Occupy is Dead! Long Live Occupy!
Adbusters, a magizine devoted to marketing criticisms has been credited with the initial "spark" that begat the OWS when it made the suggestion last year. Adbusters personal have refused to grant interviews or make any statement regarding Occupy Wall Street or any other Occupy movement.
The frustration of the news media regarding "Occupy!"is all but apparent. There is no leadership, so there's no one to praise or blame. There's no authority from their side to interview. The interviews of the Occupy camp seem to contradict one another. While there's a catchy slogan, it's rather vague. There isn't a list of demands and the list of issues is long and inconsistent. And what's really frustrating is that when cable news went to the Occupy camps to interview the protesters, the protesters shouted them away and made it impossible to get any decent coverage.
So the news media's response is to belittle Occupy. They report that Occupiers don't know what they want. And this Occupy thing is bound to fail.
Yet Occupy hasn't failed. Without any real marketing they seemed to have marketed themselves into a global phenomena, and into the vernacular of media. Even as the Occupy movement is declared "dead" it is still talked about in business and financial journals as a valid movement, even as a threat. PR firms on Madison ave are cautiously addressing the movement. And news media knows better then to forget about it altogether.
Some very successful companies (Costco, Kirby Vacuums, Lululemon, Ferrari) have never used advertising. Perhaps they go by the motto; "If you have to say who you are, then you're not." If so, the Occupy is the real deal.
What happened? Occupy has barely any active camp-outs right now. Those that remain are small and scattered. Is it really dead?
It seems as though the camps served their purpose. It gathered like minded people, flushed out the less enthusiastic attendees and has evolved with more purpose. Instead of a single leadership emerging, countless leaderships have evolved.
A number of plans for Occupy2 have emerged. I don't think there's much desire for sitting in parks anymore. These ideas are discussed in chatrooms, facebook groups and even real-life meetups in pubs and cafes. Just as no single leadership speaks for all Occupy movements, no single plan is endorsed by all Occupy organizers. Occupy is a true Hydra.
This coming year will be very interesting. Occupy will have many events. Large protests are planned. Sit-ins will frustrate banks and other businesses. Those in solidarity will Occupy your workplace. And the movement that some declare dead will continue to grow.
https://www.facebook.com/OccupyUpdates
http://occupywallst.org/