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Purple Cow
The Death of the
TV-Industrial Complex
Remember the much-maligned “military-industrial complex”
The idea behind it was simple. The government
spent money on weapons. Companies received tax dollars
to build weapons. These companies hired labor. They paid
taxes. The taxes were used to buy more weapons. A virtuous
cycle was created: The government got bigger,
employment went up, and it appeared that everyone was a
winner.
The military-industrial complex was likely responsible
for many of the world’s ills, but it was undeniably a symbiotic
system. As one half of it grew and prospered, so did
the other.
Little noticed over the past fifty years was a very different
symbiotic relationship, one that arguably created far
more wealth (with large side effects) than the militaryindustrial
complex did. I call it the TV-industrial complex. The
reason we need to worry about it is that it’s dying. We built
a huge economic engine around the idea of this system,
and now it’s going away. The death of the complex is
responsible for much of the turmoil at our companies
today.
The system was simple. Find a large market niche that’s
growing and not yet dominated. Build a factory. Buy a
lot of TV ads. The ads will lead to retail distribution and
to sales. The sales will keep the factory busy and create
profits.
Astute businesses then used all the profits to buy more
ads. This led to more distribution and more factories.
Soon the virtuous cycle was in place, and a large, profitable
brand was built.
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