This one comes from the file entitled "The rich get richer."
It seems the swag, the freebies and the extras mostly go to the folks who don't need them.
Look at it this way. The big spenders at Las Vegas get free rooms.
The homeless mom with the hungry kid keeps looking for a safe doorway.
The millionaire actors get the free telephones, scarves, fragrances, jewelry, meals, dresses and limo rides as they prepare for their Academy Award night appearances.
The middle class suckers pay $140 for the opportunity to wave at George Clooney and faint if he actually waves back.
Now I learned just the other day that NFL footballer, Chad Ochocinco who isn't really that good or famous, but likes to keep building his brand, was paid $6,400 simply because he tweeted something about a brand name product he was using one day. Apparently Chad is on a retainer and gets paid for his product tweeting.
So you just know where this is going now, don't you?
Well, of course.
Instead of simply stating that he's checking his watch to see if he's late ... Chad and others who are already rich and somewhat famous, will mention the name of the watch company and get a few additional thousands of dollars. Instead of "hopping into their car to get to the meeting," they'll have to mention the vehicle by name, as well as the hotel or office complex where the meeting is to be held. Ka-ching!
It's not so different from those NASCAR drivers who drive product placements around oval tracks.
The once innocent Twitter messages become product placement advertisements for their users and those who follow them, the suckers.
We've seen it before, and we thought it was pretty blatant already, like the aforementioned NASCAR billboards and product/sponsor mentions during every post-race interview.
The professional golfers are going that route and become cartoonish characters for their equipment manufacturers, over and above the free clubs and golf balls they already receive for pumping the products.
Even the so-called amateurs, like the surfboarders and snow skiers are required to quickly doff the skis and hold them logo side up next to their cheek, so we can read the name of the ski company while they talk to the reporter and casually mention their sponsors three or four times during the course of the 40 second interview. It makes for dull baby, dull.
Now I hear the techno people have refined tattoos that will vibrate, tickle or burn to let the tattooed person know that they're wanted on their phones or other gadgets because there is an incoming update on what Kim Kardashian is wearing to the bar that night, or that the Maple Leafs actually scored a goal and you can watch it on replay, over and over if you want, pretending it's more than one.
And this isn't just fantasy. These tattoos are already out there and available for the people who need to be in touch with their own perverted sense of reality 24/7/365. Don't even have to wait for a ring tone or warning. If your skin tingles, you need to attach to your device.
So do ya know who was the first to incorporate these skin tech tattoos? Prostitution ring leaders in Spain had their girls tattooed with bar codes for obvious business reasons. Now that tops Ochocinco's little payoff game, doesn't it?
I don't think Steve Jobs had that in mind when he brought us into the bold new world order.
Ain't technology grand?
