Consumer brands have bombarded our subconscious – and won
Thus summarises the Financial Times newspaper in a discussion on a timely new book, Brandstorming, by Martin Lindstrom.
In many ways, this is what the Wall St protests are all about. With disturbing similarities to the social exhaustion caused by the 1929 financial collapse, and the Great Depression, people around the world are fed up combatting a double whammy: the continued perceived domination by big business and the empty rhetoric of their leaders.
If the protests remain in the social sphere – ie, do not spill over in to something more sinister – can they realise their targets? During the summer of 2011, Israeli consumers proved what can be achieved through non-violent mass action.
It all started with a nondescript posting on Facebook. Why Facebook? One reason is because Israel’s democracy is based on PR and thus has no constituencies. Politicians in Jerusalem do not have to listen to their voters.
In fact, members of Israel’s ruling elite have been “sidetracked” by two parallel issues. First, there is the persistent existential issue – Iranian nuclear threat, a dissolving peace treaty with Egypt, Hamas, et al. And, there has been a need to protect Israel’s economic achievements of recent years. For all the anger, the country will register growth of nearly 5% in 2011.
From June to August, the streets of most major cities in Israel were home to a wide array of protests, “tent towns”, musical artists performing for social change and more. In a country of 7.8m people, it can be estimated that over 1m made their voices known. And the result?
1) Last week, the inflation index showed a drop of 0.2%, partially caused by the fall in the prices of many staple products. The prime sellers of milk and canned products have all rushed to reduce prices, partially prompted by the calls for boycotts by large consumer groups. Similarly, newspapers have run stories, comparing prices of brand-for-brand products between America, Europe and in Israel. The reading makes you feel a fool, if you happen to be living in Tel Aviv.
As a side bar, Globes published a critique of Unilever Israel and its so-called price cuts. The newspaper found large evidence that the changes were illusionary in the main, possibly reflecting some of the conclusions of Martin Lindstrom.
2) The Israeli housing market has not been seriously perturbed by a global credit crisis. Prices continue to rise. To that end, the Trajtenberg committee has proposed a serious of measures, which will ensure that there will be a greater volume of cheaper housing available for young married couples. The governor of the Bank of Israel has added his voice of approval.
And what is this committee? Led by the chief economic advisor of the Prime Minister, it was set up to provide answers to the questions and demands posed by those same demonstrators.
3) It is a matter of debate (for now) if Trajtenberg has gone far enough. But it is definitely a start. The professor went further. He is providing an avenue to shift resources to different social groups in the economy.
That is not only to say that the budget of the defence sector will no longer be seen as a sacred cow. “Economic powerbrokers” – those who own mobile companies, finance houses and who knows what else through webs of shareholding arrangements – will have to sell off some of their assets.
It is too early to predict how the protests in America or wherever will turnout. Will they be beaten by the wintry weather of the East Coast or encouraged further by politicians seeking fuel for the election campaigns.
Either way, so far, they have been wrapped in strong overtones of racism and antisemitism. By comparison, the student leaders in the Holy Land had gone out of their way to seek support in minority communities, be they Muslim, Druse or ultra orthodox Jews.
And maybe that last point is the clue to what is really going on around Wall Street and how events could eventuate. Is it (just) the economy, stupid?