BusinessWeek has called David Droga's new enterprie, www.honeyshed.com, a combination of QVC and MTV. Because I can speak proper English and prefer proper English to sentences like, "Yo, word, the man be, you know, the man, what it is..." I can't say that I understand the genius behind it. To me, in fact, honeyshed is more than depressing. It's evidence of the absolute demise of civilization.
There are two sets of people who present the virtues of products you can buy. Two young white bimbos with low-cut outfits and short skirts along with tons of cleavage and "look at my vagina" exhibitionism, and four heavily-tattooed men, two white, two black who speak in the vernacular I attempted above to transcribe. They act like the coarsest and lowest hoodlums. Their vocabulary seems limited to a few stock phrases and a couple dozen other words. One of them is proud to show off his house arrest anklet.
If this is what appeals to America's youth today, we are dead as a culture and a country. If honeyshed were a bit funnier it would be a nice satire (for about 45 seconds.) As a real selling channel, it's downright scary.
I'm of two minds on Honeyshed. It's a good idea, it's different and it's somewhat interactive.
ReplyDeleteBut like most ads, it still feels selfserving (I'm clicking on the site and exclusively going there to be sold to, there's nothing else there to entertain, titillate or educate me.)
But it does have a more realistic, unpolished feel as if a friend were telling me. But then again, my friends aren't actors pretending not to act.
I think part of your dislike of it is generational. While I do hate, you know what I'm saying like anybody else with more than a 16 word vocabulary, I wasn't as put off by that as I was by the girls who may or may not be amateur child pornstars. (Even tho I like the one in glasses. Glasses are hot)
Back to what I was saying, I don't watch mtv (I have grown fond of my brain cells over the years and want to keep them around) so I see what you're saying about the spokespeople - they are in fact, very mtv - overly urban, immature and having too much money and too much free time to be any good to society. but i assumed that was the target Droga was going for.
But now I'm questioning that because - why? why would that be the target? the people who buy heavily consumeristic driven mags like Lucky and Complex, and complex maybe more so bc it's more urban, but both are a little more affluent - or at least are at least the stuff they have is a little more high end and ahead of the trends.
I feel like I'd more so be the target. Well I SHOULD be the target. I'm not rich, but I like to learn about products from people who have them. I like to be involved with brands. I like to be entertained. But I'm not interested in what honeyshed has to say. I keep waiting for it to evolve, to grow up, to do something to interest me. But it hasn't. So something's gone awry.
I emailed a few of my male friends to ask their opinions. Will let you know the conclusions of my intense and scientific research.