I saw a movie trailer in my mind this past Friday the 13th as I ended up pondering if the movie “Jason Meets The Muppets” would get the green light.
It’s really not as crazy as you think considering we are living in a “Sequel Economy” with an ESG driven future.
The main character from the Friday the 13th franchise, Jason Voorhees, has been nearly all the same places The Muppets have been – a boat, Manhattan and even Space. If Marvel Universe and DC Comics can collide a fantasy movie, I get to pick and choose my cross-over Hollywood fantasies too.
Mark my words class, the major motion picture of Jason Meets The Muppets On Friday The 13th would be bigger than Tiger King. Just imagine Beeker running away from the masked man with an appropriate expression. And the Swedish’s Chef‘s sound bytes while “being written off” would be epic.
So what exactly is a “Sequel Economy”? Simply put, it’s understanding how we get Friday the 13th Part Ten funded. You know the sequel where Jason Goes to Outer Space.
Transparency time. I love all Friday the 13th movies. They are Crap-tastic. Just campy and scary enough to take me on a quick rollercoaster of thrills, chills, spills, comedy and total escapism. When I watch Friday the 13th, I know it’s so outrageous, it’s fake enough to truly let me escape from reality. Although Jason in Space is really more documentary than fiction with all their “science” and “techno gadgets” that show us how the Earth’s cryogenically frozen undead ended up in Galaxy Zarnon 6.
I really wish I could have been in that pitch meeting. In my mind, the pitch opens with listing all the places the Muppets and Jason have mutually been… except one place is missing. That one missing place is Space. Outer Space. I mean it was the only logical next step for a supernatural hockey mask killer from Camp Crystal Lake. Tom Brady already locked up the NFL Fox gig and Wendy Byrd took over the Ozarks.
The Sequel Economy is about understanding how brands are built, fake news is created and people in power use your tax dollars to keep your mind and body suppressed while you work. In the old days before smart phones and Internet, the government just told you to whistle while you work. Now workers just watch TikTok videos, listen to podcasts and post social media pics with filters to replace the whistling.
Check out this Sequel Economy in NIL land and who is the one who is judged for their work after the headline uses the ESG Sequel Economy.
Deion Sanders’ son, Jackson State’s QB, signs a NIL deal with Tom Brady
Here’s his Gatorade NIL deal, where we are introduced to his name, but it’s bookended with Deion and Gatorade. The sound byte in regular bar room shouting is “Deion’s son signs with Gatorade”.
Deion Sanders’ son, Shedeur, signs deal with Gatorade
NILs at the root and core are meant to be empowering, uplifting and even educational. However, NILs are in it’s infant stages and are currently being abused, used and losed right now. It’s the wild wild west in NIL Land and how college kids are getting paid. (NIL is Name Image and Likeness)
Where’s the oversight? Who’s in charge? Check out that headline again. It’s ESG baby. At the core, ESG should correct that headline in the media industry if it cares about mental health. If it cares about fairness and equality. If it cares about the empowerment. Because that headline doesn’t even mention the person who is the recipient of the NIL for the university.
If anyone cares about the actual private citizen who is the contributing his skills at quarterback for the public university while getting Tom Brady’s PPP-government money while having the public university’s coach mentioned, it’s Shedeur Sanders.
See how hard it is for Shedeur Sanders to have his own identity.
I suppose the headline “Shedeur Sanders Gets NIL Deal” wouldn’t jive enough with Google’s Al-Gore-Rhythm, or the newspaper headline didn’t have enough “name recognition”.
Would Shedeur Sanders have gotten the NIL deal if he wasn’t Deion Sanders Part 2? Would Tom Brady have had money to spend on a NIL if his bank wouldn’t have given his company PPP money? Why not say BRADY instead of Tom Brady? Why is Jackson State mentioned in the headline while Shedeur Sanders name is omitted? These are all questions the ESG Police are supposed to ask to protect Shedeur from predatory bankers, media jackals, government suppression and wealthy elitists profiting off someone’s hard work.
