The Cud

...At first I could see nothing, the hot air escaping from the chamber causing the candle flames to flicker, but presently, as my eyes grew accustomed to the light, details of the room within emerged slowly from the mist, strange animals, statues and gold ' everywhere the glint of gold. For the moment ' an eternity it must have seemed to the others standing by ' I was dumb with amazement, and when Lord Carnarvon, unable to stand the suspense any longer, inquired anxiously, 'Can you see anything?' it was all I could do to get out the words,

...Yes, wonderful things....

The above is Howard Carter's recollection of entering the tomb of Tutankhamen in 1922. It is the beautiful exaggeration of an extraordinary moment in history. Carter recreates the moment by combining descriptions of air, light and time to create a balance of suspense, and perfect resolution with his simple closing remark. On the other hand, this passage is wistful and corny. It may not have been in 1922, but is today. His construction of language and imagery may be one focus for critique, but it is the subject of the piece that draws out my cynicism. That gold no longer has the aura to beguile men.

In more than three thousand years between the burial of Tutankhamen in 1352BC and Carter's discovery, man added an extraordinary amount to the meaning of gold. Gold had first caught man's attention in Europe somewhere around 4000 BC, but was initially only used as a tool. It took 1000 years before The Egyptians and Sumer people of Southern Iraq began to cast and craft gold into jewelry. It was first used as a currency in the Middle East around 1500BC, and thereafter became the standard monetary unit of international trade. Pure Gold coins were minted in China (1091 BC), Lydia in Asia Minor (560BC), Rome (50BC), and in Venice and Britain with the Ducat and Florin respectively (1284 AD). In 1511, King Ferdinand of Spain commissioned the most ambitious action in the name of a metal. He instructed Spanish explorers to set their sights on the Western Hemisphere and "get gold". The instruction did not go unheeded, and led to the European colonization of the gold rich civilizations of Central and South Americas.

The 19th Century was the age of the Gold Rush, with discoveries leading to Rushes in North Carolina (1803), California (1848), Australia (1850), Nevada (1859), South Africa (1886), and the Yukon region of Canada and Alaska (1896). Note the locations of these Rushes. They all took place in remote geographic locations of developing nations. The event of a Gold Rush offered a new beginning or a way out of the daily grind for citizens and émigrés alike. Upon discovering gold in a creek bed near Bathurst, Edward Hargraves shared his prediction of the future with his guide, John Lister.

"This is a memorable day in the history of New South Wales. I shall be a baronet, you will be knighted, and my old horse will be stuffed, put in a glass case, and sent to the British Museum."

The history of gold is littered with similar outlandish hopes and legends of wealth and status. The Practice of Alchemy, Lasseter's Lost Reef, Lost Incan Cities of Gold, the Wreck of the General Grant, and the fate of vast quantities of stolen Nazi gold, are a few of the more famous examples. A more obscure instance of what men have done in the pursuit of gold, but one with a legacy that almost crosses into the realm of immortality, is the story of "Burro" Schmidt's tunnel. Schmidt was a gold prospector in California who discovered a rich deposit of gold ore in 1906 near Black Mountain, Garlock, California. The only access to the site was by donkey through a rough canyon trail. Rather than cart his precious cargo along this route, he set about digging a tunnel through the granite mountain to meet up with a more accessible route. This ambitious man flung himself at a stubborn corner of America for 32 years; using a pick, shovel, blasting dynamite, a wheelbarrow, an ore car, and a 4lb hammer, to carve 2,500 feet through Black Mountain. As with so many stories of this kind, the tunnel did not provide the path to fortune that Schmidt required, as it eventually opened out onto the sheer southern face of the Mountain. He did create a landmark that geologists claim may last as long as 500,000 years. Considering that it is estimated that no trace of the Great Wall of China will be left in a mere 250,000 years, his tunnel is testament to the allure that gold meant to men.

Since Carter's discovery, marketers have slowly hijacked the way we perceive and understand the world, mostly due to the increased presence of the mass media and the ease at which marketing information can be delivered and received. Countless brands, consumer products, services, loyalty programmes, and businesses today incorporate gold in their name, package, or marketing message. There are 4560 Australian business listings in the Yellow Pages with "Gold" or "Golden" in the title. There are 2128 Registered Trademarks in Australia that use the word gold, and there are more than 500 products in your local supermarket that have gold in their name. Countless products use the colour gold in their packaging. It is clear that both Small and Big Business alike feel that there is still significant value to be mined from this precious metal. Yet how many goods and services live up to the expectations of Howard Carter, or might inspire a man to challenge a mountain? Gold as a marketing device has promised so much, and is delivering less and less.

