There is an ad that shows on late-night television for ‘The Tint Professor’, a business that (surprise-surprise) tints windows. On the rare occasion that I was watching early-morning television, however, I was intrigued to note that the Prof has another advert, same product and service, but given a very different spin.
The late-night Prof does some MC-ing, advertising in rap the simple fact that by having tinted windows, you’ll be slick wid’ da chicks . This fact is brought home with a little scene featuring a random bloke (a member of the Prof’s massive, I always assumed) who gets the well-endowed femme fatale once his windows have been tinted.
Here endeth the lesson, here be-eth the Prof’s contact details.
The early-morning version couldn’t be more different. Given the viewing audience are predominantly housewives, any idea that tinted windows help you to pull is glossed over. The soundtrack is made up this time of a few castrati , who sing in angelic tones the praises of the Prof. Perhaps tinted windows ensure that your young child will one day join the Prof’s choir- it’s far from clear. The company remains the same, the marketing is very, very different.
How often does this repackaging of concepts and ideas occur? Sometimes it happens over a period of months or years. Remember how before we were bringing free markets and freedom to the Iraqi people, Gulf War II was actually about the search for weapons of mass destruction? How, before Saddam was our enemy, he was our friend and business partner? 
Sometimes the repackaging happens simultaneously: the ALP and the Liberal Party in Australia; Democrats and Republicans in the USA; Tories and New Labour in the UK. I don’t deny that there are some differences, but I believe that they are mostly cosmetic: some leopards can, for the benefit of the voters, change their spots.
This gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, frequently spouted by proselytes of global capitalism, that There Is No Alternative (TINA) .
– posted by Rabbit Zero
