Research Note: On Selling Out (The So-Called Fansumer) by Umair Haque
Quote from Umair Haque’s Research Note: On Selling Out (The So-Called Fansumer), posted on november 2007:
“The word consumer is nasty enough - with all the implications of helplessness and the assumption of stupidity it carries.
Fansumer, I think, is even worse - as this commenter points out.
It utterly - and completely - misses the point of connected consumption.
Consumers connect with each other - not with brands.
Which brings us to a set of deeper issues. There are foundational problems with the concepts execs are using to make sense of the next mediaconomy.
Here’s what happens when we think about “engagement”: we think consumers want to be fansumers, on the assumption that they wanna connect with brands. Here’s what happens when we think about “relevance”: we bombard consumers with ads on the assumption that it will be good for them.
Neither is true. There is, as I’ve pointed out before, an existence proof confirming this: if consumers loved brands, no one would have to advertise. If consumers loved ads, firms wouldn’t have to pay for them. If consumers trusted firms, brands wouldn’t exist.
What do those simple economic truths tell us?
There are no fansumers. There are people who love products. But very rarely will they want to be pimped out and put to work on Facebook’s (or anyone else’s) digital streetcorner.
And those who want to - well, those are exactly the guys you don’t want talking about you and your brands: classic adverse selection”.
Consumers connect with each other - not with brands
If consumers trusted firms, brands wouldn’t exist
(The hypothetical Fansumers) are exactly the guys you don’t want talking about you and your brands: classic adverse selection
Via Taylor Davidson.
