I'm asking on behalf of a friend who's asking on behalf of another friend of his, so I can't vouch for the accuracy of the description. What I know is this: It's a short story, and the guy who was asking for this is convinced it's an Asimov (I'm not that sure myself). It describes a future in which advertising becomes so prevalent there are ads on practically everything - toilet paper, windows, bedsheets, etc. The story tells of a man who is fed up with all this and discovers a black market for ad- free products.
On Nov 4, 3:49 pm, Michael Grosberg <grosberg.mich...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm asking on behalf of a friend who's asking on behalf of another > friend of his, so I can't vouch for the accuracy of the description. > What I know is this: > It's a short story, and the guy who was asking for this is convinced > it's an Asimov (I'm not that sure myself). It describes a future in > which advertising becomes so prevalent there are ads on practically > everything - toilet paper, windows, bedsheets, etc. The story tells of > a man who is fed up with all this and discovers a black market for ad- > free products.
> Well, group mind, any ideas?
> thanks in advance! > --Michael G
Ads-on-everything was a fairly common story-background bit in the '50s. But the black market for ad-free products is, I think, unique. It's familiar. And it could be Asimov. But what Asimov story have I read only once?
Michael Grosberg wrote: > I'm asking on behalf of a friend who's asking on behalf of another > friend of his, so I can't vouch for the accuracy of the description. > What I know is this: > It's a short story, and the guy who was asking for this is convinced > it's an Asimov (I'm not that sure myself). It describes a future in > which advertising becomes so prevalent there are ads on practically > everything - toilet paper, windows, bedsheets, etc. The story tells > of > a man who is fed up with all this and discovers a black market for > ad- > free products.
On Nov 4, 4:49 pm, Michael Grosberg <grosberg.mich...@gmail.com> wrote:
> It's a short story, and the guy who was asking for this is convinced > it's an Asimov (I'm not that sure myself). It describes a future in > which advertising becomes so prevalent there are ads on practically > everything - toilet paper, windows, bedsheets, etc. The story tells of > a man who is fed up with all this and discovers a black market for ad- > free products.
And the "black market" is actually a government organization whose mandate is to find the anti-advertising misfits and turn them into happy corporate consumers..?
> I'm asking on behalf of a friend who's asking on behalf of another > friend of his, so I can't vouch for the accuracy of the description. > What I know is this: > It's a short story, and the guy who was asking for this is convinced > it's an Asimov (I'm not that sure myself). It describes a future in > which advertising becomes so prevalent there are ads on practically > everything - toilet paper, windows, bedsheets, etc. The story tells of > a man who is fed up with all this and discovers a black market for ad- > free products.
> Well, group mind, any ideas?
> thanks in advance! > --Michael G
Did this have description of the soap they sell? Just a bar of soap wrapped in a peice of paper, and nothing added?
Cece <ceceliaarmstr...@yahoo.com> writes: >On Nov 4, 3:49=A0pm, Michael Grosberg <grosberg.mich...@gmail.com> >wrote: >> I'm asking on behalf of a friend who's asking on behalf of another >> friend of his, so I can't vouch for the accuracy of the description. >> What I know is this: >> It's a short story, and the guy who was asking for this is convinced >> it's an Asimov (I'm not that sure myself). It describes a future in >> which advertising becomes so prevalent there are ads on practically >> everything - toilet paper, windows, bedsheets, etc. The story tells of >> a man who is fed up with all this and discovers a black market for ad- >> free products. >Ads-on-everything was a fairly common story-background bit in the >'50s. But the black market for ad-free products is, I think, unique. >It's familiar. And it could be Asimov. But what Asimov story have I >read only once?
From the subject matter I would have bet on Frederik Pohl and/or Cyril Kornbluth, but I don't have any memories of an actual story which this matches. Of course, science fiction did in the 50s publish about 113,756,630,002,038,428,993,143,996,720,318,883,284,679,238,226,001,431 stories about the perils of Madison Avenue, nearly three of which are still readable today.
-- Joseph Nebus --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---
> From the subject matter I would have bet on Frederik Pohl and/or > Cyril Kornbluth, but I don't have any memories of an actual story > which this matches. Of course, science fiction did in the 50s > publish about > 113,756,630,002,038,428,993,143,996,720,318,883,284,679,238,226,001,431 > stories about the perils of Madison Avenue, nearly three of which > are > still readable today.
