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By BILL THOMPSON
So it has come to this.
There are some folks who have the perception that some folks are so apathetic about their lives that the apathy is the main concern. Is this a great society or what?
The other day I was driving down a highway and saw a billboard that read “Fight Mannequinism.org. Volunteer. Vote. Stay Informed.” I had no idea what it was about so I asked several people if they had seen the sign and what they thought it meant. Nobody knew.
I began to speculate. Who would want to fight a mannequin? What harm could a mannequin have done to anybody? After all, mannequins don’t do anything. They just stand around (or lie around as the case may be) while people dress them up or use them for other decorative purposes.
Aha! What clever people there are at the National Ad Council to make us think enough about an ad to come up with the purpose for putting the ad there without being blatant about it.
Having been involved in some way with public relations activities and promotions for most of my life, I am a strong believer in advertising of all kinds. This ad was a classic example of how advertising is supposed to work: Get people’s attention to the extent they will want more information.
So I took the next step and looked up “mannequinism.org” on the Internet. Sure enough, there was a most interesting site that took a satirical approach to societal apathy.
I found out that manneqinism is the result of apathy. It’s what happens after a while if we don’t get involved with anything, if we let our daily routine overwhelm us, or if we get to the point where we don’t care what is happening around us.
When I first started reading the web site I thought, “These folks have run out of something to do.” But the more I read it, the more I realized they were right.
In my community, there is always something going on…unless you ask somebody. “Man, there is nothing to do around here” is the usual attitude we give when new folks come to town looking for something to get involved in. So the questionnaire the website presented helps you determine if you have finally developed mannequinism ... Questions like, “Are you registered to vote?” and “Did you vote in the last election?”
It posed questions like, “Have you signed a petition in the last six months?” “Volunteered for a cause of any kind?” “Made a donation of money or anything else to a group behind an issue or cause?” “Do you read, listen to or watch the news?” “Have you talked to anybody recently about current events?”
At first it seemed to be aimed at political involvement, but as I read on, it was much more than that.
So far as I could tell, I am not, at this point, personally afflicted with mannequinism. But I do believe it is rampant is many communities. There have been numerous times when I have been associated with community activities that were talked about on the local radio, printed in the newspaper and seen on television. When I talked about the activity after it is over, someone will inevitably say, “Well, I didn’t know a thing about it. Why didn’t somebody tell me?”
I have to congratulate the Ad Council on this particular campaign. That old childhood “made you look” technique works and the use of satire on the website is a great way to get folks to take seriously an ailment of our society which we may be too apathetic to care about.
I guess this is the first time I’ve heard the answer to the old question, “Who cares about apathy?”
The Ad Council does.