Flash Mob

[davywavy]

The recent phenomenon of the Flash Mob has generated many hundreds of column inches in the papers at what is usually a slow news period, so editors must be thanking whatever dark gods newspaper editors pray to for this latest expression of ‘individual expression’.
The idea of a Flash mob is simple; it’s an expression of art, an anarchistic means of comical protest, the gathering of hundreds (or even thousands) of people in one place seemingly at random, co-ordinated by email and text messages. Social commentators have lined up to rattle on about how it’s a purely spontaneous movement from the grass roots – people expressing themselves as individuals – and so on, and so on.
The problem is, like most fads, it will get burned out and co-opted by society in very short order. Fringe society might have had an original idea, but how long before Nike start organising a Branded Flash Mob event? (Assuming they haven’t already.)
The basic idea will appeal to people with little better to do for a short while, and there will be derivations on the theme – nude flash mobs, fancy dress flash mobs, all female, all gay, and so on, but the idea will wither and die except where it is taken up by the mainstream both as a marketing opportunity and as a means of gathering & communication.
So in the future we can expect to see the flash methodology utilised by other groups – Flash Hunts (“Fx in th Spnny, brng hnds. Tlly ho!”) and flash fishing (“trt r rsng in strm”) for when country sports are persecuted out of existence, for example. Of course, the methodology has made such things nigh-impossible to police, meaning that the very people who are most opposed to such ideas have provided a method of perpetuating them.
My personal ambition would be to organise a Flash Nueremburg rally, this having the dual benefit of getting twice as many people as any other event (crowds of Black-shirted morons on the one hand, and crowds of protesters on the other) and a jolly good fight for me to watch to boot.

Comments

[ex-boog351.livejournal.com]

I wonder how the orginators of the idea will feel if / when their artistic concept is usurped by media conglomerates. Does it represent a failure on their part to go against the mainstream, or is the natural organic growth of a popular idea?

[raggedyman.livejournal.com]

natural growth imo. you can either look it as the dilution of the alternative into the main stream or the absorbtion (and there for changing through intergration) by the main stream.

[raggedyman.livejournal.com]

tbh its something that been around for quite a while in varying forms and for varying reasons. If memory serves right the Dada movement did similar things, as did the Yippies and various Discordian/Sub-Genius groups (especially using the internet). Different names, different reasons, same impact and most likly come up with without any real knoweldge of the previouse versions/attempts. This time it got picked up by the press (although thats not to say it didnt in the past) due to the link of it being a-political (ie nothing to do with the Terror on Terror) and run via the internet ( "and heres a whacky, human, usage of technology in a cleaver and ammusing manner"), i think the pointlessness and sheer terror creatable by having x000 people turn up and go shopping all at once also touches something bubbling in the current social subconciouse, possibly a quite reprise of the post No Logo/Fast Food Nation world

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Tenner says it's co-otped by one of the street savvy marketing agencies within a month.

[raggedyman.livejournal.com]

I so refuse to give you a tenner!

IME, Dave's bad at bets. ;-)

[applez.livejournal.com]

So a tenner, for a month duration, that's a fair bet. He'll probably owe you.

[susanofstohelit.livejournal.com]

but to my mind the concept isn't that new. what about organized protests for the benefit of the media?