Is it one of those viral marketing sort of things, or what? Not that I have a coin to phrase, but rather that I like one that I read about in today's Financial Times. {Ed. If you're wondering why I'm suddenly citing FT articles, well, we recently got a subscription to the paper at the Cake Eater Pad. It's a good deal, too. Six days a week at $100/yr. My fellow Twin Cities residents who are frustrated with the Strib might want to look into this option.} The phrase in question: neo-Croms.

{...}Mr Flatters, chief executive of Future Foundation, the research group, thinks a tendency to take a po-faced attitude to the indulgences of others is on the increase. He has even turned this into a trend: the rise of the neo-Croms - short for neo-Cromwellians, in a nod to the censorious 17th century English statesman.

Neo-Croms support curtailing the consumption of alcohol, smoking, rich foods and some technology on health grounds and patronage of SUVs, budget airlines and mass tourism on environmental ones. To their critics, however, they seem keenest on regulating other people.

Mr Flatters said: "There is a culture out there in favour of restricting other people's pleasures. If you're a smoker but don't drink, then you are quite happy to see regulation on drinking. This is an assault on pleasure and many businesses are likely to see more regulation."

Evidence for the prosecution include calls by neo-Croms for tighter regulation of advertising for fast food and children's brands in European markets; smoking bans in New York, the Irish Republic, Sweden, Norway and Italy; and protests against SUV sales.

The most jaw-dropping claim made by the Future Foundation is that in a poll of 1,000 UK adults, 30 per cent agreed that pregnant women should receive a police caution for smoking in public.{...}

The rest of the article ponders the wisdom of actually gearing marketing towards these neo-Croms. It seems this might just be a fad, instead of a trend. Hence, the backlash could be huge against companies who gear marketing campaigns toward these people.

Which is hopeful, no?

In any case, spread the phrase around. It deserves wider recognition and is much classier than "smoking Nazis."

Posted by: Kathy at 10:36 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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