Last but not least: One shitstorm please
As if it weren't bad enough that we've turned into a nerve-wracking 'shitstorm" society, a renowned agency is now offering waves of outrage at the push of a button. The "Ferrari" of shitstorms costs 200,000 euros.
Internet phenomena have been boring for some time now. Mass movements triggered online may have been fascinating in the noughties, but who is seriously interested today in whether planking, owling, lolcats, Harlem Shake, Gangnam Style or a grumpy cat are helping the anonymous global society to achieve a temporary sense of togetherness?
However, the most troublesome member of the phenomenon family is the shitstorm. Not because it is reprehensible to want to make the world a better place. But if the whole thing degenerates into a global popular sport for everyone from the comfort of their own sofa, relevance and fascination are lost. Today, everything and everyone is being hitstormed. Michèle Binswanger quite rightly recently called for "Stop with your shitstorms" and referred to a culture of sexism that screams so loudly that it is no longer heard (or liked to be heard). Acting means "interacting with people and not sending anonymous hate messages into the world from your office chair."
It seems that the collective anger is slowly but surely getting on everyone's nerves. But please don't start a shitstorm against the shitstorms now! Most waves of outrage are less sustainable than a burnt soy plantation anyway. Yesterday the angry people wanted to shoot Ms. Badran to the moon, today they don't even know exactly what they were upset about, or what was wrong with the History was really on.
Nevertheless, today Heise.deThe guerrilla marketing agency Cavemen offers shitstorms off the peg. Not an April Fool's joke, as its managing director told the portal. The offer ranges from 100 negative Facebook comments and 150 likes (4,999 euros) to a deluxe shitstorm for just under 200,000 euros (15,000 outraged comments in German). However, only jobs that meet the agency's "moral guidelines" are accepted, reveals the Cavemen website ("An incident must never be made up out of thin air").
If you want to neutralize a shitstorm or do something good for yourself, book a Candystorm. Same price model, opposite effect. How seriously the whole thing is meant remains unclear. Guerrilla marketing on its own behalf? If not, this calculated image bashing would almost be a reason to be really outraged once again.
Thomas Häusermann
