(New
York,
NY, January
2004) Faith
Popcorn,
America’s leading futurist,
anticipates 2004 to be a year in which technology—already a deeply embedded
part of our lives—finds new expression.
The country will adopt a new technological wardrobe, enabling moms (Big
Mother) to satisfy their need to protect their children and families. And all
of us will begin to express our feelings with new and powerful simultaneity,
something Faith calls the “Idoling of America.”
At the same time, 2004
will witness the collision of our deepest anxieties about technology. “Persona
Propaganda,” a new kind of DigiTruth, will find us attempting to manipulate
the way we present ourselves to the online universe. As the media continue to push the
limits of what’s acceptable and technology facilitates our immediate
gratification, porn will become the norm.
Taken together with other
emerging forces, including the mainstreaming of fundamentalism, 2004 will be a
year in which the uber-Trend of FutureTENSE will dominate our thinking. FutureTENSE involves everything from
“Identity Terrorism” on the one hand, to generalized anxiety over political,
ethical and economic disruptions on the other. Other Trends such as EGOnomics (a
de-personalized society drives our desire to be recognized for our
individuality) and Anchoring (taking what was secure from the past to prepare
us for the future) will also play an increasingly dramatic role in shifting
the direction of the culture.
Big
Mother – Forget Big Brother,
technology creates a new generation of super-observant moms. Consider her tools: classroom cams, RFID tags in
backpacks, GPS chips in watches…or even embedded in kids’ bodies. When children are never out of sight,
a whole new mother-child emotional dynamic will result. A part of that: kids strike back. Call it the “Mom Unplugged”
syndrome.
Persona
Propaganda – Google has created the
concept of the “Public Resume” – a new kind of pervasive, email-able
DigiTruth. Now that everybody can
know everything about almost anyone, an industry will soon evolve to help you
manage that public persona—creating the perfect online profile, optimizing
your own Google search, giving us control over our digitized public
identities.
Identity
Terrorism – The most extreme form
of “Persona Propaganda,” in which the Internet is used as a tool to malign a
reputation, either of an individual or a corporation. This new kind of terrorism is bound to
be an increasing problem in the years to come.
Profiling
Paranoia – As our personal
choices become part of the digital ether (iPod playlists, TiVo configurations,
Amazon purchases) we will become increasingly worried about how this data can
be used. The upside: EGOnomical
technology could match us to exciting content, information, even people. The
downside: a new digital Gestapo could dictate all the content you see.
Porn as the
Norm
– In a culture where, increasingly, anything is acceptable, pornography has
become the sole source of titillation.
Expect to see it emerge in more platforms, including on our cell
phones. Wireless porn is
projected to be one of the biggest mobile data applications.
The Idoling of
America – Pop-democratization,
spearheaded by Zagat and made most visible with the vote-by-text-message
phenomenon of American Idol, will soon spread throughout the culture to an
unprecedented level. We foresee even personal decisions (Should I have another
child? Should I marry this woman or not?) being put to vote by millions of
Americans.
Mystic
Messages – Fundamentalism is
booming. 49% of Americans call
themselves “Born Again.” The
“Left Behind” series regularly tops the best-seller lists. And young people are very much a part
of this explosion. We predict
that major marketers will finally recognize this religious resurgence and will
develop products and services targeting this market. Jesus Barbie? Coca-Cola with religious messages on
their cans?
About Faith Popcorn’s
BrainReserve – Globally recognized
consumer Trend expert and marketing futurist Faith Popcorn founded her
consulting company, Faith Popcorn’s BrainReserve, in 1974. The
New
York firm guides companies in
understanding and anticipating consumer behavior and leveraging established
brands, new products and services to meet the needs of future customers. Faith Popcorn’s BrainReserve has
created strategic Trend-based solutions and provided FutureScapes for many
Fortune 500 clients, including: Campbell’s, Dial, Gillette,
Johnson & Johnson, MasterCard, Tylenol, Tyson, BMW, Bell Atlantic, GE
Capital, IBM, MetLife, Nabisco, and Pepsi/Lipton. Faith Popcorn’s BrainReserve is
defined by its TrendBank, and its 17 Trends that have been identified and
relentlessly monitored over the past
three decades. Each day,
multiple inputs arrive, and are synthesized into proprietary findings.
Our sources include: thousands of interviews with consumers and experts;
ongoing global media and cultural analysis; TrendTrek data; and reports from
all precincts of public and private life – the literary, scientific, medical,
romantic, retail. In a world where acceleration is the norm, and a sense of
cultural chaos pervades, the role of the Trends in organizing and making
coherent the world around us has never been more vital. Our TrendBank helps Faith Popcorn’s
BrainReserve to deploy a methodology that enables companies and brands to
ascertain the strategic direction they must pursue, by identifying the shapes
and colors of the future - its Trends, defining characteristics, and critical
attributes. The company operates with a core staff of 50
Trend-obsessed visionaries, and our TalentBank, a diverse roster of 8,000
influential global experts whose ideas shape society as we continue through
the new century’s first decade.