I listen to LOTS of online marketing advice. Some of my favorite is the, “Be edgy and controversial” advice.
Why?
Because it’s FUN to be controversial. Advice like this allows me an excuse to produce wacky online videos and call it “productive work,” rather than “goofing off and being weird.”
Anytime I can combine being goofy with being productive I am in hog heaven. So I happily used the Presidential Inauguration as an excuse to produce a new Grandma Crabby video. Grandma Crabby is my off-the-wall comedic character who likes to tell it like it is. She is tired of “positive spin” being passed off as truth. She is a die-hard patriot who still worships at the mantle of FDR. (Yes, she is OLD. Actually, she is 115 years old and knew Teddy Roosevelt. As a little girl, she is the one who handed him a big stick and told him to walk softly with it!)
However, my joy at having the opportunity to be a You Tube comedienne is tempered by doubt. Should I really be doing this? How much controversy is good and how much is bad? Will I be so controversial that people will hate me? Refuse to work with me? Think me nuts? I realize any of those outcomes is a distinct possibility. I do Grandma videos anyway. Pushing the envelope is in my DNA. (I also did a naked alien newscaster character that was perhaps even more ripe for criticism.)
Grandma Crabby will no doubt win me both fans and enemies. The question is how many of each? On many of the political blogs I frequent, Grandma is well received as a wise, old, whack-job commentator. (No the two things are NOT mutually exclusive!) But, I have been told point blank by some people that I am a fool to do Grandma Crabby videos and try to run an online business at the same time. She pokes people in the wrong way, they tell me. She talks politics and religion, no-no topics for polite society. Business burning topics. In other words, she is TOO controversial.
Well, maybe they are right. I am asking for your opinion. I want to know what you think.
Stubborn fool that I can be, I have decided that even if Grandma hampers some of my business efforts and loses me some customers, she will help win others so I am willing to risk it. Plus, I am a firm believer in speaking up for truth, justice and the American way. For me, mouthing off as Grandma Crabby is the most fun way to do that. I am not one to cower in the corner, afraid of the powers that be. That attitude won me tons of admirers among the rank-and-file at the TV station where I worked but management hated me, which truly made my life there more difficult.
Of course I have doubts on other levels as well. I worry that Grandma is not really funny; she’s just stupid. I feel insecure that people will not be laughing WITH me, they will be laughing AT me. I definitely look pretty ridiculous in that blue yarn wig. And when taping granny, I make a point of screwing my face up as much as possible to emphasize my double chin and look silly, old and ugly. (I DID not do the same when taking the photo I use on my eHarmony profile.)
Oh well. It wouldn’t be the first time I made a goof of myself. I’ll survive even if the worst happens. My tombstone will probably read, “She laughed at EVERYTHING, even stuff that wasn’t really funny.” That’s ok by me.
So leave your opinion down below. How much controversy is good? Are any topics off limits? Is the business world big enough for all viewpoints? Is the “Be Yourself” mantra really good advice or should it really be, “Be yourself as long as it doesn’t piss anybody else off?”
Can we as people look beyond our philosophical differences and still get along? I think we can. Grandma Crabby is my way of trying to prove it.
Thanks for reading Video Production Tips
Lorraine Grula
Internet Video Gal
AKA Grandma Crabby
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15 Comment(s)
By Richard Day on | Reply
It is funny. Not hold my sides funny, but worth watching.
I must admit, that I was trying to determine if it was you in the video…that was before I read the post.
Hell yes, make these videos if you enjoy making them.
Here are a couple of suggestions:
1) You might make the videos and post them on YouTube and the 30 other video sharing sites with links to VideoProductionTips.com but don’t put the video on your site.
This may help your credibility on your site, and still let you blow off steam.
2) You might consider making the videos blasting both the right AND the left. Let’s face it, our country is ideologically divided about 50/50.
If you poke just one side, you might lose the other. (I just watched the video again and it does hit both sides, but it isn’t as balanced as you could make it.)
Just one persons’s thoughts.
By Internet Video Gal on | Reply
Hey Richard.
Thanks for the thoughts! I am so glad to know that you did not recognize me as Grandma. I try real hard to make her goofy looking and of course in real life, I try real hard to NOT be goofy looking! I often wonder how well that trick works!
I agree with all your thoughts. I do try to poke fun at both sides. For several reasons. Biggest is that both sides DESERVE it. I am an ideologue, not a partisan if that distinction makes any sense. Both sides are nuts!
By Teri Thomas on | Reply
Well, Richard took the words right out of my… er, typing fingers! I too was trying to determine if it was you, until I read your post. I think videos like this add an extra dimension to people you’re getting to know on the Internet, and I think that’s a good thing. It’s fun to see the ways in which people let their hair down, and to see their human side as opposed to the buttoned up business side we normally see.
I really liked your bit about flushing Bush and Cheney down the toilet – but I’m sure I’d feel differently if I were a diehard republican. Hmmm… that’s a touchy one, isn’t it? If your video had been pro-Bush and anti-Obama, especially if it had gone into some of the absurd anti-Obama stuff I’ve seen, then I’d probably think less of you and maybe even stop watching your videos. So maybe someone with conservative views would feel that way about this video. But would it affect them enough to end the business relationship? Hard to say.
Do we stop a business relationship with someone whose views are different? I guess it would depend on HOW different. I have an Internet friend in Kentucky who sends me religious (Christian) emails occasionally, and conservative stuff too. I decided to just ignore that stuff and let the business relationship stand.
