So this has been making the rounds on Tumblr. The website, as the video explains, was set up to get its founder a job. What? I mean, what has the world come to that a guy with this many qualifications needs to sell himself as an employee for an unknown company via website? How is it that someone that skilled is denied work that much? Why is it that he then turns to viral media to give him a job? All of these questions and more swirl around in my head as I think about this bizarre situation.
And perhaps what's more startling is that Pacitti's use of the techniques of gestalt and wit and humor will probably help him get that job. That this move is so preposterous that its sheer oddness grabs the attention of the viewer. The website was probably designed to make people ask questions I asked above, and to watch the video and look at Pacitti's work in an attempt to find an answer of some kind.
The constant jokes Pacitti makes in the video explanation on the website keep the viewer's attention, and help the viewer stomach his depressing situation by making light of it. Were he to state only the facts, people might feel sorry for him and even share the link to his website out of pity, but certainly not in the numbers they have done. Everyone likes a good laugh, even (some would argue especially) if it is at another's expense. And so far this has worked. His campaign for work has gone viral, so that very few of the people I follow on Tumblr have not liked or reblogged it at one point or another. So his use of wit and humor will definitely help Pacitti in his attempt to reach a wider audience.
Once it has gone completely viral, media companies will have no choice but to hire him, since he is the ideal candidate: besides his vast education and media experience, he also knows how to manipulate the media enough to go viral twice. Since the knowledge of how to make something viral is something these media companies definitely want in order to increase their profits, they will hire him.
But I can't help but feel that Pacitti is wrong in his approach. It is blatantly desperate, attention-seeking, and almost stupid in its simplicity. Yes, it's clever and gets across a point, but it also opens him up to offers for the worst sorts of jobs. Where a demostration of his capabilities in a more serious or polished work would draw in more respectable groups, I worry that companies will take his desperation at face value and use it to take advantage of him.
In conclusion, I support him, great job on the wit and humor, he'll probably get the job, but does he want it?
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