"Greed is good" became the bastardized catchphrase for everything bad about the 1980s -- power-suits, junk bonds and yuppies. While the '90s and '00s have learned to package the message in a sweeter form, Gordon Gekko's speech pretty much rings true for those decades too.
But things have changed. Or at least appear to have. Greed is out. Wall Street bankers are afraid to wear suits for fear of looking like Wall Street bankers. Teach for America is attracting a record number of college graduates and many unemployed people are volunteering at non-profits.
Who knows how long this trend of helping others over one's self will last but advertisers are sure taking note.
Post Shredded Wheat has launched an online campaign touting its
greatest asset: that it hasn't made any progress in more than 100 years. In the videos, fictitious president Frank Druffel tries
to un-motivate his staff. He starts off:
TimesThat intro launches into aare tough. We all know this ... when I look around me today I don't see
laziness, I don't see people resting on their laurels, I don't see
slackers. I see motivation. I see progress. This has got to stop.
Progress is a menace.
two-minute speech about how progress has lead to the destruction of
rain forests, caused global warming and lead to bailouts of the auto
industry. And the downfall of every
great society, such as the Mayans and Romans, was a result of trying to
make too much progress.
So, Shredded Wheat has put its finger on the pulse of what people are thinking about and already poked fun at it.
The
ads will eventually disappear into the YouTube ether. But if you hear people seriously talking about the benefits of no progress, you can tell them you've tasted progress -- in cereals like Coco-Puffs and Reese's Puff and Golden Grahams -- and while progress may be processed, it's also delicious!
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