But wait, that’s just one example. Now check out how Fox News Corporation views the relationship with Deion Sander’s, the NIL Suitors and Jackson State University in comparison to the one who the story is actually about, and who will be judged for their performance on the field.
This exercise will take a look at Shedeur’s NIL deal with Dr. Dre and Beats Headphones. This headline is for sure going to mention Shedeur in the headline, I mean one of the real stories is that this is the FIRST NIL deal for Dr. Dre and Beats. The first. That’s huge news in many industry circles. Check out this Headline by Fox Business.
Deion Sanders’ son inks NIL deal with Beats by Dre
The secondary headline is even better. It reports that he is starting for Jackson State. In fact, this headline says quite a bit if you read “between the lines” and is also in your face if you play the exercise “follow the money”. Not to mention amount of Fake News or Confusion created about Shedeur playing basketball due to the video package still showing March Madness instead of anything football. For a media organization to do this, it is down right unprofessional and sloppy or sponsored. Or both.
Truth be told, Shedeur Sanders is a legit baller. If I was a reporter still, I’d simply write that he is the son of Jackson State coach and Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders. He led Jackson State (11-2) to its first Celebration Bowl appearance and threw for 3,231 yards and 30 touchdowns en route to being named FCS freshman of the year.
But how many other FCS athletes have huge major NIL deals? Plural, not singular. Did Dr. Dre endorse Shedeur because of who Shedeur is or because of who is father Mr. Prime Time was? If you still disagree with how the Sequel Economy works, go read those headlines about Shedeur Sanders and his hard work again that doesn’t mention him in it.
Did you even notice that everyone mentioned in the Deion Sanders’ son, Jackson State’s QB, signs a NIL deal with Tom Brady story is funded by the government? Coach Deion gets a paycheck from the public university Jackson State which is funded by the tax payers and Tom Brady’s company BRADY got PPP money. The only one who is really funding this with original tax money is Shedeur, and he isn’t even mentioned. This is a fantastic exercise to illustrate how Shedeur’s labor starts the new ESG Economy and the government paid employees get all the credit, attention and limelight from the media as the ones who made all this feel-goodery happen.
Name-dropping headlines and Following the Money exercises are just a couple examples of why so many are starting to question if the “S” in ESG really stands for “Subjective”. Not all damage is traffic accidents and emission standards. Nope, there’s a sea of mental health issues, from stigma to social media, being creating right now by The Sequel Economy and ESG is fueling it rather than correcting it.
One reason is that the majority of people in today’s world are just Headline Readers (or Skimmers) at best. Even people who “read” stories are just skimming them for key words and phrases. Those headline examples reeks of the “Sequel Economy” from money to brands to idol worshiping to entitlements to PPP Money to Prime Time Playa Profits. It’s the Grand Slam of ESG Headlines without a shadow of a doubt.
Politicians, Corporations and Banks have been working so close over the past several decades that many believe the government no longer serves the people. Only a handful of wealthy elitists using politicians and appointed leaders to secure economic development dollars, political pork and non profit grants for their chosen ones. ESG is supposed to prevent this, however, it appears to be channeling new innovation ideas, investments and ideologies into a few funnels for the wealthy, corrupt and career politicians.
Part Two of the Sequel Economy is the people. Friday the 13th tried to bring in a new Jason in part 5, but it failed. Days of our Lives has been so progressive with the ESG Sequel Economy that the part of Roman Brady is now played by John Black.
Then in a bit of a twist, or true ESG Sequel Economy, when the grass wasn’t greener on the other side and the entitled Roman Brady wants his job back, the ESG Sequel Economy accommodates.
