Opinions created by good marketing

[88persuader]

This is more of a personal preception then a question but please chime in with your opinions.

I was having a discussion with a friend and fellow bass player about things in general the other day. This man is a good musician and an intelligent person but we often disagree on many things ... which leads to good discussions and often heated arguments. One of the things we often discuss is basses. (Of course)

He owns nothing but Fender basses and guitars. He's never owned any other brand and he's brand loyal to the point of being arrogant about it. He's said he would NEVER play anything but Fenders ... American made if possible. Now I think Fenders are fine time tested instruments with great history, I'm NOT a Fender hater, but I think for a person to be that opinionated they should have some experience with other brands and types of basses so they have something to compair them with. How does he know he wouldn't like another brand if he never spent time playing one? Maybe if he played one he'd become a Ric or Alembic man? Maybe not, but without testing the waters how can a person be so SURE? He's also said he's never buy a motorcycle unless it was a Harley ........ but he's never ridden any motorcycle in his life. How can he have such a strong opinion about something he knows NOTHING about? Well ... my feeling is it's the marketing! Part of Fender's marketing is their history. They're selling a piece of "America" and their well earned place in music history. And point of fact Harley motorcycles also market themselves as the American motorcycle ... they sell the flag and their place in motorcycle history. Even though many of Harley motorcycle parts are made in Japan today and Fender makes a lot of guitars in Japan and Mexico.

Now before you Fender lovers and Harley lovers throw stones at me let me be clear. I LIKE Fenders and LIKE Harleys. My point is I think for a person to have a strong opinion about something they need to have compaired items, they need to test the waters. Perhaps my friend would STILL play nothing but Fenders and would still buy a Harley if he did some compairing but he hasn't. To me ... forming a stong opinion about basses, motorcycles, politics, anything souly from marketing hype is very unwise and it's EXACTLY what the marketing companies what you to do!.

[The Golden Boy]

You're right.

I ate at the place that served the Finest Mexican Food In The World.

It sucked. Big time.


On a related note- Epiphone/Gibson has been really bad about altering history with their marketing. For example- stopping just short of claiming the first Les Paul was an Epiphone. Yes, "the Log" was built with an Epiphone neck and actually constructed in the Epiphone shop- but that didn't make the guitar an Epiphone. While that guitar was revolutionary, it was not the first Les Paul (which depending on who you believe was either a joint product of Ted McCarty's and Les Paul's brainstorming- or Gibson engineers with some ideas of Paul's thrown in). The other thing I noticed was that the mini-humbuckers being referred to as "New York" pickups. The mini-hum was designed to replace the original pre-Gibson Epiphone "New York" pickups.

[lemur821]

Yes, people are the same way about Apple products.