Arts & Entertainment
 

What's popular is not always wrong 

Nerd Alert

Barrett Goldsmith

A few months ago, I told a friend of mine to buy or burn a copy of a certain CD. 

"No way, man," he said. "I heard a song on the radio from that album." 

"And you didn't like it?" I asked. 

"No, it was a good song, but I'm just saying it was on the radio."

At first I thought that "on the radio" was code for something, but then I realized that my friend wasn't intelligent enough to assign an alternative meaning to a phrase.

Then I realized that, far from hinting at something, he was in fact confirming something: My friend is a "spare me."

A "spare me" is anyone whose speech or actions cause another person to use the phrase "spare me," usually in reference to something intended to sound cool or hip.

For example, maybe you make a point of wearing "vintage" or "second-hand" shirts that were in fact purchased for $35 from Urban Outfitters. Or maybe you constantly talk about a certain art film because you know you're the only one who has seen Daffodils for Svetlana. Or maybe you incorporate words from other languages into your speech. Or maybe you're Canadian.

The point is just because you wear different clothes or listen to different music doesn't mean you're cool or cultured.

And if, on the other hand, someone listens to music that is popular or sees high-grossing films doesn't mean that person lacks a sophisticated aural or visual palette. Frequently you will hear the phrase "I have to admit, that was a great movie."

That comment usually refers to a movie that, despite it's commercial success, is worthy of the speaker's gold stamp of artistic approval. I'm sure the filmmaker would be glad to hear that some kid with a nose ring, a Navajo friendship bracelet and a Fun Run shirt thinks his or her picture was worth the time, effort and money that went into it.

Other products have traditionally been impervious to the "I don't want it because it's popular" method of consumer decision-making, but that too is changing.

Advertising campaigns for cars, for example, have begun to ease their long embrace of the bandwagon technique. Commercials with "best-selling sedan" or "most popular sports utility vehicle" seem to have gone out of fashion. (Pickup trucks, not surprisingly, are refusing to let go.) Madison Avenue's new tactic, even for non-luxury vehicles, can be summed up by two words: Mini Cooper.

I drive a Rav4, listen to Coldplay and Justin Timberlake, wear jeans and a T-shirt and last week I wrote a column praising a film that more than 9 million other people in the United States paid to see that weekend. Call me a flake, call me a nerd or call me uncultured, but don't call me unless you have something intelligent to say.

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