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Printed here is an official transcript of Joyner's address: Dear Friends, If you've watched the news over the last few weeks you've been witness to something historic, and I must now reluctantly claim my small part in it. The news of the first human clone may very well be the greatest publicity stunt in the history of the world. Whether or not you believe the Raelians really have met aliens or have successfully cloned a human, they are genius Mind Control Marketers of the first order. I don't know how anyone could have missed it, but in case you don't know what I'm talking about... Last week the Director of Clonaid, a cloning research company founded by "Rael" the leader of the quirky Raelian sect, announced that they have created the first human clone. If this is true, it is of course of historic consequence. If it's not, this is at the very least the greatest publicity stunt in history. (And if it's not true, it's supremely unethical, damaging to the minds of billions, and a horrible disservice to legitimate scientists who wish to have radical ideas accepted in the future. But hey, I'm not here to discuss the ethics of such things, or even to discuss the truth or falsehood of these ideas. I'll leave that to the punsters of the editorial pages and to the bar-stool philosophers. If you want more information, just visit the Raelian website, or that of their child-company (no pun intended) Clonaid. I've been keeping an open mind, as I always strive to, but I've also been acutely aware that the "new messiah", Rael, comes with a product line. Are they for real? Are they insane? Are they a little of both? It's got everyone talking and guessing - and that brings us back to Mind Control Marketing....) OK, so let's "deconstruct" the gears of this brilliant publicity machine. Mind Control Marketing Tactic #1: They Left Us Curious The first thing they did was make the bold claim and immediately said that they were open to scientific testing. If this is a hoax - it's brilliant. It left enough hope and credibility to get the entire world buzzing. If it's not a hoax - it's brilliant. Why? Well, they could have just shown the clone complete with verified scientific testing. If they had done that, the clone would have been the news - not Clonaid, and not the Raelians. Case in point, do you remember the name of the company that cloned the first baby sheep? See what I mean? In my book, MindControlMarketing.com, I refer to this as "The Zeigarnik Effect". Mind Control Marketing Tactic #2: They Stoked Our Deepest Hopes and Intensified Our Greatest Fears They didn't just let us wonder about the incredibly beneficial possibilities of human cloning - they spelled it out for us and tugged on our heart strings. The best marketing shows us how a product or service can address our most basic human needs. Millionaires who are about to die are probably ready to believe just about anything that might give them eternal life... Just take these excerpts from Clonaid marketing materials:
That's right, for the right price, you can live forever in a healthy body, and never have to say goodbye to your pets! Hope is a great antidote for skepticism. Whether or not they are legit, the absolute terror we as humans collectively share when pondering our own illness or death may take a little bit of the edge off our derision. This isn't a bad thing, really. It's great that we are hopeful about the possibility of science making our lives better ("amen" to that!). As humans we just need to remain objective and not let our hope blind us to fraud. As marketers, we have to remember that at the core of any buying decision is the desire to address one of the needs listed in Maslow's Hierarchy (see MindControlMarketing.com for more). Mind Control Marketing Tactic #3: They Created Controversy As if the subject of human cloning were not controversial enough - they're creating some extra controversy (and they are getting some extra publicity) by letting us wonder whether or not they are legit. And there is just enough plausibility in their arguments that leaves a shred of hope (enough hope to get the desperate to shell out thousands of dollars?) If the cloning was real, this part was a pure stroke of genius. If they actually have some scientific testing that proves the validity of these clones, imagine the martyred vindication they will enjoy! Then imagine that additional round of publicity that will be created as people discuss the ethics of human cloning. Then imagine how much more seriously people would take this "Rael" character. People will think, erroneously of course, "if the clone is real then Rael's claims of messiah-hood must be real as well." It's of course possible that the clone is real and that Rael is just your garden variety insane genius. Keep in mind that other highly successful religious organization have been founded by regular old people in the last 200 years: The Mormons (founded in the 19th century by Joseph Smith), The Scientologists (founded by L. Ron Hubbard in the 20th century), and other less well-known groups... whether or not Rael is legitimate the precedent for establishing a new religion in modern times has been set. Mind Control Marketing Tactic #4: They Perfectly Timed the Release of Information To intensify the curiosity, the released bits of information that answered certain questions and then raised others - keeping the debate raging. They first said they had cloned a human and that scientific tests to verify their claim would be forthcoming. The debate, speculation, and buzz raged on. "Is it real?" "Who are the Raelians?" "Where is the baby?" Then said that the scientific verification was postponed to protect the baby. This intensified the controversy. "It's a hoax!" "It makes sense! The logic being that they wanted to protect the baby's privacy from a press-mob and the baby's body from the perhaps over-zealous cloning opponents of the religious right." (Stands to reason - I wouldn't want my clone baby to be attacked by a mob.) They said that the second baby was born in Europe and that if the political climate were more friendly, the mother would offer to have the child tested. This stoked the fires again and kept their name in the papers, and us talking, for yet another week. I'll be watching carefully for their next move. What I can say for sure is this: The third cloned baby is not a human. Just a publicity stunt. Ours. Do your friend a favor and tell them about this article. Simply fill in the form below:
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Los
Angeles - Maverick Internet entrepreneur Mark
Joyner announced today that he is the father of the 3rd clone.
