the thought

April Thayer

My 17-year old son says we’re on the way out as a civilization – he’s referring mostly to the American version of civilization here. He may have a point.

We are a consumerist, self-indulgent society. That’s probably a pretty apt description of Rome before it fell.

If some is good, more is better, all is best. We’re obese, we’re overindulged and we’re far from happy. The child’s biggest complaint is that we have too many choices. He has too many choices, and he’s still just a child (a large one, but a child nonetheless.) Imagine if he could see the adult choices that are around the bend for him.

Barry Schwartz, in his article titled More Isn’t Always Better in the June 2006 Harvard Business Review, references “choice paralysis.” One would think that the axiom holds true: The more choices, the better. Turns out the opposite is true for a lot of people. The more choices we have, the less happy we are with the one we settle on. Sounds like a boom in buyer’s remorse is in the offing.

So what does this have to do with media? Too many choices is a great theme for the current mindset – too many programs on your computer, too many games on your Xbox, too many email newsletters to read, too much direct mail to read, too many shows to watch on television, too many radio stations, too many magazines, too many billboards, and on and on. There’s too much me-too advertising, as well. Is there anything there’s too little of?

There’s too little time, too little thoughtfulness, too little paucity, too little perspective, particularly big-picture perspective. There’s too little client-specific research, too little focus on competitive differentiation, too little patience.

Note: the things on the “too little” list lead to better decisions about the things on the “too big” list.

Is it getting warm in here? Who has the sheet music?