Erin Hooley/AP
Back in 1972, there was an advertising campaign for a consumer audio company. It tried to get the public to believe that its cassette tapes were the AI (before AI, of course) of the sound-quality business. The campaign’s tagline was a simple question: “Is it live or is it Memorex?
The challenge put forth in the campaign: What do you believe? Is what we are showing you real? Do you believe your own eyes?
Because of how iconic it became and how it transcended marketing and expanded into areas of psychology and human rationale, the campaign grew beyond being what was “live” or not and into what is “real” or not.