> From the subject matter I would have bet on Frederik Pohl and/or >Cyril Kornbluth, but I don't have any memories of an actual story which >this matches. Of course, science fiction did in the 50s publish about >113,756,630,002,038,428,993,143,996,720,318,883,284,679,238,226,001,431 >stories about the perils of Madison Avenue, nearly three of which are >still readable today.
Um, _The Space Merchants_, "A Bad Day for Sales" and ....?
Ted -- ------ columbiaclosings.com What's not in Columbia anymore..
> > From the subject matter I would have bet on Frederik Pohl and/or > >Cyril Kornbluth, but I don't have any memories of an actual story which > >this matches. Of course, science fiction did in the 50s publish about > >113,756,630,002,038,428,993,143,996,720,318,883,284,679,238,226,001,431 > >stories about the perils of Madison Avenue, nearly three of which are > >still readable today.
> Um, _The Space Merchants_, "A Bad Day for Sales" and ....?
> Ted > -- > ------ > columbiaclosings.com > What's not in Columbia anymore..
The Tunnel under the World, I suppose.
My own guesses were the aforementioned authors plus Philip K. Dick and Alfred Bester.
John wrote: > "Michael Grosberg" <grosberg.mich...@gmail.com> wrote in message > news:1476b0e7-99e2-4064-bd8c-b90e402a76b9@l13g2000yqb.googlegroups.com... >> I'm asking on behalf of a friend who's asking on behalf of another >> friend of his, so I can't vouch for the accuracy of the description. >> What I know is this: >> It's a short story, and the guy who was asking for this is convinced >> it's an Asimov (I'm not that sure myself). It describes a future in >> which advertising becomes so prevalent there are ads on practically >> everything - toilet paper, windows, bedsheets, etc. The story tells of >> a man who is fed up with all this and discovers a black market for ad- >> free products.
>> Well, group mind, any ideas?
>> thanks in advance! >> --Michael G
> Did this have description of the soap they sell? Just a bar of soap wrapped > in a peice of paper, and nothing added?
I think that soap story was in one of the "Isaac Asimov Presents Great SF Stories" book, which might account for Asimov association. I cannot recollect title or author though.
>> From the subject matter I would have bet on Frederik Pohl and/or >>Cyril Kornbluth, but I don't have any memories of an actual story which >>this matches. Of course, science fiction did in the 50s publish about >>113,756,630,002,038,428,993,143,996,720,318,883,284,679,238,226,001,431 >>stories about the perils of Madison Avenue, nearly three of which are >>still readable today.
>Um, _The Space Merchants_, "A Bad Day for Sales" and ....?
Pohl, "The Tunnel Under the World."
-- Dorothy J. Heydt Vallejo, California djheydt at hotmail dot com Should you wish to email me, you'd better use the hotmail edress. Kithrup is getting too damn much spam, even with the sysop's filters.
> In article <nebusj.1257392...@vcmr-86.server.rpi.edu>, > Joseph Nebus <nebu...@-rpi-.edu> wrote:
>> From the subject matter I would have bet on Frederik Pohl and/or >>Cyril Kornbluth, but I don't have any memories of an actual story which >>this matches. Of course, science fiction did in the 50s publish about >>113,756,630,002,038,428,993,143,996,720,318,883,284,679,238,226,001,431 >>stories about the perils of Madison Avenue, nearly three of which are >>still readable today.
> Um, _The Space Merchants_, "A Bad Day for Sales" and ....?
> John wrote: > > "Michael Grosberg" <grosberg.mich...@gmail.com> wrote in message > >news:1476b0e7-99e2-4064-bd8c-b90e402a76b9@l13g2000yqb.googlegroups.com... > >> I'm asking on behalf of a friend who's asking on behalf of another > >> friend of his, so I can't vouch for the accuracy of the description. > >> What I know is this: > >> It's a short story, and the guy who was asking for this is convinced > >> it's an Asimov (I'm not that sure myself). It describes a future in > >> which advertising becomes so prevalent there are ads on practically > >> everything - toilet paper, windows, bedsheets, etc. The story tells of > >> a man who is fed up with all this and discovers a black market for ad- > >> free products.
> >> Well, group mind, any ideas?
