As I wrote about last week, the homogenous quiz folks with the pre-fab questions - the ones who don't even recognize the central position of Philadelphia in the American history of the game on their site - are very much looking to worm their way into this city. There's a photo of the CEO at left. The creepy part is that it's a color photo...Or, as I imagine they look at it, they want to move into this "market." As you can see in this new Craigslist ad, they are looking for people to "sell their concept," perhaps former cruise ship DJs. (Nothing says spontaneous fun like the phrase "sell our concept!") One thing not on their list of preferences for quiz hosts is having any interest in trivia, nor the organic culture surrounding it.
I find something distasteful about this whole way of doing business, the bicoastal franchising and quiz homogeny and so forth. Hopefully so will Philadelphia bar owners and patrons. I would optimistically predict failure for these people in Philadelphia, the only city I know of where McDonald's franchises close down while corner sandwich shops thrive. Part of me would like to think that it's hard to repackage something organic as a new homogenous standard, but I'm also aware of the history of the fast food joint and mall and how this has crushed Main Street USA. I've seen a creep of chain stores and franchises into Center City which has severely changed the face of the city I grew up in, making it look more and more like any generic American Nowheresville. I continue to be amazed that Chili's, Applebee's and the like are all over Center City now.
This could go either way. "Think Globally, Quiz Locally."
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