whatever it is they were obsessing about. They have nearly unlimited funds, virtually unlimited technology (including the unthinkable) and maximum secrecy.

[FourthBase]

But pan...Isn't that kind of the point? That by oversaturating us with mostly lame fictitious conspiracy stories, that by making the very concept of fighting against grim futuristic conspiracies a trite formula: the earnestly paranoid perspective of a conspiracy theorist is discredited as unrealistic and even worse uncool buffoonery? Meanwhile, the non-paranoid just get more and more accustomed to the dark machinations as mundane facts of life?

You might believe that, but I don't think the collective mind of writers, marketers, and producers is so well micromanaged or coordinated.

It's not that large a pool of targets to control, either in a subtle indirect macro sense (planting seeds, spreading fires) or even on an intrusive micro scale (recruiting, assigning)...not with the scope and power of the people who would presumably be doing the coordinating. For example, and just as an example not to say this is how it goes down in the entertainment world, but how hard would it be for the richest most powerful elite imaginable to blackmail/recruit/bribe or otherwise own every single member of Congress?

It feels like you have a very large blind spot here.

Again, that's okay if you believe that, but I see very little evidence that the entertainment media is managed at that level. (See the bazillion refutations of HMW's ideas for backup.)

Trust me, I'm responsible for about 1/20th of those Hugh refutations. But overall, I definitely see some significant level of collusion/interference in the hive, beyond what you'd expect from a naturally evolving hive mind.

[professorpan]

It is a source of amazement to me that people who are so good worth words and spend so much time with words - the intellectuals on the Internet boards - have such a low opinion of the power of words.

As a writer, I'd be the last to deny the "power of words." But what amazes me is how people believe things that aren't based in evidence, but are simply theories concocted by free-form theorizing. I'm willing to entertain ideas that seem far-out or strange, but I rely on evidence and logic to guide my thinking. And I make no apology for that.