talkmagic.co.uk

On a different thread, supermagictom wrote:The ''spam'' on the ellusionist website really sometimes disturbs me. I call it spam anyway.

Like:
''How to be SO totally MAGIC!! Within MINUTES of learning this material YOU WILL be the COOLEST GUY EVER!!''

or:
''This MAGIC is SO IMPOSSIBLE!!!!! You will LITERALLY FREEZE YOUR AUDIENCE from pure excitement''

Which makes me wonder why such advertising has to be so extreme. It's not confined to Ellusionist either, other sites frequently hype things by assuring us that it will 'Blow them away' or 'Fry your audience', or it's a 'Killer routine'. Things will 'Slay them’ or, perhaps more gently, 'Knock them over'.

So we can cover freezing, frying, blowing and killing and various lesser stages of assault but not much mention of entertaining. I guess it’ probably a bit better than the old fashioned, 'Amaze your friends, fool your family, impress your teachers’ lines so well used 40 or 50 years ago but does anyone else have other examples of verbal dysentery in modern magic advertising?

I think occasionally the effects are definitely oversold. Prime example being a certain Fearson impromptu vanish, which as it turns out you can only do to someone on their own. It's fine in itself, but falls short of the hyperbole.

Good points! Most people who have been in magic for more than a few months take these things with a pinch of salt, but if someone new to the art were to buy the thing and then find that all they've received one D/F'er and a few pages of instructions I imagine they'd most likely be disappointed and then the whole thing's backfired on the publishers really.

I always prefer a more down-to-earth approach - a sincere message from the creator speaking of how much success they've had with the item in question would be far more effective ultimately than statements which have been used so much in one form or another that they've pretty much lost all effectiveness.

The Go Magic Go pod cast likes to send this kind of hype up, and they do it rather well. Have a listen I think you might enjoy it...

http://www.gomagicgo.com

I agree and also with Cardza.

At the end of the dayl, some people will buy no matter what you advise them and they just have to find out for themselves. Once bitten, twice shy etc..............

Mandrake wrote:

On a different thread, supermagictom wrote:The ''spam'' on the ellusionist website really sometimes disturbs me. I call it spam anyway.

Like:
''How to be SO totally MAGIC!! Within MINUTES of learning this material YOU WILL be the COOLEST GUY EVER!!''

or:
''This MAGIC is SO IMPOSSIBLE!!!!! You will LITERALLY FREEZE YOUR AUDIENCE from pure excitement''

Which makes me wonder why such advertising has to be so extreme. It's not confined to Ellusionist either, other sites frequently hype things by assuring us that it will 'Blow them away' or 'Fry your audience', or it's a 'Killer routine'. Things will 'Slay them’ or, perhaps more gently, 'Knock them over'.

So we can cover freezing, frying, blowing and killing and various lesser stages of assault but not much mention of entertaining. I guess it’ probably a bit better than the old fashioned, 'Amaze your friends, fool your family, impress your teachers’ lines so well used 40 or 50 years ago but does anyone else have other examples of verbal dysentery in modern magic advertising?

Jay Sankey covers this problem well on Page 24 of 'Beyond Magic'. The chapter is called 'Magic as a Blood sport'. He says (im paraphrasing so as not to breech copyright) when magicians used to charm, delight or entertain, theres now the focus of 'destroying' or 'frying' spectators. He blames this partially on the way televised magic is filmed. People who are amazed, charmed or delighted dont make as good tv as people swearing or screaming or 'freaking out'. These magicians dont want to entertain audiences, just push them into behaving in some way that will look good on camera.

I honestly never thought about tv magic in this way until i read this book, but i completely agree. TV street magicians often (not always) behave like this, and people always want to emulate tv personalities. In turn, magic companies can exploit this by promising us those very same reactions at the price of ONLY £49.99 and A FEW MINUTES TIME!

Oh how I wish I still had my copy of WEENIE Magazine... a satire of GENII created by Harry Anderson & Friends in which, I believe it was the column "Is Vernon Touched" he points out the buzz terms used by advertisers in the magic world... mind you, this was nearly 25 years ago...

A Classic = Something we've all seen too many times to count
Only A Limited Number to Be Sold = We know it's c*** (not the best) and hope we can sell this many.
You'll Be Blow Away! = Bend Over, let us drive
Trust Me... = Yiddish for Screw You!

The list goes on and on and I can assure you 90% of it all would be more effective when used on a gardens vs. building one's magic inventory. Of course, this is one of the reasons old grumpy sour puss types like my self, get to be old grumpy sour pusses... we've been burnt too many times by the hype and even the hope. The grotesque reality of it all is however, it's not going to go away; not as long we new suckers come into the fold gullible and eager -- their naivety making them believe, "this is the one that will launch me to stardom" when rarely such is the case.

We can bitch and complain but the only way it will ever end is when we stop buying, start building and better yet, come up with our own stuff vs. working so hard to be the next flash in a pan...