The Worst Of The Web

If you haven't heard of the Million Dollar Homepage by now you're probably not going to. Just another hyped marketing idea from the glorious lows that are forcing their way into your home via the net. One of the problems with this idea is not the fact that it made quite a considerable amount of money for student Alex Tew, it's that visiting the site and browsing the advertisers shows the lowest of the low in company ideas, internet scams, gambling and dating services. What an awful awful site. Cancer cures, loans, porn, promises of free gifts... why would anyone want to visit this site? Why would anyone want to click any link on this page?

It brings tears to my eyes when things like this manage to take off. I understand why they have. Lets face it, advertising pays well and must work. Reports from advertisers on the site suggest their traffic went sky high when they bought their pixels. That's if it wasn't Tew's family members & friends quoting to push their investment along. Money makes money and if it had been left up to Tew to raise the awareness without the family funding he'd still be like so many other students. Poor and surfing debts of £10,000+.

Like Morrissey suggests, I do hate it when my friends become successful, I also hate when absolute strangers find success in promoting down right abhorent values without creative merit or intellectual value. It seems that the web holds nothing for me anymore. Blogs about nothing, Link sites to useless information and fads that are simple, ill thought and annoying.

Can you believe that when Peanut Butter Jelly Time was parodied in Family Guy by Brian to cheer Peter up I had no idea what the reference was? Oh, how I long for those days of innocence. Days before the hamster dance, days before the mockery of some fat kid. When fads were material. Coca Cola Yo Yos, lo lo balls and Bermuda shorts with pink thermal colour change t-shirts. Gone are the days of innocence when we thought that something was popular because a lot of people liked the idea. We all now know that something is popular because a lot of money was invested to market it to the public. The music charts for instance. Does anyone really believe that the most of the acts featured in today's charts are anything but a marketing ploy to steal the pennies from children?

Fortunately though times are changing. With the over marketing of these products and the overwhelming greed of large businesses, our youth have been forced into a knowing corner. Our children are no longer stupid to the fact that a free gift is given for other reasons than it being free, that all these companies are begging for their cash. The demise of popular music and music sales in general, not to mention the fall of Smash Hits magazine is proof that music could be changing. Will we see a full circle in advertising and the products we buy? I certainly hope so. I read recently in a article in some free travel paper that Coca Cola and Pepsi have arranged to remove children from their ads, and are being forced to remove fizzy drinks sales and vendors from our schools. Maybe it's time for company ethics. We have that right to choose. It's our money, our hard earned cash that these scam businesses are picking at. Visit ethical sites with morals and reason. Buy ethical products from empathic companies. Our money can lead the market.

Look for skill and talent in an idea, is it hard earned? Hard earned ideas are worth hard earned money. It's your call. I hope that by highlighting these ideas and making not only you, but myself in the research, aware of the ideas, that we will find hope and reason to this world for sale.