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This story is brought to you by... A Jewel of a BookBy Rick Horowitz
Those recent rumblings that whatever it is, I'm against it? Ignore them. They're nothing but rumors (insults, really) -- boulders flung in the path of a reasonable man trying to make his way in this modern world. True, there's the occasional development here or there I might find somewhat objectionable. Sometimes I even say so. Most of the time, though, I hold my tongue and make my peace with it. (Whatever it is.) The over-commercialization of practically everything, for instance -- would I rather it were different? Would I prefer that our leisurewear didn't turn us into walking billboards, that our ballparks weren't named for the latest money-to-burn-at-least-until-the-bubble-bursts dot-com, that certain TV networks weren't giving serious consideration to running ads in the corners of our TV screens during the programs? You betcha. But I'm a reasonable man. I understand that these things will keep happening, with or without my approval. I take what solace I can in the knowledge that there are still some standards left out there, that some quaint and quirky slices of our mass-culture lives are, and will forever remain, free of commercial taint. I'm a fool. Fay Weldon is an author, a well-known and well-regarded British author of more than 20 novels. Her latest novel is something else again. Her latest novel is a paid advertisement for Bulgari, the Italian jeweler. I'm not talking figuratively here. I don't mean that the book happens to mention Bulgari, or happens, in the course of its action, to show the company in a favorable light. There's no "happens" about it. Bulgari paid Fay Weldon to write the book. Bulgari paid Fay Weldon to put Bulgari in the book. For an "undisclosed sum," The New York Times reported just the other day, Ms. Weldon agreed to mention Bulgari at least a dozen times. Then all on her own, she says, she chose to go even further. "I thought, this is absurd. Let's do it honorably -- without any pretense. The problem with product placement is when you try to do it without being noticed." No chance of that now: Ms. Weldon decided to build her whole book around Bulgari customers and Bulgari jewelry. And the book's title? "The Bulgari Connection." Subtle. The Bulgari-Weldon connection, says the Times, "is believed to be a first for the book industry." Marketing types, needless to say, are just thrilled at the whole concept of commissioned books -- "part of the next wave of product placement," says one exec, visions of dollar signs surely dancing in his head. And Ms. Weldon's agent is delighted, too, and hopes to make the magic happen again with other writers in his stable. "Does it matter," he asks, "if you are paid by a publisher or paid by an Italian jewelry firm?" The very question that occurred to me. I mean, the idea that some company with deep pockets can buy itself scads of good publicity by paying big bucks to an otherwise perfectly reputable writer -- Just thinking about it got me so hot under the collar that I needed a cool drink to calm me down -- a tall, frosty glass of Schlickpfister's All-Natural Root Beer. After all, the relationship between writers and readers is a special thing, almost as special as the rich, full-bodied flavor of Schlickpfister's, now available in one- and two-liter bottles. That's because when a writer puts words down on paper, there's a sacred tradition being renewed, just the way the Schlickpfister family's secret recipe has been passed from generation to generation, assuring me the same great root-beer experience my grandfather loved so much. What's the creative spirit really all about, I ask myself, if not bringing a uniquely personal vision to matters of popular taste. And let me tell you, friends, you'll never find a taste more popular than the crisp, refreshing taste of... Posted 9/6/01. Get
refreshed right here -- Rick serves up new stuff twice every week!
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Rick Horowitz
