Living on Your Reputation or Why Hydrox ain’t Oreo’s

[Daveparts]

“Americans can always be counted upon to do the right thing, after they’ve tried everything else first,” Winston Churchill. Mostly that’s true others can see us as we truly are not as we idealistically see ourselves. After all Humpty Dumpty was considered a pretty tough egg until he took his famous fall after that his cracks became apparent his thin shell exposed his reputation was a matter of market speculation.”

The other day I was visiting in the hospital waiting room, which in this world is the closest thing to suspended animation known to man. With nothing to do but wait anxiously for news and observe this alternative universe I began noticing the clock on the wall. What an essential piece of equipment this is in a waiting room to educate us that that your century’s of waiting was but and hour and a half giving you time to investigate the details of this half speed parallel universe.

I began by perusing the selections of last years magazines and free religious text supplied by the Gideon’s the Mormons and individual churches in the area but always my eyes returned to the clock. My brain was insistent that I torture myself continually by knowing how long I had been there as if I were a lottery winner waiting for the bank to open. But I watched then I got up and paced and noticed the brand name on the clock Westclock my brain starving for information reverted to childhood memories of Westclock as being a quality brand name for it was once a prize on The Price is Right but underneath it was marked made in China.

So was this a Westclock like the ones Bob Barker had given away? Or was this a product of the Chin Wa Tool and light manufacturing company of Wal-mart fame? It’s easy enough to understand you operate a clock company in the Midwest with all the headaches of manufacturing marketing supply and payroll. Then one day a man comes in and explains, “I can make all your headaches go away and you will make more money to boot. We can manufacture those same clocks at a lower cost and all you have to do is write a check and wait for the boat to arrive.”

Why it’s a revelation your job just got ten times easier you place your order write the check then after laying off your workers and closing the plant you have nothing left to do but wait for your ship to come in. The big day arrives and you go down to the dock and as you strain to see if the ship is in the harbor you see on the dock all your competitors waiting there as well. This was not a sole revelation this prophecy had been given to all the only difference now between your clock and your competitors was the name stamped on its face. Your reputation and your legacy for quality had disappeared with your workers and plant now your reputation was dependant on someone else’s reputation. You managed the workers they manufactured the clocks and that built your reputation and now all you owned was a name.

A name with market recognition and brand identification but that’s like a log on the fire it generates a lot of heat at first but it will diminish and leave only ash. So many paragons of American industry have become just a mailing address Farm All Tractors made in China even down to Levi’s once the pinnacle of American branding is foreign made just like a host of other blue jeans and Levi’s market share has eroded. Ford came out with the latest generation of the Mustang they went back to the roots and built the new incarnation on it’s style and reputation from the past. Sales were so good GM countered by bringing back the Pontiac GTO.

But Pontiac didn’t bring back the GTO they imported a model from GM’s Australian affiliate Holden and repackaged a car called Manero and called it a GTO. Sales were less than hoped for and the project was cancelled. They didn’t learn the lesson that generations of children have tried to get there mothers to understand, Hydrox ain’t Oreo’s they might look the same but they’re not the same and even a child can tell the difference.I’m sure the Holden model was a fine car but the point was it wasn’t a GTO and the public saw that as well.

And GM’s reputation slides a little further down reduced to passing off Hydrox as Oreo’s. But branding and living off of name recognition has become so pervasive and infiltrated all aspects of our lives. The Bush administration sold themselves in the 2000 campaign as compassionate conservatives the concept is all most laughable were it not so tragic. Rather than Hydrox for Oreo’s switch they’re switching Hydrox with poker chips and expect us not to notice the difference. The Democrats are no better and no different invoking the ghosts of Roosevelt and Truman the still claim the superior mantle of Tweedle Dum as they swap Oreo’s for saltines and opine it’s better than poker chips ain’t it?

Dick Cheney was sent on a Middle East tour to try and bolster support among allies, which is like sending George Bush to recruit for the National Guard. But to their credit as Elisabeth Kuber Ross explained and Churchill forecast the administration has reached the stage of acceptance. Acceptance but it needs to work with the community of nations after it’s tried every thing else first. The invisible woman the empty shoes Secretary of State Condalesa Rice who has been in Russia trying to rebrand the European missile defense bases being set up in on thier borders shouldn’t be considered an hostile act.

The Russian accuse America of trying to restart the cold war and calculating Condi has to try and explain that missiles pointed at them are defensive, the gun I’ve got pointed at you isn’t a threat to you it’s a security to me. If only she could tell them the truth, “It’s a Boondoggle! Do you have a word in Russian for Boondoggle?” As obsolete as the embargo of Helium to Germany lest they rebuild Zeppelins America pushes it’s military bases to the Russian frontiers as Condi gives them her what me worry smile.

For the entire Bush administrations foreign policy could be described as a rebranding exercise. Aggressive is preemptive and prisoners of war are enemy combatants the removal and destruction of our basic rights and freedoms is label patriot. Like Westclock, Farm All, Levi’s this is no longer American this is ugliness wrapped up in the goodness of the American reputation built up over two hundred years. A good name with market recognition and brand identification but it’s like a log on the fire it generates a lot of heat at first but it will diminish and leave only ash.

[lynnertic]

1. yet another great story by daveparts!

I love your narrative style. I'm sorry that you have to wait in a hospital for someone. I hope they are okay.

[arendt]

2. The only brand these guys have to sell is "the mark of the beast"

"this is no longer American this is ugliness wrapped up in the goodness of the American reputation built up over two hundred years."

Well said.

I weep for my country. Your writing is at just the right level to connect with people. Everyone gets Oreos.

Thanks for a good post.

arendt