> >> thanks in advance! > >> --Michael G
> > Did this have description of the soap they sell? Just a bar of soap wrapped > > in a peice of paper, and nothing added?
> I think that soap story was in one of the "Isaac Asimov Presents Great > SF Stories" book, which might account for Asimov association. I cannot > recollect title or author though.
I'm told that yes, there was a bar of soap and this is probably it.
According to ISFDB the Asiomov-edited anthologies are named: _Isaac Asimov Presents The Golden Years of Science Fiction_.
There are six volumes, but according to the list only three of them (volumes I, III, and VI) were actually published wiht the "Isaac Asimov Presents" line and the other three were named simply _The Golden Years of Science Fiction_.
That's as far as I can go without a copy of the anthology.
>> > Did this have description of the soap they sell? Just a bar of soap wrapped >> > in a peice of paper, and nothing added?
>> I think that soap story was in one of the "Isaac Asimov Presents Great >> SF Stories" book, which might account for Asimov association. I cannot >> recollect title or author though.
>I'm told that yes, there was a bar of soap and this is probably it.
Mack Reynolds wrote a story that might be this. What was special about the soap was that nothing had been spent on advertising, so it could be sold cheaper. Other than that it was made in the same factories as all of the other competing brands of soap. One element in the story was the idea that the same factory turned out essentially the same soap for all of the different brands, with the only difference between them being the advertising.
-- Please reply to: | "Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is pciszek at panix dot com | indistinguishable from malice." Autoreply is disabled |
In article <hcv3o8$gu...@reader1.panix.com>, nos...@nospam.com (Paul Ciszek) writes: >In article <40ecf2f4-7a0a-4a2c-b5fa-48fd8ff3c...@r24g2000yqd.googlegroups.com>, Michael Grosberg <grosberg.mich...@gmail.com> wrote: >>On Nov 5, 2:31 pm, tkmail...@yahoo.co.uk wrote: >>> I think that soap story was in one of the "Isaac Asimov Presents Great >>> SF Stories" book, which might account for Asimov association. I cannot >>> recollect title or author though.
>>I'm told that yes, there was a bar of soap and this is probably it.
>Mack Reynolds wrote a story that might be this. What was special about >the soap was that nothing had been spent on advertising, so it could be >sold cheaper. Other than that it was made in the same factories as >all of the other competing brands of soap. One element in the story >was the idea that the same factory turned out essentially the same soap >for all of the different brands, with the only difference between them >being the advertising.
Isn't that pretty common in the real world today?
-- Michael F. Stemper #include <Standard_Disclaimer> 91.2% of all statistics are made up by the person quoting them.
> In article <40ecf2f4-7a0a-4a2c-b5fa-48fd8ff3c...@r24g2000yqd.googlegroups.com>, > Michael Grosberg <grosberg.mich...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >On Nov 5, 2:31 pm, tkmail...@yahoo.co.uk wrote:
> >> > Did this have description of the soap they sell? Just a bar of soap wrapped > >> > in a peice of paper, and nothing added?
> >> I think that soap story was in one of the "Isaac Asimov Presents Great > >> SF Stories" book, which might account for Asimov association. I cannot > >> recollect title or author though.
> >I'm told that yes, there was a bar of soap and this is probably it.
> Mack Reynolds wrote a story that might be this. What was special about > the soap was that nothing had been spent on advertising, so it could be > sold cheaper. Other than that it was made in the same factories as > all of the other competing brands of soap. One element in the story > was the idea that the same factory turned out essentially the same soap > for all of the different brands, with the only difference between them > being the advertising.
On Nov 4, 3:49 pm, Michael Grosberg <grosberg.mich...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm asking on behalf of a friend who's asking on behalf of another > friend of his, so I can't vouch for the accuracy of the description. > What I know is this: > It's a short story, and the guy who was asking for this is convinced > it's an Asimov (I'm not that sure myself). It describes a future in > which advertising becomes so prevalent there are ads on practically > everything - toilet paper, windows, bedsheets, etc. The story tells of > a man who is fed up with all this and discovers a black market for ad- > free products.
> Well, group mind, any ideas?
