Jennifer Government ****
By Max Barry
In "Jennifer Government," the business of America is business--with a vengeance. The book opens with a marketing plan to drive up the price of Nikes by withholding the supply until demand is whipped to a fever pitch, and then float rumors that a few will be released to select stores at $1,000 a pair. In reality, stores will be flooded with the things, and the company will make a killing--quite literally. Because part of the marketing scheme includes liquidating a few low-income kids who will supposedly be killed for their shoes, thus making the products literally "to die for."
Jennifer Government, a former advertising exec turned government agent (everybody takes the company name as their surname in this book), is out to stop Nike, but uncovers a much larger plot between two customer loyalty programs out to force big companies to choose sides and create mega-monopolies, which make the Nike shoe plot look positively quaint.
Like all dystopians, this one is a cautionary tale that warns about the insidiousness of advertising, marketing and explores the nature of brand loyalty beyond reason. It's what real marketers and advertisers are studying up on right now.
It's also an indictment of the work ethic that pushes people to be available to their jobs 24/7--they pretty much have to in order to pay the fees it takes to get medical care, police protection, and use the roads--things that used to be funded before taxation was abolished.
The world Max Barry has created seems outlandish, but eerily familiar. That's because he hasn't pushed the boundaries of current reality all that far.
Jumpy narrative style adds tension and excitement to the final chapters.
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