The Power of Advertising
Added 2025-01-19 01:25:21 +0000 UTCI leaned on the polished wood of the bar, wipin
Comments
Yeah, I wasn’t 100% sure where it was going… but I’m also not surprised where it landed! Thanks for reading :)
Derek Williams
2025-04-27 17:45:11 +0000 UTCTruly loved every moment of this Derek. What a wild ride. I almost thought you'd choose a different stereotype of Cory buy the himbo is always your favourite (& mine).
Lusty Stallion
2025-04-26 22:20:27 +0000 UTCThanks! I should probably actually watch Stepford Wives sometime, I’ve had a few of my stories referred to that way 😂
Derek Williams
2025-01-21 01:41:17 +0000 UTCOh I loved this. It's a little Stepfordy, which is something I've played with slightly in my own stories, but never to the degree I'd like. And it's frustratingly accurate in terms of algorithms and targeting...!
Aardvark
2025-01-20 23:02:34 +0000 UTCThanks! Hmm… I haven’t thought about focussing on Ryan. What part of his story do you wanna see?
Derek Williams
2025-01-20 17:23:11 +0000 UTCThis was great! It was a fun change to have the characters *not* physically transform for a change. Any chance bar back Ryan the Otter gets his own spinoff?
MRG329
2025-01-20 11:36:44 +0000 UTCThank ye! There’s definitely horror in the inevitability. Sure, it’s a choice, but once you see the right ad… you’re doing it. And Cory, our bartender who’s so cynical and bitter about advertising — he doesn’t blink when they make him a model. I’m glad you didn’t feel beaten over the head. I felt like Cory’s micro targeting speech was so intense that even the other characters had to be like “okay dude, chill”. Here’s a thought I’ve been having since I wrote the bit about the founder — is that rumour even true? Or is it part of some sort of guerilla marketing strategy?
Derek Williams
2025-01-19 19:50:42 +0000 UTCI really like this. It’s got a bit of horror in it. The transformation process is never explained really, just hinted at. It’s personality changes, not direct body modifications. At least, I don’t think it was. The advertising is insidious and pervasive and the story reinforces what the narrator says about the marketing and advertising without beating you over the head with it. It could be something supernatural or extra going on, but it doesn’t need to be and you don’t know for sure. And the bit about the founder of Go Gay being straight and wanting to be the last straight man is funny and cool. It doesn’t come up, but I’d bet he’d be so interested in the process he couldn’t resist himself eventually. And I love that the initial marketing seems to be targeted at women, not men. Great story.
Hugh Michelsen
2025-01-19 19:27:39 +0000 UTCWhat seems to be happening is the advertisements show guys being happy, unhappy dudes go to "Go Gay" because it will make them happy like the in advertisements, they get brainwashed, and then they help advertise how it made their lives better to convince people to go through with it. Cory even did some "word of mouth" advertisement with Jason; the whole thing is about the power of marketing (as said in the beginning). All in all a fun story and an interesting look into the psychology of the whole thing. If I have a complaint, it's that everything after he had the procedure takes place in a week, which kept confusing me timeline wise. I feel like the point is that one Cory was convinced he convinced Jason and then they convinced the other roommates and it's all about how quickly the dominoes fall, but I kept thinking more time had passed and it kept throwing me. Not a big issue and I definitely enjoyed it though. Thanks for sharing it with us.
blindseer0
2025-01-19 17:27:19 +0000 UTCThis one is interesting. My read of it is it has nothing to do with "genes" and they're basically just drugging and brainwashing the dudes into being gay (since we never see any testing done or anything that would indicate they were checking the guys are straight). Plus they're doing through personality changes and it seems implied, body modification as well.
blindseer0
2025-01-19 17:21:17 +0000 UTC
