The Uzbek Barber Advertising Principle
In the Upper West Side of Manhattan, where the conservative movement is confined to my Uzbek barber, political advertisements are thriving. From a bus stop billboard, Manhattan Mini Storage asks, “Is your closet scarier than Bush’s agenda?” Elsewhere, it’s an announcement: “Your closet’s so narrow it makes Dick Cheney look liberal.” A coffeeshop hosts a storefront display of “Global Warming” and “Disappearing Civil Liberties” coffee mugs. And a phone company offers some version of this: “Psst. Upper West Side latte-drinker. You’re liberal and we love you for it.” For a time I wondered why competitive companies would risk turning off whole segments of their market. But I quickly came to understand that one Uzbek barber is, sadly, not market enough. Unless, of course, it’s a market for mutton.
