It used to be you had to wait over a decade or so to make fun of marketing videos put out by companies and corporations. Only then could you see them in proper context; observing their ridiculous nature and the failing content that they poorly delivered.

The other time issue was lack of viewing access. Now days these old VHS tapes from the 80’s and 90’s found in thrift stores and dumpsters have been digitally transferred to the web, re-appropriated by video artists and collectively mocked in their original forms online.

But no longer is there a need to rely on these old marketing vids, nor do you have to wait decades for current absurdity to be recognized. There is a plethora of material from modern day companies currently out there that are so abusrdly mundane and fitting to mockingly watch, that despite their attempts at appealing to the target demographics with flashy visuals and quirky edits, they still come off as flat out phony and manipulative.  On top of that we can now see how the promotion of  big box corporate consumption has contributed to the mentality that drove the U.S. into the bottomless sinkhole it’s currently spiraling down.

And of course there’s the let’s try to be avant garde angle pushed by some of the most corrupt conglomerations today.

But there’s more. Unique to this day and age, are not just the finished corporate product but now available online are actual marketing videos from and for the actual marketing agencies themselves.

Even worse, and even more telling of how this mentality get’s propagated, is the whole marketing racket itself. Not only are there horrible videos being made for corporations, but there now exists actual marketing videos for the actual marketing/ad agencies themselves.

These are equally as terrible and surprisingly readily available on YouTube by the marketing outfits own channel.  Adding in the wannabe experimental glitch editing and varying camera angles in an attempt to convey how cutting edgy they are, while offering performances where it’s actually hard to discern whether the piece is actually a joke – “mock job” – or a real video by the agency.   And as mentioned oftentimes these are much more telling as to how the mentality of trying to fool consumers into believing your lifestyle depends on “the brand” gets propagated to such an insane degree.

The key is branding. Branding the consumer, similar to branding cattle.

Now days they, ironically yet accurately, call the practice “branding”. And a slew of “branding agencies” celebrate this supposed ingenious form of marketing.

Given the marketing/ad agency environment, coupled with all the “marketing lingo” that these people LOVE using (“lifestyle segmentation, subliminal perception,etc.) it has to be assumed that someone came up with the branding term as simply a bad joke, yet everyone at that particular meeting were all unsure if they were supposed to laugh or not; to play it safe the ego sensitive minions decided it best not to chuckle at the seemingly obvious joke, and hence the branding banter got tossed around enough to actually be taken seriously.

This latest angle involves “marketing the experience”, and the lifestyle. In other words branding the consumer. The brand becomes you.

American Films, constant mockers and proliferators of the whole corporate whorehousing and marketing racket, write in regarding the whole branding angle:

Scary.
The BRAND IS YOU shit..
It’s all about streamlining yourself..
Pretty much doing away with complexity and HUMANNESS.
And putting on a facade..
We watched YOU ARE THE BRAND videos for an hour straight last night..
They’re all saying the same thing…
It’s like the gurus read the same book
And are now peddling speaking, coaching, consulting services on YouTube.
Total BULLSHIT.

LIKE ANY RACKET, PONZI, OR PYRAMID SCHEME, there becomes a “peak” where major money is being made, more and more con outfits are in operation, and the game seems to be going full throttle. And then, eventually, “the jig is up”. The fraud no longer works, too many people catch on to the deception, money ceases to be made.  Such is the case, and the likely fate for the branding racket. It simply cannot continue on to this utterly absurdist degree, and when future people look back, the amazement and befuddlement that it actually went on for as long as it did will be absolutely unbelievable.

But surprisingly, in a time where the “great recession” is now accepted, and “recovery” is promised, yet nowhere to be seen, these con outfits are still kicking it big time; going strong as perhaps last gasps for corporations to sizzle the seal, the brand, on as many consumers as possible.

What the fuck is wrong with us?
Why are we here?
Why do these kinds of videos exist?
It’s time to COLLAPSE the fucking corporate paradigm.

Clearly there’s a need to cut this shit. It has no future and the more people that can be peeled away from the branding iron, and the corporate dependence which the conglomerates seek, the more that can start localizing themselves towards situations which will be vital for future survival, and simply more fulfilling for existing as an actual human being.

On Feb. 19th, American Films in association with Collapse Theater will be premiering “Corporate Night” which will include live theater, performance, film and video art, tearing down the curtain of corporate marketing absurdity, revealing the buck naked peddlers of branding smut, while providing optimistic nuggets of hope that another mentality is definitely possible, and a hell of a lot more healthier.