Wednesday, April 18, 2007

The Secret?

Dear Oprah,

Now that it's been 3 months since you showed the world The Secret, how's it going?

After millions of copies have been sold, and millions of people testifying to its greatness, tell me - how many people have been promoted? Has the sale of luxury cars and homes increased exponentially? Has the divorce rate dropped? How many home businesses were started? And, has there been a dramatic increase in tourism?

What? I don't understand. But all these people had to do was buy the book or DVD and think about what they wanted and because of the Law of Attraction, they'd get what they wanted. It happened to the people you showed. You even devoted 2 full episodes to The Secret.

But did you think that people would buy into your endorsement and The Secret and that they would quit their cancer treatment to heal themselves? It happened. And you had to do another show to clarify your opinion of The Secret. You were very supportive in the first two shows, but by the third show, you said it was "just a tool". How does that make your viewers feel?

First, it was the greatest thing since sliced bread and then you said, "I want to say it's a tool. It is not the answer to everything. It is not the answer to atrocities or every tragedy. It is just one law. Not the only law. And certainly, certainly, certainly not a get-rich-quick scheme. The law of attraction is a tool that can help you decide what you want your life to be, and then begin to help you focus on making the best choices through action to create that life."

Don't you feel that you mislead your viewers just a tad way back in January? Sure you can change your mind, but you influenced millions of people to spend the money on the book or DVD, and now, you're not as supportive. And the book is still on the best seller lists.

It was because of this subject, that I stopped being a viewer. I am using those weekday hours more productively, and that is my secret.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow. Very well written. I very rarely watch Oprah, so have not heard of "the secret". But someone recently gave me a pirated copy of a DVD called just that. I have no idea what it is....they just gave it to me. I went online to find the storyline and there's a whole bunch of movies by that name. I have yet to watch it and see, so I wonder if that's what it is.
But you're right. Oprah has more influence than she realizes I think, so should put more thought in before endorsing something so strongly. I suspect she got a lot of flack and that's why she's back pedalling.

Way Out Wear said...

Thanks Endako Jo - from what I understand, the concepts in The Secret are not new, just gleaned from a variety of sources. So they just saved you the time of doing all the research yourself. I think I got turned off by the whole marketing campaign and agree that Oprah should be more careful about something she likes - those five little letters stuck on a product make many dollars of difference. And with power, comes responsibility.

Anonymous said...

BRILLIANT!
The second paragraph is sooo sarcastic. And then you just keep gettting better. VERY well written. Too bad no one will get it. They'll continue looking for the magic pill.

BRAVO to you My Little Corner. Extremely well done.


bye
UnderThere

Carol Browne said...

Blech. I stopped watching Oprah with the whole James Frey thing. I, on the other hand, liked The Secret, but I didn't see it on Oprah. While it's extremely focused on getting money and being extremely materialistic, I liked the references to the people from waaaaaay back when who thought positively. My understanding of the movie is that the universe is here to help me, and I don't have to fight against it. But, buying huge homes and getting tons of money just by thinking about it and by not taking any action is a joke. Also, for people to stop taking their medication on advice from Oprah or a movie? Not very responsible on Oprah's part or the individual's part.
There's information on wikipedia about it as well - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_%282006_film%29
There's a section titled, "Aggressive Marketing" that I found quite interesting.