Borkowski Weekly Media Trends 02-12-22
Musk vs Apple | Ye's Twitter ban | Balenciaga drawn into Culture Wars | Spotify Wrapped
Good week for Musk, bad for big tech
In his continued quest to pull Twitter back from the very cliff edge he drove it to, the world's richest man went to war with one of the world's most valuable companies. At the start of the week, Elon Musk Tweeted that Apple had threatened to remove Twitter from the app store, while adding to speculation that Apple had pulled its advertising.
Both would have been catastrophic for Twitter, but would also have impacted Apple's reputation with a die-hard Musk army turning on the tech company.
When the world's richest people and companies have public arguments, there is a lot on the line. In this case, Musk was the clear winner, after Tim Cook personally stepped in, apologised and resolved the situation, clarifying that it was all a misunderstanding.
However, the App Store pain is just begging for Apple. Fellow big tech oligarch Mark Zuckerberg seized on the moment to criticise Apple's ‘monopoly’ - ironic, considering many see Meta as a monopoly on social media. But there’s history, Zuckerberg was stung by Apple when they released a feature which stops apps (including Facebook, Whatsapp and Insta) from tracking users. In doing so, Apple singlehandedly whipped billions from Meta's share price and ad revenue - which is heavily reliant on looted data.
Clouds are gathering on all the big tech horizons with both Apple and Meta subject to anti-trust investigations and coming under the spotlight for data harvesting and various other actions that seem to position them above the law.
This week’s winner, for the first time in a while, is Elon. He forced Apple to back down, secured world headlines with news that his company Neuralink hopes to implant a computer in a human brain in six months, and finally did the right thing in suspending Kayne West's Twitter account.
But as with all things Musk, he is one tweet away from undoing his good work…watch this space.
Ye’s Away (from Twitter)
Already embattled, Kanye West ('ye') has sunk to lows not thought possible after an appearance on InfoWars, spouting hate speech so vile that he made Alex Jones - the guy paying $1bn in damages to the victims of Sandy Hook - look like the reasonable one.
In a chilling interview between Alex Jones, Ye and holocaust denier Nick Fuentes, the rapper repeatedly praised the Nazis and declared his "love" for Hitler. Ye's anti-semitic tirades have taken him to a disturbing point of no return. And while Ye has previously found crevasses of support from his die-hard fans, it appears this interview might be too far. According to Pop Crave, Ye's fans are abandoning his subreddit, a former hive of support when he's made other disturbing public statements.
Following the interview, Elon Musk was forced to swallow his pride and boot Ye off Twitter, despite reinstating him to the platform two months ago as a crusader for free speech. Unfortunately, it wasn't just for the interview; Ye posted a series of erratic tweets, including a symbol combining a swastika and a Jewish star. Ye forced Musk's hand as, under Twitter's policies, he's "inciting violence".
As society boots Ye further towards its lunatic fringes, it's a massive concern that he might turn to even more radical sects for support. He's even proving too hot for Donald Trump following a recent dinner the ex-president hosted in his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida. The private dinner became a screaming match after Ye brought the unwanted Fuentes (the neo Nazi who joined him on InfoWars). This is a new ground even in our current dystopia; will ‘cancel culture’ finally claim a big (richly deserving) fish? Or is Ye too big to fail?
Think of the Children! Balenciaga outrage sucked into the Culture Wars
The fallout from the Balenciaga BDSM bear ad campaign continues. The brand has been awash with very well-deserved criticism from celebrities and fans alike, not only for the content of the shots but for their embarrassing response - suing the production company who worked on the campaign as part of a plea of ignorance seen by most as an abdication of responsibility.
A closer inspection of Twitter and Instagram reveals a not-so-unexpected development. The first cohort of critics of the campaign has switched from fashion insiders and those interested in the creative industries, to culture warriors led by a vanguard of right-leaning mummy bloggers. The criticisms are now almost exclusively wilful misinterpretation of the problems with the campaign, including outright accusations of promoting child pornography.
In the heat of the debate, even Kim Kardashian, a mother of four, who criticised the campaign but admittedly did not cease working with Balenciaga, was called ‘sick’. The campaign was clearly a mistake, but the ugly truth is that the current crop of ‘think of the children’ outrage too often represents the age-old homophobic equation of paedophilia with homosexuality, and takes on an ugly subtext when one considers that the fashion industry remains run mostly by gay men.
It’s also telling that this moral outrage coalesced over use of an inappropriate image, when fast fashion brands continue to amploy child labour and inhuman working conditions with impunity, and to the sound of crickets from the same demographic.
Once again, the nuanced argument gets lost in the culture wars, and the weight of issues remains proportionate to how close they are to our own backyard.
Spotify Wrapped: Marketing Power Overpowers Pitfalls…for now
Spotify’s ‘Wrapped’ function has become an eagerly awaited annual tradition. Music nerds worldwide love seeing their music taste neatly and share-ably summarised for them; whether as formal recognition of their devotion to a particular artist, proof of their early adoption of a future hit, or an illustration of the breadth and adventure of their journeys in music, Wrapped is widely seen as satisfying and harmless – with the added bonus of meme-ability.
It's also elegant vessel for an incredible amount of free advertising for the platform stuffed with subtle corporate messaging: we’re home to your favourite artists (no matter where you are in the world); marvel at our varieties of artists and genres (even the ones that sound made-up); our AI knows your music taste better than you do…we could go on.
But in the shark-infested waters of communications in 2022, where every tech giant is stalked by allegations of nefarious profiteering underscored by dystopian ideals, there are pitfalls. In this case the huge listening figures only serve to dwarf the paltry payments artists receive from Spotify for their work, while it’s also an example of big tech’s rapacious appetite for our data.
This isn’t reflective of most consumers’ thought process, however, and social media continues to be totally wrapped up in Spotify advertising.