It seems that with every innovation or new idea, mass market and big brands can’t help but come and ruin things. I don’t think they do it intentionally.
Corporate sponsors and their buying into an idea, are often what help small things grow. But it’s also what destroys what made the small thing special.
Part of the problem is that they’re too big. So, anytime something small and unique pops up, when the big brand comes to join the party, they wind up ruining it or at least making it far less pleasant. By slapping their big corporate logo on it, and declaring Wednesdays Hawaiian shirt day, they take away what made it special. Again, they don’t know any better, that’s what’s normal to them.
It’s like a cruise ship pulling into a small marina…it can’t help but disrupt things.
The other part of the problem is that whatever it is, before it was cool, the institutions thought it was weird. They didn’t see the value, they wouldn’t take the risks, so they weren’t part of the initial community. But once enough people accept it, the institutions jump on board.
This is why we can’t have nice things.
It doesn’t matter how cool your parents are, once they start using your slang and listening to you music, the party is over. I can’t help but wonder whether the small things, the unique things, the special things, will ever be able to exist and thrive without some small group of mid-level execs in business casual attire showing up to suck out all that made it special in the first place?
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