I do enjoy  reading a “real book”, but the reality of my reading is that I usually pull out my Kindle or iPad. In fact, reading technology seems made just for me.  It’s not unusual for me to have several books going at one time. Although, I only read one fiction book at a time.

My Kindle has a book that I downloaded a few months ago that still has the “New” heading across it. That means that I have not opened since I downloaded it a few months back.  The title of the book is “I MAG INE  how creativity works”.

Recently, the publisher of the book recalled all hardcover copies. The book is no longer for sale. It is still up in the air as to what they are going to do, for purchasers of the online version like me.

The author of the book, Jonah Lehrer, recently resigned from the “New Yorker” magazine and proclaimed that “The lies are now over”. (Story here)

In multiple areas of the book, he simply made up stories and quotes to justify his thoughts on creativity. Dishonesty in the name of creativity. In a blog, I can’t do justice to the background story, but some of the fabrications included attributing quotes to Bob Dylan, on how he was inspired to write songs;  plagarizing and also attributing his research to false sources.

As a transition from a book to TV, I have been watching a program on AMC that is titled “The Pitch“. According to the viewing ratings, it appears that I might be one of the few in the nation, watching this program.

Each week, two agencies compete for some account by presenting their advertising pitch. At the end of the show, the account makes a phone call to tell one of the agencies that they now have their account.

The series is a behind-the-scenes look at how agencies bring an idea to the reality of a commercial. I am sure that a great deal of editing, by the producers of the show, keep the viewers from seeing too much reality.

I still have several episodes to watch.  The one that I just saw involved a pitch for a product called “Pop Chips”. The representatives of the company basically told the agencies that they wanted to have a video go viral, that basically would not cost anything; so that they could take over the snack world. It was unrealistic.  I thought “why not throw in the solution to world hunger, while you’re at it”.

The winning agency was picked, based on the idea that they would make the longest video, to be the most watched viral video ever. Basically making sound like someone can snap their fingers and make their video so interesting, that everyone wants to pass it to their friends.

The point of the story for this blog came at the end of the show. When the winning agency had pitched their idea, part of the promise was that everything had been done and it was ready to go. “Everything had been coded and the websites were ready”. After that agency was notified that they had been picked, the one member of the agency looked right in the camera and basically said, “what now?” It was an empty sales pitch.

That was several months ago. That idea blended into obscurity. I guess it was chip without pop.

I really don’t think I need to write an epilogue to this. Isn’t it great when someone tells you something and it is the truth.  I was going to tie this into a comparison to insurance company advertisements. Instead, I’ll let you decide whether their ads are “creative or not”.  Maybe that’s why Truth is stranger than fiction.

For pic o’ day I just wanted something real!!! Well, maybe it leans more creative.

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