December 2010
1 post
Who do you work for, again?
A very brilliant marketing scheme that has millions upon millions of people lapping at its bowl is having the customer market your product/company for you. In fact, I’d bet almost every single person reading this pays a company or two money to help that company advertise.
“Balderdash!” you say? Hardly.
I don’t even know where to begin with this one, but let’s start...
November 2010
2 posts
Dr. Placebo gets Airborne.
One of the side effects of being realistic is that the placebo effect tends not to work. While this enables you to be more of a critical thinker and to see how things like marketing trump reality, some may argue that it prevents one from enjoying parts of life. This would be true if one derived one’s pleasure entirely from external things, which is what marketing often compels us to believe...
Here comes the (massively and mercilessly marketed...
Marriage.
Whether or not you agree with it, most of us reading this will do it at least once in our lives — and there’s not a single thing wrong with that if it’s what you want to do. However, if you do decide to participate in this ritual that’s singular to our species then you might want to take note of the colossal marketing machine that goes into the cultural...
July 2010
1 post
Identification, please.
From “bling” to “tree hugger” to “goth” to “wealthy” to every single thing in between and beyond, identity is an immense target that many marketers aim for — in a world packed with billions of people many folk feel the need to rise above the monotony, conformity and repetition that they see. What is comical to one person is a deep and...
June 2010
2 posts
Imprinting.
One of the ways that marketing is so effective on so many people is that it can literally “imprint” a concept/idea/emotion into our heads that may have nothing to do factually with the product in question. This is, of course, Marketing 101, but you’d be surprised at how much all of us are reeled in by it.
How does this imprinting work? It’s a combination of inconspicuous...
What do Presidents and Sit 'n Sleep have in...
Most of us probably prefer to believe that we are immune to marketing, that we can see through the fog of advertising, and that we are individualistic and independent enough to make our own choices. While this may be true in some specific areas of our lives, my belief is that marketing takes up a significant part of our ability to think clearly and make decisions, whether we realize or not;...
May 2010
2 posts
Care for some liquor with that?
Alcohol.
Almost everyone in the world drinks it, and in almost every country it’s one of the biggest selling money-making items around. No reason to go into the specifics of why that’s the case; suffice it to say that most people need a bit of help getting through this life — some more than others.
Alcohol advertising makes me smirk more than almost any other kind because it...
Market masters work your cat.
I’ve always had a cat or two over the years and was quite content to feed them what I thought was healthy, appropriate food. Companies like Natural Balance, Wellness, and so many others claim that your cat is getting all of its proper vegetables, brown rice, etc.; they basically project the scientifically unsound opinion that cats should be eating what we eat. Surely since those of us who...
April 2010
4 posts
11 tags
dump the commercials.
Next time you’re at your favorite supermarket reaching for a roll of Bounce or a bottle of Old Spice or a jar of Ragu, it might be interesting to ask yourself why. You may simply be in the habit of buying these things, so in that case ask yourself why you ever reached for them in the first place. Chances are it was because of an ad you saw, most likely on TV. Television is where advertisers...
Whole Foods, Agave, and You.
The natural foods world is one of so many obvious examples of marketing gone haywire, and a recent glut of articles debunking the myth of agave necter got me a-thinkin’ about it again. I feel the need to underline this marketing extravaganza.
Agave syrup is a substance as bad (or worse, according to some) for you as corn syrup. It is cleverly enrobed in well-thought-out promotional words...
master marketers: apple computer company
Apple has some of the most ingenious marketing that I’ve ever seen. They turn spending way too much money on an Apple product into joining a club of cool, becoming part of the elite, and in turn trick people into proudly displaying the Apple logo, which is free advertising for the corporation masking as personal pride. Apple wants to make people proud to parade the glowing Apple logo...
Welcome to Mind Above Marketing.
Over the course of my life so far I’ve become fascinated by how the majority of us are controlled by marketing and advertising. Most of us aren’t aware of how much our lives are directed, themed, and puppeteered in this manner; Even those who claim to be independent and rebellious are caught up in the swarm of marketing. Easy examples are the grunge movement of the 90s (flannel, Doc...