Back in the days when every teenage boy dreamed of outrunning a police cruiser, the wisdom handed down from aging speedsters was, “Remember son, you can’t outrun them radios.” The fact that policemen were constantly connected by 2-way radios was mind-boggling to us. When we wanted to contact someone, we had to pull over and drop a dime into a pay phone. FedEx and fax machines did not exist. Long distance news required a Western Union telegram or an expensive, person-to-person telephone call. Carrying a phone in your pocket was pure science fiction. Sending an email from a home computer was too ridiculous to even be credible fantasy.
Just as yesterday’s speedsters were told that we shouldn’t run because “you can’t outrun them radios,” a new generation is saying to today’s advertisers, “A phony promise may fool one of us, but that one will tell the rest of us. You can’t outrun cell phones and email.”
Mass media is one voice speaking to many ears and it’s easy to purchase; you pays your money and you takes your chances. But interconnectivity is……