Recession? Fiddlesticks!
By: Michele Pariza Wacek
Have you ever seen “A Daily Show” by Jon Stewart on Comedy Central? As you might imagine (the fact that it’s on Comedy Central is probably a giveaway) it’s a political satire show.
Anyway, a few weeks ago, Jon had a couple of segments dissecting the media coverage surrounding our presidential election. Namely, showing how the media is blowing things out of proportion. For instance: about a half dozen journalists reported Republican candidate Mitt Romney to have “exploded” at a fellow journalist. Jon showed the “explosion,” and as far as I could tell, Mitt didn’t even raise his voice.
(Bear with me, we’re getting to what this has to do with the recession shortly.) So why would the media report Mitt “exploding” when he didn’t? Well, it’s probably because “exploding” sells more air time then “spoke firmly.”
Think of it. Remember how many marketing professionals (myself included) trot out the whole “your marketing message is competing against more than 3,000 other messages daily?” Well, the media are right up there competing along with the rest of us. Not only are they competing against other media outlets but they’re also competing against people choosing to watch “Boston Legal,” play on MySpace, read “People” magazine and even pay attention to your marketing message. How on earth are they going to cut through all that clutter?
How do you think?
Case in point – Which headline would cause you to pick up a newspaper:
“Democratic candidates discuss the issues civilly”
or
“Democratic debate descends into an all-out brawl with candidates pulling hair, biting and throwing spit balls”
You get the picture.
So, what does all of this have to do with the recession? Well, again, you need to remember, the MEDIA WANT TO SELL NEWS. And reporting ‘”Well, we’re in a recession but it’s pretty mild and a lot of people are still making money” again sells less papers then “People are jumping off of buildings as they lose money left and right.”
You’re probably going to hear more and more about how bad the economy is the closer we get to the elections. And the unfortunate part of this is it could become a self fulfilling prophecy. Consider this:
“I had a bad month, it must be the recession.’
or
“I had a bad month, I better get out and do more marketing.”
Which is more empowering? Which one do you think will cause you to help your business pick up faster?
I know for myself and for many of my fellow entrepreneurs (either clients or colleagues) business is great. No recession in sight.
Now, I’m not telling you to put blinders on. Always be aware of what’s going on around you and what’s going on in your business so you can adjust as necessary. But, I’m also saying, while the media don’t necessarily lie, they are prone to exaggeration. And know that from what I’m seeing, the economy is STILL good and plenty of business owners are STILL making money.
Last 5 posts by Michele Pariza Wacek
- Are You Choosing to Succeed or Fail? - June 23rd, 2008
- More Biz Lessons from KISS - June 16th, 2008
- Setting goals — Your ticket to success - May 20th, 2008
- 5 Ways to Overcome Social Networking Overwhelm - May 9th, 2008
- What I learned from Gene Simmons - May 2nd, 2008
