Science Fiction as a Personality Disorder

[Lt. Trull]

I saw this billboard while traveling around town....It said.... Fluent in Klingon - try Reachemol....

I went to the Reachemol site... It's a drug to treat your deficient personality disorder...

which after I learned what the drug does got me pissed off.... since when is being fluent in klingon a personality disorder....
and If that can... how about anything at all... liking science fiction perhaps.... you need a drug to cure you of liking that kind of entertainment....

the site is http://www.reachemol.com

the page that has the advertising is (and you may have to wait for the klingon advertisement to show up): http://www.reachemol.com/results/

 

[JD]

You do realize that's be a joke, right?

 

[Greg Cox]

You do realize that's be a joke, right?

Probably, but it does seem to be at the expense of Star Trek fans.

 

[AvBaur]

You do realize that's be a joke, right?

Probably, but it does seem to be at the expense of Star Trek fans.

What do you mean, "probably?" It actually says so on the site: http://www.reachemol.com/results/ It's an experiment to prove the effectiveness of outdoor advertising.

There's really no reason to get upset about the Klingon joke.

 

[JoeZhang]

There were about ten different ads, if Star Trek fans are sitting in their mom's basement crying in their too tight custom made Kirk shirt, they weren't alone*.




* well they more than likely were alone but you know what I mean.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

There's really no reason to get upset about the Klingon joke.

Other than that it's intended to be observant about the marginal social personality of fans, that is...and it's only funny if there's truth in it. So whether one finds it funny or not depends partly on how one perceives fandom.

Here's something that's true, that the people marketing popular skiffy entertainment will not say - many of them may not admit it themselves, but they intuit it or they'd fail: successful marketing to geeks requires that you flatter our self-assessment as "bright" while asking no mental effort on our part beyond calculating what part of our disposable income we'll part with for what you're selling.

 

[ALF]

There's really no reason to get upset about the Klingon joke.

It's not "A Klingon Joke" until somebody bleeds.

 

[JarodRussell]

You do realize that's be a joke, right?

Probably, but it does seem to be at the expense of Star Trek fans.

Oh geez, maybe you should really consider Reachemol.

There's really no reason to get upset about the Klingon joke.

Other than that it's intended to be observant about the marginal social personality of fans, that is...and it's only funny if there's truth in it. So whether one finds it funny or not depends partly on how one perceives fandom.

If you observe Miscellaneous for a while you see that roughly 50% of the board members here are virgins suffering from anxiety, with at least one mental condition, and some physical abnormality on top of it.

 

[xortex]

We reach? They have a cure all for my fantasy world? and my sixth finger? It just made it worse.

 

[sojourner]

Reachemol
reach'em all

hehe. advertising experiment.

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

Most geeks would benefit more from a reacharound than Reachemol.

 

[JoeZhang]

Most geeks would benefit more from a reacharound than Reachemol.

Mr. Fantastic only has so many hours in the day!

 

[Temis the Vorta]

"Reach em all" was not a clue as to the true nature of that billboard? Brought to you by the makers of Dammitol!

There's really no reason to get upset about the Klingon joke.

Here's something that's true, that the people marketing popular skiffy entertainment will not say - many of them may not admit it themselves, but they intuit it or they'd fail: successful marketing to geeks requires that you flatter our self-assessment as "bright" while asking no mental effort on our part beyond calculating what part of our disposable income we'll part with for what you're selling.

That's true of marketing in general, which is ultimately based on the popular delusion people have that they are smart. Even NASCAR fans think they're smart. (I shouldn't be bigoted I guess, maybe they're smarter than Trekkies, I haven't checked into it.)

And no marketer I ever met has a problem admitting such things to themselves or even in public. Why be coy about the source of your livelihood? It's wonderful if I can pay my mortgage from a source as reliable as human folly. We could put up billboards reading YOU'RE A CHUMP FOR READING THIS and it would have no impact on the popular delusion that "advertising doesn't work on me." It sure as shit works on someone. You just need to look at a company's profits change before vs after X advertising campaign. That effect is not happening because of sunspots.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Most geeks would benefit more from a reacharound than Reachemol.

It would certainly reduce their isolation.

 

[Kegg]

This certainly is building on the popular misconception that most Trekkies have the language skills necessary to master Klingon.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

You do realize that's be a joke, right?

Probably, but it does seem to be at the expense of Star Trek fans.

Sigh. Just when I thought geek culture was making so much progress in the last decade.

 

[xortex]

The simplest things are the hardest for everybody.

 

[Klaus]

Most geeks would benefit more from a reacharound than Reachemol.

Mr. Fantastic only has so many hours in the day!

They'll have to seettle for pretending it's Mrs. Richards, as usual.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

This certainly is building on the popular misconception that most Trekkies have the language skills necessary to master Klingon.

Yeah, but who's going to know the difference other than another trekkie?

 

[Klaus]

Do you mean the Klingon Chef speaks mock Klingon?!?!?