Member-only story
The Medium is the Message
Unpacking Marshall McLuhan or why should you invest in billboards
Suppose you run for mayor of a small town. Neither you nor your competitors have much money for the campaign, but you desperately want to win. You and your supporters come up with all sorts of slogans, messages, and strategies, but so does the competition. You are searching for something that will give you an edge over them.
Then suddenly one of the staff workers says: “We should have a jumbo poster, you know, one of those big-ass expensive billboards on the main road.”
“But why,” you say, “we already have the whole city plastered with regular size posters and leaflets, we even have announcements on the local radio!?”
The campaign is expensive as it is; you simply cannot afford such an expense. Jumbo posters are another level for you and your campaign, and why in the world would you need to pay for it if “the message is already out there.”
“Because,” says your friend, “the medium is the message!”
At first, you don’t understand, but then it strikes you.
The mere act of choosing a jumbo poster says at least as much about your campaign as anything that you print on it!
