BEWARE OF PUBLICITY

On April 30, the Clarin newspaper published a news story under the headline: “Diego Fenoglio, owner of the famous Rapanui Chocolaterie, praises Milei and criticises Cristina.”

Among other things , Fenoglio remembers the day when former vicepresident Cristina Fernández de Kirchner was presiding over a session at the Senate and she clumsily asked: “What time does Rapanui close?” without knowing that an open microphone would pick up her voice. Neither did it occur to her that her blooper would have unforeseen consequences like boosting Rapanui ’s fame in no time.

What happened to Cristina is thought-provoking and it prompts me to think about the different ways in which publicity is carried out in our consumer society. We all know that there is mass media advertising like TV commercials and also word-ofmouth publicity. But it seems there are other ways an item can be advertised. Sometimes, like in the case of Cristina and Rapanui, there are celebrities promoting an item unintentionally by merely consuming it and that fact becoming public. Not only do those in the limelight increase awareness of an item among their fans and people at large but they also help to develop trust in the product .

There is still another type of publicity for which I don’t have a name, however. In the past the label of an article of clothing was expected to be concealable and therefore it always appeared on the reverse side. Nowadays, labels are printed on the outside of clothes and the moment we don a garment, we publicise it without getting paid for the service.

Publicity, a by-product of consumerism, is not always reliable and we should beware of it because oftentimes it uses us, the consumers, to its own advantage.

Adrian Insaubralde, Santa Fe