The Gui­tar

Our magic indus­try is gover­ned by the magic dea­lers. Ima­gine a (magic) world wit­hout our dea­lers. It would be drea­rily and bor­ing. Only half the fun.

But also, with the dea­lers came the trade-spe­ci­fic copy. They deve­lo­ped it almost into an art form of decei­ving the pro­s­pec­tive cus­to­mer. A spe­cial way of describ­ing pro­ducts in order to drag the cus­to­mer into buy­ing it. Most of that copy is kno­wingly mis­lea­ding and accen­tua­tes unim­portant facts whilst hiding important facts.

Surely you are more or less fami­liar with the „dea­ler speak“ by now. But it takes years to learn it. In these lear­ning years, you pay your tri­bute and learn by trial and error. It usually takes a long time and costs a lot of money.

guitar

Here is my per­so­nal hack for that, and one that really shor­tens the way. Sim­ply ima­gine being in a music shop. Then ima­gine fur­ther you want to buy a gui­tar. Then apply the usual „magic dea­ler speak“ to it:

„Never before seen!“
„Secret for first time ever revealed!“
„Play it within a few minutes!“
„No skill requi­red! Self-playing!“
„Unpack and play it!“
„No strings, no cor­pus, no hid­den sounds.“
„No tuning necessary!“
„Can be played any­where, anytime!“
„Can play in any tune!“
„Easy to reset!“
„Spec­ta­tors will be asto­nis­hed when they hear you with it!“
„Per­fect for kid shows, trade shows, in fact, any audience!“
„Ideal clo­ser for any act!“
„Packs small, plays big!“

Would you really buy that gui­tar? Or would you just sim­ply ask dif­fe­rent and more important ques­ti­ons about it?

I stop­ped belie­ving the magic dealer’s adver­ti­sing and copy. No mat­ter how hard they try and how devious the copy is.

I don’t believe any­thing anymore.

Period.