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📚 Brandwashed: Tricks Companies Use to Manipulate Our Minds & Persuade Us to Buy | Martin Lindstrom — Transcript

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0:05Introduction
0:06a brand detox in the UK there's an
0:10anti-consumerist movement called enough
0:12its adherence believe that we as a
0:14society quite simply consume too much
0:16stuff and that our over consuming
0:18culture is partly responsible for many
0:20of the social ills that plague our
0:22planet from world poverty to
0:24environmental destruction to social
0:25alienation enough urges people to ask
0:28themselves how much is enough. How can
0:31we live more lightly and with less? And
0:33how can we be less dependent on buying
0:36things to feel good about ourselves?
0:38One, I couldn't agree more. I may be a
0:42professional marketer, but I'm a
0:44consumer. Two, as someone who's been on
0:46the front lines of the branding wars for
0:48over 20 years, I've spent countless
0:51hours behind closed doors with CEOs,
0:53advertising executives, and marketing
0:55maven at some of the biggest companies
0:58in the world. So, I've seen and at times
1:00been profoundly disturbed by the full
1:02range of psychological tricks and
1:04schemes companies and their shrewd
1:06marketers and advertisers have concocted
1:08to prey on our most deeply rooted fears,
1:10dreams, and desires, all in the service
1:12of persuading us to buy their brands and
1:15products. Yes, I've been a part of it.
1:18No, I'm not always proud of it. I've
1:21been part of some campaigns that I'm
1:23incredibly proud of. But I've also seen
1:26how far some marketing goes, which is
1:28why around the time I started writing
1:30this book, one in which I hope to pick
1:32up where Vance Packard's 1,957
1:35classic, The Hidden Persuaders, left off
1:38and expose the bestkept secrets of how
1:40today's companies and their marketers
1:42are manipulating us. I decided that as a
1:44consumer, I'd quite simply had enough.
1:47So last year, I decided I would go on a
1:49brand detox. a consumer fast of sorts.
1:52More specifically, I decided that I
1:54would not buy any new brands for one
1:56solid year. I would allow myself to
1:59continue to use the possessions I
2:00already owned, my clothes, my cell
2:02phone, and so on. But I wouldn't buy a
2:05single new brand. How do I define brand?
2:08Well, in my line of work, I look at life
2:10through a particular lens, one that sees
2:13virtually everything on Earth. From the
2:15cell phones and computers we use to the
2:17watches and clothes we wear to the
2:18movies we watch and books we read to the
2:20foods we eat to the celebrities and
2:22sports teams we worship as a brand a
2:25form of ID a statement to the world
2:28about who we are or who we wish to be.
2:31In short in today's marketing and
2:33advertising saturated world we cannot
2:35escape brands. Nevertheless, I was
2:38determined to try to prove that it was
2:40possible to resist all the temptations
2:42our consumer culture throws at us. Yes,
2:45I knew this would be a challenge,
2:47especially for a guy who is on the road
2:49over 300 nights a year. It would mean no
2:52more Pepsi, no more Fiji water, no more
2:56glasses of good French wine. That new
2:58album I was hearing such good things
3:00about. Forget about it. The brand of
3:03American chewing gum I'm partial to. No
3:06dice. How else did my lifestyle have to
3:10change? In the morning, since I couldn't
3:12eat any branded foods like Cheerios or
3:15English muffins, I started eating an
3:17apple for breakfast. To shave, I use a
3:19battery powered Gillette power razor
3:21known as the Fusion. Luckily, I already
3:23own that, but since I couldn't buy
3:25shaving cream, I had to start shaving in
3:27the shower. I traded my electric
3:29toothbrush and Colgate toothpaste for
3:31tiny travel ones the airlines offer for
3:33free and I started using the other
3:35freebies that airlines and hotels
3:37provided. Some habits I had to give up
3:40completely. Sometimes in countries where
3:43eating the local cuisine can be dodgy, I
3:45bring along packs of ramen noodles.
3:48Well, sorry, but no ramen. I just have
3:51to take my chances. As any traveler
3:53knows, the air gets dry on long plane
3:55flights and in hotel rooms. So, I
3:57typically use a face moisturizer by
3:59Clarence. Not anymore. I often pop a
4:02vitamin C if I feel a head cold in the
4:04wings. Now, I'd have to make do with a
4:07glass of orange juice, the generic kind.