So, I vote for “Go ahead and do ‘em!” But I agree with Richard about putting them up separately on Youtube, etc., with a link back to your Video Production site, but not put them directly on your site, to maintain your credibility there.
By Internet Video Gal on | Reply
Hi Teri.
Thanks so much for the thoughts. I must confess, one reason I am “brave” enough to do these videos is because I know Bush’s approval rating is 22% and Cheney’s a dismal 13%. So I am in the majority and you can never please everybody!
Lorraine
By Teri Thomas on | Reply
For what it’s worth, I am with you 100% in saying “Good riddance!” to Bush and Cheney!!
By Internet Video Gal on | Reply
Yes indeed! Seeing the crowd’s at yesterday’s inauguration brought joy to my heart. To quote former president Reagan, it’s morning in America.
I read an article about a huge balloon with a Pinocchio nose dressed like Bush near the white house and everybody was throwing shoes at it. Article said even the secret service guys tossed a few! Cracked me up.
I do not think Obama is any kind of saint, but I do think he is quite brilliant and his heart is in the right place. That’s all you can ever ask for. I wish him luck. He has a big job to do.
By Bryce on | Reply
Ok, enough with the Bush Bashing!! He’s safely landed in Texas and he’s doesn’t have his fingers on any buttons the might launch missles.
The only poll that’s lower than Bush’s ratings is Congress, which is controlled by the democrats.
Here’s something to think about
If you had to have an operation, would you want a seasoned doctor, or someone who lectures on how to do operations, but has never done one? What if his or her speaches were moving and inspiring?
If you ran a company and wanted to hire someone to take charge and run it for you, would you look for someone who’d actually run a company and had a track record of success or would you choose a lecturer who’d never had to make financial decisions or run a budget?
Now think about who you just voted for and who got swore into office and tell me you’d choose that person to do your operation or run your company and manage YOUR money.
I wasn’t a big fan of McCain either, but saw him simply as the lesser of two problems.
Fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy Obama ride!!!
By Internet Video Gal on | Reply
Hi Bryce
Thanks for the thoughts!
Congress poll numbers are very low indeed. I think they deserve it. I think they are do-nothings. (For the most part.) Cheney’s poll numbers are much lower than Bush’s. 22% and 13% I believe. Of course it is also true that the dems have only had control of congress for a little while. I think a lot of the ill feelings are for congresses past, dem and repub. Back in the 80′s when dems had control for quite a while, they screwed it up royally and were basically run out of town. Just because I do not like George or Dick does not mean I like the dems.
You make a point of experience but how much experience did Bush have when you voted for him? If the press had been honest, they would have reported that he had spent most of his life boozing and being a spoiled rich kid. He had FAILED in virtually everything he had every done. He had run several companies into the ground after those companies were handled to him on a silver platter because of who he was. I think he did the same with our country.
John McCain may have more years of experience, but I was not always impressed with what he had done with it. He had enough “experience” to know that the economy was sound? He said so right before the crash started. Me, on the other hand, who has no governmental experience, had been telling friends for two years that the housing market was going to crash. I saw that coming a mile away. Lots of people did.
Obama may not have as many years experience as some but I do think he is incredibly bright, which might be of more value than experience. The experience he does have is extremely impressive in my opinion.
I do not think he is any kind of saint or savior. I laughed hysterically when Jon Stewart asked him, “When are you going to break our hearts?” because I am sure after all this build up, we will come out disappointed in the end. The question is to what degree?
Again, thanks for stopping by and offering a comment. I truly believe that agree or disagree, we are all in this together and we all need to get along and respect each other. In the end, most of these events and circumstances are WAY beyond our individual control so I do not lie awake worried about it. Amongst individual people, it is fairly irrelevant because whatever you and I do (or don’t do) together will not impact this sort of thing. So you and I can get along in spite of the fact that we disagree quite strongly.
There are many things to talk about besides politics. How’s the weather were you live? It is an INCREDIBLE day here, nearly 70 degrees! I have one 21-year old daughter and a dog named Sweetheart. What about you?
Have fun my dear. May you achieve great success and happiness!
Lorraine
By Susan on | Reply
Having seen several of the Grandma Crabby videos, I say I certainly HOPE you keep doing them. Perhaps as Richard suggests, you might post them on youtube with a link back to your website, rather than posting them on your website. That would lessen any negative impact the videos might have. Yet it seems a good idea to me to have a sample of what can be done in the web site. Sometimes decisions are complicated.
On the political side, I do feel that at this point, whether one is an Obama admirer or not, he needs our support & prayers to begin the process of turning our fine nation back around.
Here’s to 70 degree days in January!
By Thom McFadden on | Reply
What a hoot, you go girl. Please make more, we need laughter and GrandMa sure gives that. LOL
By Logan Seale on | Reply
As they say, any publicity is good publicity. Why not make them, they’re funny enough(and funny is HARD), makes your political position clear, but more importantly makes you look like the kind of interesting person who could (can) create a video that’s entertaining. Makes me want to try something like.
Thanks!
By Internet Video Gal on | Reply
Hey Logan.
Oh honey….THANKS! Your comment made my day!
If you want to try something like it, I’m here to help!
Luv,
Granny
AKA Lorraine
Internet Video Gal
By Alissa Crands on | Reply
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By Internet Video Gal on | Reply
Honey, I wish I could be in San Francisco for the 4th. Sounds like a totally awesome time. I’ll think of you!
Thanks
Lorraine