Future Words in Advertising

Walking by a Rite Aid this morning I read a sign in the window: “You’re going to love genetic drugs because they’re cheaper but just as effective.” It stopped me for a moment and I had to look again. i had misread the sign. What is actually said was “You’re going to love generic drugs because they’re cheaper but just as effective.” I felt relief from my sudden sense of futureshock and the disbelief that advertising was already co-opting the idea of genetics. And that gave me pause for thought: what does it really mean when a word generally heard in science (robot, genetics, fusion) is suddenly found to be in the lexicon of advertising? What about cultural words (like flashmob, LOL, podcast, spam rage) Play the game for yourself: think of a word you’ve never seen in advertising. Once you start playing you begin to see a negative picture of advertising that is a curious thoughtspace — that part of your mind and society that advertising has yet to comandeer.