None of us remembers the story. It probably wasn't advertised enough. :-)
> In article > <40ecf2f4-7a0a-4a2c-b5fa-48fd8ff3c...@r24g2000yqd.googlegroups.com>, > Michael Grosberg <grosberg.mich...@gmail.com> wrote: >> On Nov 5, 2:31 pm, tkmail...@yahoo.co.uk wrote:
>>>> Did this have description of the soap they sell? Just a bar of soap >>>> wrapped >>>> in a peice of paper, and nothing added?
>>> I think that soap story was in one of the "Isaac Asimov Presents Great >>> SF Stories" book, which might account for Asimov association. I cannot >>> recollect title or author though.
>> I'm told that yes, there was a bar of soap and this is probably it.
> Mack Reynolds wrote a story that might be this. What was special about > the soap was that nothing had been spent on advertising, so it could be > sold cheaper. Other than that it was made in the same factories as > all of the other competing brands of soap. One element in the story > was the idea that the same factory turned out essentially the same soap > for all of the different brands, with the only difference between them > being the advertising.
That's petrol in Jamaica (and probably a lot of other places). In Jamaica, all petrol is produced by one (government-owned) refinery and sold to various retailers on a first-come first-served basis. Pricing was based on three factors:
1 what the refinery charged 2 what the actual gas station felt they could get away with 3 what the retail company (Shell, Texaco, Esso, etc) (yes, Esso. Not Exxon.) could charge, which was largely based on their advertising budget.
The government owned a (very few) stations. As the government did not advertise, their prices were usually the lowest. However, their service typically stank (they were, after all, run by (un)civil servants...) so in many cases people would pay higher prices so as to get better service. When I was living in Kingston there were Texaco, Shell, Esso, and government stations within about a half mile of each other. The Texaco station was the most expensive... and gave the best service. The government station was the cheapest... but usually had the fewest customers. And management never could figure out why people would drive right past them to pay more for the same gas at the Texaco station.
On Nov 4, 5:55 pm, Joel Polowin <jpolo...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> On Nov 4, 4:49 pm, Michael Grosberg <grosberg.mich...@gmail.com> > wrote:
> > It's a short story, and the guy who was asking for this is convinced > > it's an Asimov (I'm not that sure myself). It describes a future in > > which advertising becomes so prevalent there are ads on practically > > everything - toilet paper, windows, bedsheets, etc. The story tells of > > a man who is fed up with all this and discovers a black market for ad- > > free products.
> And the "black market" is actually a government organization whose > mandate is to find the anti-advertising misfits and turn them into > happy corporate consumers..?
I'm trying to dredge up details of the story I'm thinking of. The story ends with the protagonist's contact reporting in to his/her superiors: "I have another client." / "Excellent. Please begin treatment at once, Dr. [X]."
And... something about ads in the newspaper printed in yellow between lines or columns of black text, as subliminal messages?
Michael Stemper wrote: > In article <hcv3o8$gu...@reader1.panix.com>, nos...@nospam.com (Paul > Ciszek) writes: > > Mack Reynolds wrote a story that might be this. What was special > > about the soap was that nothing had been spent on advertising, so > > it could be sold cheaper. Other than that it was made in the same > > factories as all of the other competing brands of soap. One > > element in the story was the idea that the same factory turned out > > essentially the same soap for all of the different brands, with the > > only difference between them being the advertising.
> Isn't that pretty common in the real world today?
For some stuff. I had a friend who worked for a time at a Havoline "canning" facility. Occasionally they'd shut down the line, change out the cans[1], and start running private label oil brands. He even told me which ones were identical.
1. There's one for that other thread, motor oil in cans where you used the spout to punch a hole in the top.
Brian
-- Day 276 of the "no grouchy usenet posts" project
On 5 Nov 2009 15:07:04 GMT, na...@math.ohio-state.edu (Anthony Nance) wrote:
>Ted Nolan <tednolan> <t...@loft.tnolan.com> wrote: >> In article <nebusj.1257392...@vcmr-86.server.rpi.edu>, >> Joseph Nebus <nebu...@-rpi-.edu> wrote:
>>> From the subject matter I would have bet on Frederik Pohl and/or >>>Cyril Kornbluth, but I don't have any memories of an actual story which >>>this matches. Of course, science fiction did in the 50s publish about >>>113,756,630,002,038,428,993,143,996,720,318,883,284,679,238,226,001,431 >>>stories about the perils of Madison Avenue, nearly three of which are >>>still readable today.
