My goal is to try and keep my personal politics out of this blog. I just don’t think it’s a good medium for me to discuss those kinds of issues. However, I think this is more of a current event than a political issue, so I figure I’d throw it out there. For the last few months we’ve all been inundated with news of the “Economic slowdown” or “The recession” or “The worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.” (Really? The last one seems a little bit sensationalized to me). In that time we’ve been told (mostly by press releases and CEOs on TV, and pundits, there are always the pundits) that companies are “trimming the fat.” But in the same reports where we’re hearing about record job losses, we’re listening to people decry “large” advertising budgets, marketing initiatives and other promotional activities as “wasteful”, this is in addition to the fear induced marketing budget cuts tough times already bring on. Now I’m not suggesting that marketing departments and firms shouldn’t be taking our fair share of the slow down, but when GM closes a plant it isn’t celebrated as a responsible business move by the public at large, it’s a catastrophe. People work in marketing. They work in media sales, and event planning. There are people behind advertising who depend on it to make a living just like those people working at that truck plant. Marketing efforts also drive sales, which is kinda the whole reason why they closed that GM plant, isn’t it? This isn’t to say that advertising and marketing are going to save the economy, but they aren’t really a wasteful, frivolous budget item either. What do you think? Are we getting a raw deal when it comes to the recession? Lets discuss in the comments.