One of the most famous uses of Gold in Marketing is the American Express (AMEX) Gold card. Credit or charge cards were first offered to the general public in the 1950s and were instantly popular with wealthy people who enjoyed spending money. By the time of the AMEX launch in October 1958, more than 250,000 Americans had applied for a card. AMEX began their charge card service with an annual fee of $6, which was $1 higher than the eight'year old Diner's Club, for reasons of prestige. In keeping with this policy AMEX offered a Gold card in 1966, which was marketed as a premium product for wealthy people who liked to spend more money and look the part at the same time. The card offered customers double the spending power and credit facilities compared to the regular Green card, not to mention twice the annual fee. But the most significant point of difference with this card was the increased social standing a cardholder might claim just by being its custodian. The type of status that a Gold card might have cast upon its owner is evident in the AMEX advertising campaigns of the 1980s, where Gold cardholders were shown wantonly spending huge sums of money on luxury items. One advertisement showed a wealthy gentleman sprawled over the side of a rare Jaguar. The voice'over for this ad was, "For when you finally run into that 1953 XK120". Another advertisement depicted a wealthy businessman in a Jacuzzi complaining about having to prepare an acceptance speech for some fictional awards ceremony.

In the short term, messages like these must have made an impression. Other credit and charge card companies began offering Gold cards to compete with the AMEX Gold. By 1991, the credit card market was overflowing with Gold cards, with 23 million Gold VISA and Mastercard holders, and 6 million AMEX Gold cardholders.

Today, the requisite salary to become a gold credit cardholder is on par with the average Australian salary. How many average Australians run into exotic vintage sports cars? The benefits that come with the Gold card, aside from the larger annual fee, are so worthless they are laughable. There are two obvious differences in product offerings listed on the current online application forms for the AMEX Gold and standard "Blue" card that are offered to Australians. The first is a 1% lower interest rate for balance transfers, 4.99% compared with 5.99%. The second is the minimum income required for application, $40,000 compared with $25,000. There are other benefits hidden in the fine print, such as an increased rate of reward scheme points, additional insurance cover, and other cursory travel benefits, but if they were of much value, they would be among the first things advertised in the application form.

A response to the saturation of the market by Gold Cards was the introduction of the Platinum Card in 1984. However, I am not convinced that Platinum can be used in the same way as gold. Gold has such a potent historical meaning, but Platinum is too rare and mysterious to capture our attention in the same way. All the platinum ever mined would only fill a room with less than 25ft sides, so there is not a great deal to go around. Jason did not set out to recover a "Platinum Fleece". There is no "Lost City of Platinum". I have never heard of a "Platinum Rush". Most of us own a gold trinket of some sort. I own a pair of gold cuff links; you might own a gold ring, necklace or bracelet, maybe even a watch. We have all had a taste of gold, but Platinum is not something that we see or touch often. It is much more difficult to imagine what wealth something might bring, when we generally know so little about it. Platinum might be valuable, but just doesn't have the historical credentials.

The inability for other precious metals to inspire consumers is reinforced by the recent marketing strategies of credit card companies themselves. The 1999 Centurion Card release by AMEX is one such example. This Black Card, which was first rumored to exist early in the 1980s, and was partially exposed in a 1988 Wall Street Journal article, officially came out of the wallet in 1998 for Platinum cardholders who spent in excess of US$150,000 annually. The point of difference with the Black Card is that it is genuinely exclusive, rare and mysterious, with a reputation enhanced by years of apocryphal conjecture and speculation about its existence, along with its strict membership criteria. The status has nothing to do with its colour.

I have chosen to discuss the use of gold in credit card marketing, but the same deterioration of meaning can be seen in many other areas including sport, music and popular culture. How much greater celebration accompanies a single Olympic Gold Medal victory than 17 separate victories? In the music industry, gold album sales are good, but not great. Gold prospecting is a practice continued by a few die'hards in places like outback Western Australia. Otherwise prospecting is a subject that is relegated to history books, or articles in men's magazines. Will there ever be a Bond villain who matches the refinement and class of Goldfinger or Scaramanga (The Man with the Golden Gun)? I am not sure. I am sure that the Gold Coast is one of the tackiest and most accessible places in our country, and XXXX Gold is a mid'strength beer.

We live in a time of infusion. Words and objects have marinated in history, soaking up rich meanings with a scope for wonder that greatly exceeds their useful value. But when we appropriate symbols like gold and attach them to something that doesn't exceed the historical meaning of the symbol, we limit the opportunities to genuinely utter the words, "Yes, wonderful things."