In fact, the John Black guy did such a great job with playing the role of Roman Brady, he got demoted to being John Black when the original actor wanted his job and fame back. After my college girlfriend dumped me I stopped watching Days of our Lives by osmosis, but I understand Marlena was possessed by the devil and there is now a new Roman Brady… which would make him Roman Brady Part 4 or 5 I guess.
We see this in business all the time. I’ve seen it first hand in my home state of North Dakota, in industry and in the federal government.
North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum is publicly being accused of using his position in power to direct dollars through a variety ways, one being a PAC. PAC stands for Political Action Committee
According to campaign finance records, available on the North Dakota Secretary of State’s website, Burgum has personally donated nearly $1 million in the past month (April) to the Dakota Leadership PAC, a multi-candidate committee that spent nearly $3.5 million on advertising in 2020.
That kind of ESG Sequel Economy money buys all kinds of advertisements, content creation and decision-maker access. The Sequel Economy also produces Spin-Off Economies too. Here’s a teaser for an upcoming ESG University Feature that will help illustrate how a Spin-Off Economy is created.
In fact, the chairman of North Dakota’s Democratic-NPL Party Patrick Hart is criticizing Republican Gov. Doug Burgum for wanting “to buy his own government” through donations to a political group that has targeted GOP races.
“The governor likes to pretend that he’s some average North Dakotan, wearing his undirtied Carhartt for every ad he runs, but regular North Dakotans can’t donate millions of dollars to their own political action committee,” Democratic-NPL Party Chairman Patrick Hart said in a statement Wednesday.
ESG University is currently working on a 4-part series scheduled for June 2022 identifying over 40 local political races in North Dakota where Governor Burgum is backing mayoral races, city and county commissions as well as other public officials with local control decision making dollars.
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Still think I am jealous or bitter or crying over spilled milk? Naw, just understanding what Nikola Tesla, Dave Chappelle and whoever invented Beta Max were asking – Does merit even matter anymore?
There is a movement for transparency and many people working within the walls and halls of governments are not happy. Many government workers are now actively working against the people paying their salary in order to hide their favoritism for special interests groups they prefer politically. Furthermore, millions of Americans saw bankers pick winners and loser during the PPP COVID Pandemic debacle. Now as information is coming out of who got what money where, millions of Internet viewers are watching more and more videos of people exposing their local government’s Good Old Boy Economies.
Excuse me, “Good Old Boys” is so 1980’s. I mean Partner Channel. Wait, that’s the 1990’s. How about Vertical Integration, no that’s the 2000’s. Ah… “Networking“, that’s what they call this old-school-grafting behavior today. Networking is just a diluted form of the Good Old Boys club with cadets, managers, government affairs and economic developers representing the Good Old Boys’ interests.
Name recognition and access are critical in an ESG economy. What is the value in Government Decision Maker Access who direct dollars to who they want? In my home state of North Dakota they showed the world what kind of value several non-elected public officials can have when they directed COVID Pandemic Dollars to out-of-state corporations rather than mom-and-pop small businesses.
In Season 4 of Ozark, Wendy Byrd utters the new iconic phrase for the new ESG economy – “Image is Everything”. Gordon Gecko said “Greed is Good” in Wall Street, then Tony Soprano dumped gas on that phrase with cigars, C-Notes and everyday Lexus vehicles. Then Wendy Byrd came along and just added a gorgeous accessory with her icing on the cake.
Then again, now that the Feds have pumped trillions of digital dollars into the marketplace there’s no need for natural resources backing our dollar, just family names and celebrity endorsements.
Truth be told class, I am starting to wonder if a marketplace based on natural resources, merit and excellence in execution is gone. Rather, America is turning into the land of Who’s Private Jet You Fly On Part 2 and What Family You Were Born Into Part 4.
Class dismissed til next week.
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ESG University Classroom Column is written by Jason Spiess and no way reflects the mission or position of his other media companies. ESG University is an educational paper with classic newspaper op/ed elements sprinkled in. Because of this, we must categorize the column as Opinion and Editorial and run this disclaimer.
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