Strategically Communicating

In the NPR segment “What is Poppy?” reporter Scott Simon introduced (to me at least) the world of Poppy, YouTube phenomenon and recent Breakthrough Artist award winner at the 7^th annual Streamy Awards.

With over 200 million views, Poppy has attracted a passionate following, also known as Poppy Seeds who seek to find answers to who and more importantly what is Poppy?

For all intents and purposes, Poppy is the brainchild of the director Titanic Sinclair and Moirah Pereira, a platinum blonde, white woman with a very youthful appearance. Videos include “I am Poppy” where she literally says, “I am Poppy” repeatedly and “Poppy Eats Cotton Candy” a 90-second video of, you guessed it, Poppy eating cotton candy! Her demeanor is robotic and obedient, reminiscent of a science fiction where a pubescent boy build his perfect girlfriend.

The work is creative, albeit bland, and provides an interesting commentary on life (and love) in the digital age where we are only beginning to build relationships with objects. Is it any wonder why Siri, Alexa, and Cortana are all female? They are calm, polite, helpful, and do what they’re told, all in a female voice. Poppy is the physical embodiment of these voices. Let’s hope as technology progresses, so does our picture of what an assistant should be.

“I’m from the Internet,” Poppy says in the interview – the only place she could possible exist, for now at least.