Archive for the ‘Spin’ Category

Manipulation – The Enemy of Small Minds

Posted by Brett Greene | Filed under Advertising, Beliefs, Influence, Marketing, Psychology, Spin | May 18, 2010 | Tags: manipulation, seth godin | View Comments

When I launched this blog it was an extension of my unrealistic interest in wiping the power of manipulative people off of the face of the Earth. (Hey, everyone needs a super power, right?) There’s no place for people who knowingly lie, manipulate and take advantage of others. (Except maybe careers as attorneys, politicians or ...Read more.

Why Your Company Should be Made of Windows Instead of Walls

Posted by Brett Greene | Filed under Spin | Mar 29, 2010 | View Comments

Transparency has become a buzzword as the social media revolution has disrupted the old ways of doing business. It is no longer acceptable to hide business activities behind walls by concealing company operations and keeping employees and customers apart. Under that obscure model, business leaders cannot expect to attain people who will like and trust ...Read more.

Americans Aren’t Sending a Message

Posted by Brett Greene | Filed under Influence, Spin | Jan 21, 2010 | Tags: americans, barack obama, bill clinton, corporate media, corporate power, corporatocracy, election, George Bush, massachusettes election, Media, politicians, Politics, sarah palin, scott brown, supreme court, ted kennedy | View Comments

Ted Kennedy’s Massachusetts senate seat is filled by conservative Republican Scott Brown so “Americans are sending a message.” In a word, No. Obama was elected after President Bush & Congress bankrupted the country with an unnecessary war, corporate welfare (which Clinton did too, by the way), and laws favoring the 1% of wealthiest Americans so ...Read more.

Weekend at Lucy’s

Posted by Brett Greene | Filed under Spin | Dec 12, 2009 | Tags: desi arnaz, i love lucy, industrial light and magic, Lucille Ball, Palm Springs, retreat, skywalker ranch, The Lucy House, vacation | View Comments

Yesterday at about noon my business partner, David Oxstein, said, “It’s raining in LA all weekend, do you want to go to Palm Springs and work out of The Lucy House instead? The Lucy House is where Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz would stay every weekend. After a week of shooting the I Love Lucy ...Read more.

What’s Your Influence Worth?

Posted by Brett Greene | Filed under Influence, Spin | Dec 8, 2009 | Tags: blogger, cirque du soliel, get paid to tweet, mom blogger, paid to blog, sell out | View Comments

There was a New York Times article a week or so ago profiling a guy who made $300 in a hour by tweeting about M&Ms. Since I waited to write this, I can’t find the article, but he has was averaging $3,000 a week doing promotions like this. So is it wrong to get paid ...Read more.

Magical Thinking Can Kill You: 2 Dead, 19 Hospitalized After Paying $9,933 for Seminar

Posted by Brett Greene | Filed under Beliefs, Influence, Media, Movies, Politics, Psychology, Religion, Spin | Oct 13, 2009 | Tags: back end marketing, back of the room marketing, bob tzu, death, duhism, get rich quick, get rich seminars, jack canfield, james arthur ray, law of attraction, magical thinking, michael beckwith, rhonda byrne, self help, self help book, self help guru, self help seminars, seminars, shelf help, sweat lodge, t harv eker, the secret | View Comments

Magical thinking can kill you. Now it’s been proven. After James Arthur Ray, self proclaimed ‘self help expert’ and one of the stars of the book and movie The Secret charged 70 participants $9,933 each to attend a sweat lodge event, two died, 19 went to the hospital and the ‘law of attraction‘ will never ...Read more.

The Trouble With Articles Against Social Media

Posted by Brett Greene | Filed under Influence, Media, Social Media, Spin | Aug 21, 2009 | Tags: facebook, london telegraph, myspace, opinions, social networking, twitter, twitter articles | View Comments

I just read a London Telegraph article mistitled “The Social Media Revolution is Going Nowhere.” It included statements like No wonder the company has yet to make any money, while Facebook, too, has yet to deliver on its financial potential. None of this is to say, of course, that the internet hasn’t had a profound ...Read more.