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Have you been half asleep and have you heard voices? I've heard them calling my name. Is this the sweet sound that calls the young sailors?



I was greeted with a far lovelier scene out on the fire escape this morning. No doubt, you will recall the snow photographed yesterday. Well, it is still there! Only this time, it had a friendly rainbow there to keep it company.

I want to share with you all part of my day. I just went to a launch of a campaign designed by, and aimed at, 'young people'. It was an open thing, hip and happening. There were TV cameras there, lots of money thrown at glossy brochures, stickers, stick-on tattoos, a new-fangled website, carry bags, magnets, the lot. The central component is a website projected as a 'multimedia portal for young people by young people' and by and large, they have done a reasonable job in their task, I wouldn't want to suggest otherwise.

The thing that I have to note though is the audience. As I said, it was an open launch that was promoted widely. There were tables full of grub and drink for people to pick over. So who was there?

Conservatively, I would wager that (paid staff of the launching organisation exempted, also noting that I myself was there as part of my job), at 31 I would have been the youngest by at least 20 years. In terms of non-drug and alcohol sector employees (the 'general public'), the average age of the punters would have been 75. This would be the long familiar crowd of bored, lonely and (most of all) hungry that attend free events for a feed and a chat.

Question of the day? Well, after a half-hour multimedia extravaganza – a rich visual and audio walk through the site and all of its features – one old dear said, (and you really have to read this in a withered old ladies voice), "one question young lady, has all of this got something to do with computers then?"
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Comments

Bill said…
LOL! You know, I have gotten some of those sorts of questions myself :)

Snow & a rainbow, neat combination. I once had a close lightning strike in a snowstorm...boy that snow got bright quickly!
28 June 2008 at 12:07
sam said…
hehe, bet some tough questions were asked about how the guys who marketed the event came up with such an inappropriate target audience! either that or 75 year olds are more hip and happening than we give them credit for!
1 July 2008 at 04:45
Kris McCracken said…
I've thankfully never had a close lightning strike! I do like thunder and lightning when I'm at the beach though. Listening to the thunder when you are underwater is terribly cool.

Sam, I was surprised that they didn't rope in some school kids. That's what they usually do.
2 July 2008 at 11:01
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