Idealism

I'm seeing more of these "JFK for president" posters going up around Amsterdam. (Does anyone know their source?) The optimism and confidence of the quotations is surprisingly bracing. The call to draft a man dead more than 40 years implies a disgust with present-day alternatives. Both the optimism and the disgust are characteristic of idealism, for which Kennedy is a natural symbol. He isn't usually ranked among the greatest of US presidents, but his relatively high showing is attributable as much to the enduring appeal of his idealism as to his achievements in office.

Idealism is an incredibly powerful motivation that grows stronger as the general social environment grows more cynical. It's like the gas in a piston that gets compressed until it explodes. It also works the other way: as idealistic programs fail (and of course, some will) and the speakers of idealistic words are shown to be flawed (and of course, all are), cynicism swings back into fashion.

As Jerry Maguire said, we live in a cynical world. And judging from public opinion, we the people who work in advertising bear some responsibility for that. And yet, we're not an especially cynical bunch as far as I can tell. So I'm wondering, what does a marketing idealist believe? If you were asked to talk about your work here, what would you say?

Comments

[Camiel]

JFK appears to be a new magazine from the publisher of Jackie and Millionaire.

http://www.adformatie.nl/nieuws/nieuws2006-04-27.html

[Jeffre Jackson]

Thanks, Camiel.

If this is in fact a teaser campaign for JFK, the "400 page semiannual style bible for men", score one for the cynics.

[Camiel]

Who did you hope to be the source?

[Jeffre Jackson]

I'm not sure. I guess I thought that it might turn out to be an initiative like the "Be optimistic" campaign (http://www.optimistisch.nl) which was designed by a group of people in the Dutch commuunciations industry to get people to look at things in a more positive light, to see that everything isn't going downhill.

But I think what I hoped is that a global band of marketing savvy idealists was starting a movement to get people to think, not just happier thoughts, but bigger thoughts about what is possible.

[Emily]

Great -what shall we do first?

[Jeffre Jackson]

Let's start by talking about what our goal is. Let me think on that for a bit and write you back.

[Colman]

Jeffre,

We, and that means whoever wants to be involved (there are a few of us already), are going to start a new blog about pledges, challenges, and promises to ourselves. All of which are about making life a little, or a lot, better. We're calling it 'lets see what happens'. The blog will record the pledges (not sure this is the right word) and then follow-ups about how people are getting on, what's easy, what's not, what's fun; it might inspire a little, it might amuse a little, it might do neither.

We have no goal and are not always thinking big, but I think we are being optimistic.

The blog should be up by the end of this week, but you can see the details here:

http://lifeinthemiddle.typepad.co.uk/life_in_the_middle/2006/08/lets_see_what_h.html

Good bye,
Paul.

[Jeffre Jackson]

That sounds like a great idea Paul. I'll scoot over and join right now.
Plus it will give me a place to bring together all my torn little bits of paper saying things like "Did you go to the gym today?".
Lots of small acts can fill out a big thought better than a big act. Or something.

[Colman]

Good to have you with us Jeffre.

Hope you'll write a little about how you get on when the 'proper' blog is up and running (should be the end of the week).

[Katie Chatfield]

Thanks for the post Jeffre.

Is anyone else excited about groups of creative thinkers getting together to make a difference all over? Another small seed that has been planted is http://www.karmacredits.org.

[paul]

Hi,
it was indeed a campaign for JFK, the Magazine. A magazine for 'great men', men who like to be like JFK.
Created by Red Cell (www.redcell.nl)