Centropy

New immutable law of advertising discovered!If you spend much time roaming the world of physics and astronomy, you are no doubt familiar with the Law of Entropy. This law has been expressed in many ways, but the general thrust is that everything in the universe tends towards chaos or disorder. Like all laws of nature, the Law of Entropy is immutable. If you’re looking for evidence of the effects of this law, just peer through the doorway of any art director’s office.

Now I’m pleased to announce that I’ve made a breakthrough in the realm of Advertisingology, a discovery of such magnitude I’d like to nominate myself for the Nobel Prize in Advertising. Decades of study culminated in a moment of enlightenment the other day. I was staring blankly at the idiot box, as I so often do, when the new Clorox commercial appeared before me. I was blown away. After more than a century of advertising evolution, including 50 years in the medium of television, here was a commercial featuring a woman at her washing machine, talking to a couple of animated bottles of Clorox, who were cheerfully explaining their unique selling proposition to her. I half expected to see Little Bill hanging from the light socket behind her. In that epiphanous instant, a kind of mirror image of the Law of Entropy scrawled itself across my consciousnes. It was nothing less than a new law of nature. I call my newly discovered law, The Law of Centropy. This law finds its clearest expression in that corner of the universe called Adworld.

The Law of Centropy, stated most simply, asserts that everything in Adworld tends inexorably toward the middle or “center”.

You can see this law at work in editing and music houses, ad agencies and production companies, pretty much anywhere ideas are generated or the creative process holds sway. An exceptionally focused illustration of the process of centropy can be seen in tracing the history of almost any ad concept. At conception, the advertising idea, if it’s a good one, is way off to the side, populating the outer recesses of Adworld. It is “at the edge”. Then centropy takes hold like a tractor beam, and the concept is dragged away from the edge. The forces of friction and resistence round the edges as it journeys inward. Ultimately the ad arrives, Cloroxidized, in the middle.

Sometimes it is actually the authors of the idea who initiate its movement toward the middle, as they second guess the reactions of their bosses or the client. More often it begins with the ACD. Once the motion has begun, the Law of Inertia joins in concert with the Law of Centropy, lubricating the idea’s slide to the middle. After the ACD has given it a push, it’s the CD’s turn. The account guys join in the effort. Then the Creative Review Committee or some such sellestial body gives the idea a big boost centerward.

Finally, the client docks with the idea and fires its mighty thrusters, directing the idea straight into the heart of Adworld, which is, of course, already densely populated with countless other mediocrified, middling ads. With all that density, the gravity of the situation becomes so powerful, nothing can escape, not even the light of inspiration.
Do I see the astute reader raising his hand and objecting,”If this law is universal and immutable and all that, how do you explain the existence of those few rogue ideas out there which haven’t been centrified, for example, all those wacky dot com ads?”

How, indeed. In order to explain these phenomena, I’ve posited the existence of “peripheral pockets”, irregularities in the far reaches of the fabric of Adworld. In order to understand these phenomena, first we must distinguish between “strong centropy” and “weak centropy”. You see, most of Adworld is subject to the effects of strong centropy. But for reasons we don’t yet understand, kind of like dark matter, there occur pockets within Adworld where strong centropy’s effect is diminished. Under the conditions of weak centropy, everything still tends toward the middle, but it becomes possible to mitigate that tendency. This explains why, once in a great while, an “idea from the edge” of Adworld breaks away, seemingly in defiance of the Law of Centropy.

Finally we have the answer to the question that has plagued creatives forever: How is it that your ad, which was so brilliant going into the meeting, came out a lame embarrassment? Don’t blame it on the bossa nova. For it is nothing less than the sinister force of centropy at work. And, of course, the only appropriate response, when your work falls victim to centropy, is, to paraphrase Ned Flanders, “Middly diddly!”. Jim Morris, The Communicaterer, has a new email address: jmorris@etpost.net. Direct all comments and inquiries thusly.