Doug Poretz

December Consumer Confidence Approaches Six-Year Low

It is interesting to note that while Americans-as-consumers are reflecting a decline in confidence, Americans are dramatically optimistic in political terms. The latest polls that I see show that about two-thirds of this nation express confidence in President-elect Obama. A couple of weeks ago, I gave a speech (qorvis.com/blog/index..../) at The National Press Club conference on "The New Washington" in which I suggested that the communications industry is in the early stages of being bifurcated between consumer-driven messages (those that urge "buy this") and supporter-driven messages (those that say "support this"). Layoffs in the New York advertising community, the center of gravity of consumerism, are hitting massive numbers; in the meantime, Washington, DC, center of gravity of "supporterism" is holding its own, and evidencing early signs of growth. Look at the advertising that is hitting you: you'll see more and more messages about energy reform and healthcare and union voting and tax policy. Neither President-elect Obama nor the new Congress have been inaugurated yet ... political ideas have not yet been translated into specific proposals and the clash between those proposals and honest ideological differences as well as good old partisanship has not yet occurred. Just wait, the American citizen, hit with "buy this" messages since the Post WW II Expansion is about to be innundated with "support this" messages. This will not only have an impact on the communications and media industries, but will eventually lead to a change in the nation's culure (see my most recent post about Steve Pearlstein's blog on Leadership at deathoftime.com).