Paul Cézanne, Dan Kennedy, and You: A Cure for Commoditization

Paris, France. 1863.


The most powerful art institution in Europe, Salon de Paris, has rejected more than two-thirds of that year’s submissions…

…because they don’t fit the mold.


So, on this day (May 15) that year, a bunch of rebel artists open their own exhibition and call it Salon des Refusés (The Exhibition of Rejects).


Here are some of the “refusés” who display their art there:


Paul Cézanne.

Camille Pissarro.

James Whistler.

Édouard Manet.


Rejects then. Legends today.


These are the painters who introduced the world to Impressionism and launched modern art.


Their works hang today in the Met, the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, MoMA and every other major museum on earth.


And who did the snooty old Salon approve that year? Beats me.


You can look them up. But, unless you got an A+ in Art History 301, you won’t recognize the names.


The “rejects” became the stand-outs because they weren’t trying to fit.


The now-forgotten artists at the snooty old Salon fit the mold.


Here’s the problem with that: When everyone is copying everyone else, everything begins to feel common. Nothing stands out.


So it goes in painting. So it goes in business.


Dan Kennedy calls this “marketing incest.”


Everyone studies the competition, copies the competition, and gradually turns into the competition. Same product. Same offer. Same funnel. Same email. Same painting.


The longer it goes, the dumber the whole industry gets.


It was a problem in 1863.


In 2026, it’s worse.


Blame AI.


Every prompt produces a slightly different version of the same thing. Every email sounds the same. Every offer. Every funnel. Every social post. Every podcast intro.


No one stands out. Everyone disappears into the dull, common mush. All in the crowd become commodities. Buyers see no differences. They choose on price. It’s a race to the bottom.


Kennedy has a cure for this. He says, “Look at what everybody else is doing and do the opposite.”


That’s especially great advice in the AI age.


Kennedy wrote a book about this (“The Business Owner’s Emergency Survival Guide for the A.I. Revolution”)


And on June 3, you can hang out with Kennedy live on Zoom at the No BS AI Summit. His topic: “AI Is a Power Shift. Most Business Owners Are on the Wrong Side of It.”


Dr. Theresa Pantanella and Parthiv Shah are co-hosting.


Rich Schefren and Sam Woods are on the bill, plus a fourth speaker not yet announced.


Four hours. Zero theory. Zero tool demos you will forget by Friday. Just the strategy that connects AI to revenue, delivered by the people who have already proven it works.

June 3, 11 a.m. ET.


Save your seat for the free event…


…where you’ll discover how to use AI as your competitive advantage instead of letting it turn you into a commodity.