A 1994 Network MCI series of commercials sought to flag the idiosyncratic side of organizing personnel in corporate work cultures as a means of picturing an alternative -- and utopian -- way of doing business based on new technology. The campaign anticipated resistance to its claim when the voiceover declared that "this is about people...This is not a myth or a parable."

Network MCI fashioned one part of this campaign around a presumably fictitious place of business named the Gramercy Press. Stylistically, the campaign utilized a low-key instrumentation of the tune, "Don't Fence Me In" over a montage of snippets of interactions inside daily life at Gramercy Press. Each ad opened with an introductory shot of a building identified as Gramercy Press as a way of locating it as a place. This identification of place is a crucial element in Network MCI's depiction of their vision of networked computing power. The effort here is not to provoke anxiety over how digital technologies will alter the relationships of time and space.

This elaborate series of ads introduced viewers to a collection of personality types who staffed the Gramercy Press, and who are constructed to typify characters who might be comparable to those where 'you' work. The introductory ad to this campaign was unusually long, 90 seconds, and slow paced as it not only brought forward the characters, but also established the main themes that Network MCI sought to address. The first minute of the ad was given over to a speech delivered by the thirty-something son of the company's founder to the assembled employees. Here is his speech in its entirety.

"My, my father used to say that he started Gramercy Press so the written word would always have a home. And, uh, that mission hasn't changed. But it's 1994 and the era of Charles Dickens is over. We use computers and we still mail manuscripts around the world. Marta still has, uh, 12 stacks of references books on her desk for fact checking. Curtis still prints a catalog every quarter and drops them in the mail box. And our most advanced form of communication is Darlene's lovely little message slips (he waves the familiar pink pieces of paper and this elicits laughter from the group). We've been uh, talking to MCI, and this is not about the phone bill. But we are gonna make some changes, not in our ideals, but in the tools that we use."

The second part of the ad is introduced by Darlene, the secretary, as a survey of employee reactions to this new technology initiative at Gramercy Press.

	Darlene: "Everybody had an opinion."
Middle-aged African-American male editor: "I think its a great idea. We are finally waking up."
	Marta, an older female editor: "Everything I need at the push of a button. I'd like to see that."
Grumpy older male pipe smoker: "What's wrong with Charles Dickens?"
		Female Art director: "It's appropriate. Art is constant, tools change."
Salesguy (Curtis) admiring himself in the men's room mirror as he combs his hair): "Digital technology is the future, whether you're selling books, or bagels."
	Darlene (speaking to the camera): "We'll talk."

The thirtysomething male son of the owner is presented as trying to make changes to the business without losing the human touch that ostensibly defines this small company's work culture. He is represented as the force of modernization. Though he initates the changeover to the MCI networking system to make the firm more competitive and efficient in the new era of globalization, the changeover is chronicled by the secretary. The campaign positioned her as the narrator of the transition to a new era of workplace technology. Rather than feel threatened by deskilling, she takes on the role of local organic intellectual who knows all that takes place at Gramercy. Like a soap opera, this series of ads drew on employee stereotypes to create a sense of a company work culture. Notice how the images drawn from the ad are all facial shots. The stress is on the people offering differentiated reactions to technology applied to their worklives: a) a middle-aged African-American editor who immediately hones in on ways to find information (like sports scores) via the Internet; b) a veteran female editor whose initial resistance and apprehension are soon banished by her experience of how networked computing tools enable her to do efficient searches for information; c) an older, grumpy and stiff Anglo-Saxon character who can see no reason why computer automation should enter his world of books. After all, "what's wrong with Charles Dickens?" d) a younger woman editor who quickly draws on the power of the Internet to bolster her expertise and independence; e) the boorish would-be office Romeo/salesman who thinks of himself as God's gift to women; f) and of course, our narrator, the secretary who knowingly weaves their stories together for the viewer.

Each ad in the campaign addresses work-specific benefits of Internet-enabled offices by focusing not on the technical side, but on the social aspects of the work environment. One benefit highlighted by the ad campaign, as related by the secretary, is that e-mail as a means of office communication provides a wonderful means of keeping distance from the male office 'harasser.' When he sends her what is apparently yet another unwanted advance, she smiles to herself and says, "I just love that delete key." And, presto, he is gone from her screen, and apparently her consciousness.