Memes and adbusters

What's in a meme? Would Starbucks by any other name smell as sweet? Memes get in, get out and get passed on before we consciously know what is happening. So what is a meme? I'll let the dictionary answer that one: “an element of culture that may be considered to be passed on by nongenetic means, especially imitation.” Sounds complicated, but it's not. Indeed, memes survive by being basic, almost primal paens to our instincts. How does an urban legend go viral? How does a brand? Why do people pass on chain letters and forward joke emails without reading them to see if they are really all that funny? The most contageous memes cut straight to the emotional quik: desires like money, sex, food, danger. Something can propagate far and wide without necessarily having merit or 'quality', but just because it has the right meme. Memes scream to be imitated: buy now! run! get your dream home today! pass this on right now! Memes could certainly be used for worthy purposes, but they clearly could be, and are, used to play tricks with people's minds. So in a way memes cut to the roots of much of the hostility directed at corporate advertisers. Is this what McLuhan meant when he said that in the future packaging would be passe and things would be sold out of barrels? Because the only real way to innoculate against memes that circumvent our better judgment is to take something out of the package, look it over under good light and really see it and evaluate it on the merits before we buy it or pass it on to a friend. Memes got started because they served a purpose, like little 'macro' scripts for the brain that speed up reaction when there's a clear danger or reward that needs to be dealt with, not pondered over. But eventually they degenerate into marketing fodder. Get out there, stop to think, and build some good memes.