>> Um, _The Space Merchants_, "A Bad Day for Sales" and ....?
On Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:26:29 +0000, Default User wrote: > Michael Stemper wrote:
>> In article <hcv3o8$gu...@reader1.panix.com>, nos...@nospam.com (Paul >> Ciszek) writes:
>> > Mack Reynolds wrote a story that might be this. What was special >> > about the soap was that nothing had been spent on advertising, so it >> > could be sold cheaper. Other than that it was made in the same >> > factories as all of the other competing brands of soap. One element >> > in the story was the idea that the same factory turned out >> > essentially the same soap for all of the different brands, with the >> > only difference between them being the advertising.
>> Isn't that pretty common in the real world today?
> For some stuff. I had a friend who worked for a time at a Havoline > "canning" facility. Occasionally they'd shut down the line, change out > the cans[1], and start running private label oil brands. He even told me > which ones were identical.
> 1. There's one for that other thread, motor oil in cans where you used > the spout to punch a hole in the top.
> Brian
That practice (one factory turning out both branded and private-label merchandise) is common in the food industry. This is why, when a recall is issued for tainted food, you commonly see a long list of affected brands.
-- John F. Eldredge -- j...@jfeldredge.com "Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria
Michael Grosberg wrote: > On Nov 5, 2:31 pm, tkmail...@yahoo.co.uk wrote: >> John wrote: >>> "Michael Grosberg" <grosberg.mich...@gmail.com> wrote in message >>> news:1476b0e7-99e2-4064-bd8c-b90e402a76b9@l13g2000yqb.googlegroups.com... >>>> I'm asking on behalf of a friend who's asking on behalf of another >>>> friend of his, so I can't vouch for the accuracy of the description. >>>> What I know is this: >>>> It's a short story, and the guy who was asking for this is convinced >>>> it's an Asimov (I'm not that sure myself). It describes a future in >>>> which advertising becomes so prevalent there are ads on practically >>>> everything - toilet paper, windows, bedsheets, etc. The story tells of >>>> a man who is fed up with all this and discovers a black market for ad- >>>> free products. >>>> Well, group mind, any ideas? >>>> thanks in advance! >>>> --Michael G >>> Did this have description of the soap they sell? Just a bar of soap wrapped >>> in a peice of paper, and nothing added? >> I think that soap story was in one of the "Isaac Asimov Presents Great >> SF Stories" book, which might account for Asimov association. I cannot >> recollect title or author though.
> I'm told that yes, there was a bar of soap and this is probably it.
> According to ISFDB the Asiomov-edited anthologies are named: > _Isaac Asimov Presents The Golden Years of Science Fiction_.
> There are six volumes, but according to the list only three of them > (volumes I, III, and VI) were actually published wiht the "Isaac > Asimov Presents" line and the other three were named simply _The > Golden Years of Science Fiction_.
> That's as far as I can go without a copy of the anthology.
I have a feeling I might have confused Reynolds' "Subversive" you link below with something from this series - I've been nibbling through the series last 6 months & should have read Reynolds story during this period.
I recall a note somewhere in ISFDB that said "Isaac Asimov Presents" prefix is cut from their listing because <something>.
"The Golden Years of Science Fiction" is, I think, related - in that 2 volumes of "Isaac Asimov Presents" goes into one of these. I don't know the details, though.
> > > Mack Reynolds wrote a story that might be this. What was special > > > about the soap was that nothing had been spent on advertising, so > > > it could be sold cheaper. Other than that it was made in the same > > > factories as all of the other competing brands of soap. One > > > element in the story was the idea that the same factory turned out > > > essentially the same soap for all of the different brands, with the > > > only difference between them being the advertising.
> > Isn't that pretty common in the real world today?
> For some stuff. I had a friend who worked for a time at a Havoline > "canning" facility. Occasionally they'd shut down the line, change out > the cans[1], and start running private label oil brands. He even told > me which ones were identical.
I came across something awhile back (I think it was a mouthwash) which based its advertising on the fact that it didn't release the identical product in a plain label discount version.
> 1. There's one for that other thread, motor oil in cans where you used > the spout to punch a hole in the top.
I've got an unused one still in it's original packaging (bought shortly before it became unnecessary) out in the garage. Talk about mathoms.
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