Marketing creativity as a commodity

There are major errors with this thinking. One error is that completing a PhD in creative writing or photography means that the student is more creative or even smarter. It may mean that the successful doctorate student will be able to teach at a university and further indoctrinate students in to the commodification of creativity but that’s about all.

Unfortunately it’s a fact universally known but not much hawked about by university marketers, that less than 1 per cent of all students in the creative industries will be “famous” (another commodification term) by completing a university degree.

And contrary to popular opinion, corporate Australia doesn’t have much need for “creative personalities”. It has a great need for people who can think strategically, write with brevity and clarity and show up on time.

Today the trend is not for blancmange curriculums such as the creative industries has produced but for specialisations. In polite terms the convergence of mediums has not only “zapped a lot of people’s brains” but it has also created a forum where concepts such as “creativity” are opium to the masses.

Less ethical employers in the electronic games industry rely on this narcotic to get students to work 50 to 60 hours in their computer labs with the promise of fame and fortune.

Students should go back to first principles and think critically in their own fields, whether it’s photography, music or writing, rather than taking a smorgasbord approach to intellectual and vocational study.