How Consumerism Has Infiltrated All Around Us
Individual Weaknesses
Human beings are creatures of seven emotions, but there are only two things that govern our decision-making: fear and hope. All of our emotions are dependent on this. At some point they can also become weaknesses that can draw you and me into a vortex of consumerism.
1. Fear
Disease, aging, and death are the greatest human fears.
Many businesses are capitalizing on this for marketing purposes. There is an unspoken rule in the personal care industry: soaps and cleansers, as long as you add the word "antimicrobial" to the two words, it's especially good to sell, and the price can be raised a lot.
But those who have "antibacterial" function of cleaning products, really have a special anti-inflammatory effect?
The experiment proved that they and ordinary cleaning products there is no difference, the so-called "antibacterial", just a word game. It's a little trick of the trade to take advantage of the human fear of germs.
2. Hope
A girl went to the gym to get a card, and the other side has been persuading her to buy private lessons.
She ruffled her hair and said, "No, it's not easy to change a gym, I'm afraid I can't help but go to bed with the trainer again". The front desk was full of people who froze in their tracks.
From then on, she didn't buy a class, but every time she went to the gym, there were several coaches vying for her attention.
It's a story, of course, but it goes to show that hope is a powerful motivator, driving you to give energy and money.
Businesses know this, and there are numerous businesses that capitalize on 'hope' to make money.
The Wrap of the Group
How big is the effect of a group on an individual? Infinitely large.
Groups not only give individuals a sense of security, they also create an identity for them.
This allows us to be respected and recognized by others, otherwise we would feel lost and helpless, and even lose the meaning of life.
Through a person's recognition of the group, can be divided into two situations: one is, you like, and want to join the group, we can call it: "group catering"; the other is, you hate, and try to avoid the group, we can call it: "group rejection ".
1, group pandering
Noge Liquor's marketing approach understands this. "Nog wine" is known as the most difficult to drink wine, simply cough syrup with motor oil flavor. And yet, it's such a bad drink that it's all the rage in the United States.
"Nog" is native to Germany and is mainly used for hunting.
In 1985, Denny Frank introduced the wine to the United States. But it sold poorly because it was too hard to drink.
Not only that, but a newspaper ran a short article slamming the wine. It said that not only did it taste horrible, it probably contained some banned substances.
By all accounts, Denny Frank should have gone ahead and sued for libel. But he thought about it for a while and decided to have his men make thousands of copies of the paper and post them in bars near various universities. By some miracle, "Nog" began to spread like wildfire among college students. The "horrible" taste, the mysterious recipe, the color of motor oil, the deer's head and the cross on the logo gave the wine a sense of "rebellion".
Imagine being in a bar with a couple of guys, all holding a glass of Nog, and you're holding a glass of champagne, you're going to get a lot of laughs.
2, group rejection
The United States has a reality TV program called Jersey Shore, which documents the real lives of some young people.
The movie was a big hit, and the characters in it became famous and became Internet celebrities. One of the heroines was named Nicole. One morning, she received a parcel, opened it, is a "Gucci" high-end handbag.
Nicole was so happy that she was dizzy, but she didn't know who gave it to her. Could it be that Gucci wanted to hire her as an endorser, or was it a gift from a fan?
None of them, but in a surprise move, the Gucci bag is a gift from one of Gucci's competitors.
This means that Gucci's competitors want Nicole to carry a Gucci bag! What kind of logic is that? It turns out that these young people on the Jersey Shore are all underclass people of color. They are uneducated and uneducated, and people watch this reality show as a joke.
And Nicole on the show is a bit of a Furiosa.
Gucci's competitors felt that if Nicole showed up with a Gucci bag, the original Gucci customers would turn their backs on her and go into their arms. The company's competitors felt that if Nicole carried a Gucci bag in front of the public, the original Gucci users would be disgusted and turn to them.
Rumor has it that the head of the Gucci brand was scared out of his wits when he learned of the incident, and hurriedly paid a high price to buy the bag back from Nicole.
Business shenanigans
The movie "King of War" begins with Nicolas Cage standing in the ruins of a war, saying with emotion: You know, every 12 people in this world have 1 person with a gun. Turning around, Cage continues: well, here's the question, how do we sell guns to the remaining 11 people?
Maximizing profit is a no-brainer for businessmen.
In this section, I will reveal to you some of the usual tricks of businessmen.
See how they make your wallet thinner and thinner and turn their accounts into astronomical figures in a silent way.
1. Creating Demand
After World War II, an advertisement suddenly appeared all over British TV: a beautiful girl, on a tennis court, was constantly accosted by men coming over. Before she could say two words, however, the men left with furrowed brows. The young girl is at a loss. .... Finally, the commercial featured an ad for Listerine mouthwash.
This ad, a landmark in marketing history.
Because marketers used to think that products were about catering to people's needs. And this ad showed that it turns out that needs can be created. And it did create a concept: bad breath.
Yes, the concept of "bad breath" was created by Listerine.
Before then, "bad breath" was just a normal bodily function, and no one thought it was a problem. But Listerine tells you that there's a silent social killer, and it's been with you all along.
The predecessor of Listerine was a surgical antiseptic. The mouthwash was developed for oral cleansing only. As a result, the product didn't sell. When marketers came up with the "bad breath" killer, marketing for Listerine mouthwash jumped from $110,000 to $8 million in just seven years.
To this day, Listerine is the number one mouthwash.
2, make up stories
Paul Cornett was a member of Hasbro's earliest creative team. They developed a line of toys, six cars and six airplanes.
Unlike normal toys, these cars and airplanes could be turned into robots. However, the products didn't sell that well.
On one occasion, Paul Cornett and a colleague were traveling on business. a three-hour drive, it occurred to them that they could make up a story to boost sales.
So "Autobots" and "Decepticons" jumped out at them. And the Transformers story was born. Yes, the Transformers story was actually an advertisement just to make the product sell better.
What Paul Cornett didn't expect was that the Transformers story would be such a money sucker.
In 2018, Transformers toys made, more than $3 billion.
3, labor dialectic
"Labor dialectic" is a psychological term that simply means: when you put energy and labor into something or someone, you will also have a higher opinion of them.
General Mills, a Fortune 500 company, owns a number of well-known brands such as H?agen-Dazs and Wan Chai Wharf. General Mills has a classic marketing case:
General Mills headquarters once launched a cake mix called "Betty's Kitchen", the ingredients are completely matched. All a housewife had to do was put it directly into the oven. However, sales were extremely poor. So General Mills went to a doctor of psychology.
The doctor thought about it and said, "You eliminate the powdered eggs from the recipe and ask the housewife to break her own eggs into it. Although a bit skeptical, General Mills complied.
The result was a surge in sales, with demand outstripping supply. They asked Dr. What was the reason for this?
The Doctor said, "It turns out that the foolproof method of operation is too simple. That's a treat for the family, and that makes housewives feel guilty. By letting them crack their own eggs into it, they were significantly more engaged and took a liking to the product."
You see, this is the application of the "labor dialectic" in the business world. Some difficulty is deliberately added by the seller to make it cost you something to get or use the product.
Murphy's Law
Big data doesn't lie, and when you can look at this and leave a comment that says "Stronger people are stronger," you're sure to become a stronger person in life!