Ads: Quantifying Sellout Status
What's interesting about this story is they actually came up with a somewhat clever "Moby Quotient" calculator that allows the reader to extrapolate a sell-out quotient for any ad of their choosing. The variables you enter include Disconnect (how lame the brand is), Sacredness (how legendary the song is), Origins (how anti-establishment the artist is purported to be), Reputation, Artist Wealth (do they really need the money?), and Time (how long its been since the artist was relevant). Hit 'enter' and, voila, it spits out a number called the Moby Quotient: the higher the number, the more the artist sold out.
It's a fun idea, but upon closer look our bullshit detector started twitching. While nothing more than a completely subjective exercise, it's still an amusing way to mull over the merits of greedy capitalism over artistic merit, and if a combination of the two could ever be reconciled. We'll leave you with the below clip: is seminal shoegazer band Lush selling out one of their illest songs ever, or is it just, straight up, a badass jeans commercial?
