Tru:Blood, Strigoi Vii, Sanguinarian Consumer Receptiveness
A recent post at one of the multitudinous news and blog feeds which I follow mentioned a say-it-ain’t-so sad-but-truism of advertisement in the 21st century: whatever it is, whatever the advertisement, there is a consumer waiting to see something to trigger the inevitable purchasing impulse.
Exhibit A: Tru:Blood Advertisement
Distribution: Print / Website TrueBeverage.com
Actual Product: True Blood (Television Series at HBO)
[The advertising agency promoting True Blood] … executed a sequence of print and out-of-home advertisements that promoted the pseudo-blood beverage in the form of a contemporary liquor ad, replete with phrases that echo the ubiquitous “Drink Responsibly” tagline used on all alcoholic packaged drinks. The campaign proved to be so realistic that would-be consumers showed up in liquor stores asking for the TRU BLOOD beverage, with the expressed desire to purchase it.
- This Blood’s For You by David Burn of AdPulp.com
Laudable? If an advertisement for a fictitious product can drive demand, it deserves credit in its own right.
Laughable? The issue at hand – who would want to buy a synthetic blood beverage – is ostensibly great comedy and, ultimately, even better Schadenfreude (if one considers the plight of those who lack satisfaction in their lives to the point of drinking blood for kicks).
Fascinated by the market for Tru:Blood, I performed the usual extent of hack research to unearth the Strigoi Vii – a cultish crossbreed of chaos magicians and sanguinarians – whose epithet translates from Romanian to “living vampire witches”.
In their own words:
For the last millennia since the end of the days of traditional Khem, better know as today as Ancient Egypt, the Strigoi Vii have been in the shadows, working in secrecy on a solitary basis with Our ancestors. However, all of this is changing now. With the guidance of Our Ancestors, a new generation of The Family is finally deliberately reveling Our collective heritage. We are gathering together and slowly coming out of the shadows in order to take part in the future and embrace Our past as one.
- What is Strigoi Vii? by Mael of the StrigoiVii.org Forums
The inappropriate use of capitalization hearkens back to a conversation I had not so long ago and prompted me to explore more Strigoi Vii personalities…
Exhibit B: Raving Gothic Lunatics
Meet the Strigoi Vii of House Sahjaza
Assumed names and selected quotations from members’ personal statements…
Attention, Vampire Hunters: Pictures may be found at the House Sahjaza site.
- Goddess Rosemary – “I have a cat named Ms. Kitty who is the Mother of the Temple Cats, and my companion an Australian cattle dog named Merlin”
- Black Raven – “Since his awakening in 1998, Thomas the Black Raven has been involved in the vampyre scene in numerous ways.”
- Madame Webb – “I am an enigma. I do not fit into mundane society’s labelled categories.”
- Undercurrent – “Undercurrent’s path is one of a Dark Pagan and Nocturnal Witch with an emphasis on Alchemy, Chaos Magick, Egyptian Mysteries, Hermetic, Sacred Geometry, and of course Strigoi Vii.”
- Fra. Akira Dacophanos – “I currently reside in the Sunset Halo (South Florida), where I work as a freelance graphic designer as well as retail.”
- Demonica A. Nightshade – “I am a mother of three beautiful sons, who are my dayside inspiration to better myself. I currently share my twilight with my new love, Stryder, who has been and continues to be everything I have searched for in a companion.”
- Septymus Spyder – “The following is an excerpt from the upcoming novel ‘The Spider’s Web’…”
There is, without a doubt, a thriving market for Tru:Blood – should it ever be produced.
In the meantime, one can only hope that those interested in drinking synthetic blood will sate their appetites with each others’ plasma.
Strigoi Vii is serious business.