4:10Sometimes before TV appearances, if my
4:12hair looks crazy, I'll use a hair gel
4:14called Dax. For a year, I'd have to run
4:17a comb through it and hope for the best.
4:20If I didn't live the kind of life that I
4:22do, I might have been able to survive
4:24without brands for an eternity. But
4:27given my insane travel schedule, I knew
4:29I had to allow myself some exceptions.
4:31So before I kicked off my detox, I first
4:34set a few ground rules. As I said, I
4:37could still use the things I already
4:38owned. I was also permitted to buy plane
4:41tickets, lodging, transportation, and
4:43non-branded food, of course, so I
4:45wouldn't starve. I just couldn't buy any
4:48new brands or ask for any. Thus, in
4:50mid-flight, when the drinks cart came
4:52rolling around, I couldn't ask for Pepsi
4:54or Diet Coke. Instead, I asked for some
4:57soda. I continued going to restaurants,
5:00but I made sure to order the house wine.
5:02And if a dish claimed it came with
5:04Protes or aderandac tomatoes, well, I
5:08just have to order something else. For
5:10the first few months, I did quite well,
5:12if I may say so myself. In some
5:15respects, not buying anything new came
5:17as a relief, but at the same time, it
5:20wasn't easy. Have you ever tried
5:22shopping at the grocery store and not
5:24buying a single brand? In airports, for
5:27example, while I'm killing time between
5:28flights, I like to wander through
5:30duty-free shops. I enjoy buying gifts
5:33for friends or stocking up on chocolate.
5:36Then I'd remember, "Martin, you're in
5:38brand rehab." And I'd turn around and
5:40leave. At the time of my detox, the
5:42world was struggling through the worst
5:44economic crisis since the Great
5:46Depression, one precipitated in part by
5:48outofcontrol consumer spending. So, like
5:51most people, I wasn't immune to the
5:53feeling that unless my purchases were
5:54essential and practical, I shouldn't buy
5:57anything. Yet, knowing that so many
5:59people felt this way, companies and
6:01advertisers were doing everything in
6:03their power to get us to open our
6:05wallets. From London to Singapore to
6:07Dubai to New York, fantastic sales and
6:10bargains and special offers were
6:11everywhere. It seemed every store window
6:14was a sea of signs for 50% off this or
6:16two for the price of one of that
6:18screaming my name. Each time I walked
6:20down the street, I seemed to be
6:22assaulted by posters and billboards for
6:24some sexy new fragrance or shiny new
6:26brand of wristwatch on sale. Of course,
6:28every time I turned on the TV, all that
6:31seemed to be on were commercials,
6:32spelled 20somes gathered poolside
6:34drinking a particular brand of beer.
6:36Rosy cheicked children gathered at the
6:38breakfast table on a sunny morning,
6:40happily scarfing down a bowl of a
6:42certain brand of cereal. Olympic gold
6:44medalists performing feats of impossible
6:46athleticism in a certain brand of sports
6:48gear and sneakers. Somehow, even the
6:51packages of mouthwash and fruit juice
6:53and potato chips and candy bars I'd
6:55never noticed before were calling to me
6:57from the aisles of the supermarket and
6:59drugstore and seemed oddly alluring. But
7:02I took the high ground. Under the terms
7:05of my detox, I wasn't even allowed to
7:07buy a book, a magazine, or a newspaper.
7:09Yes, I think of all of these as brands
7:11that tell the world who you are, or in
7:13some cases would like to be perceived as
7:15being. And let me tell you, those
7:1714-hour transatlantic flights got pretty
7:20boring with nothing to read. Then there
7:22were the frustrating times a friend
7:24would tell me about a fascinating
7:26article or novel that had just come out.
7:28Under normal circumstances, I would have
7:31hunted down the thing. Now, I couldn't.
7:34Instead, I'd stand blefully at the
7:36magazine kiosk or inside a bookstore,
7:38scanning the newspaper or magazine or
7:40book in question until a clerk shot me
7:42the universal look for get out if you're
7:44not going to buy something. Barter still
7:47was being around my friends. I couldn't
7:50buy a round of beers at a bar or a gift
7:52for someone's birthday. And I happened
7:54to love buying people presents. Instead,
7:57I made up one lame excuse after another.
8:00I feared my friend secretly thought I
8:02was being a tight wad, that my brand
8:04detox was just an excuse to be cheap.
8:06But I stuck with it anyway. I was
8:09determined to prove that with a little
8:11discipline and willpower, I could endure
8:13myself to all the persuasive
8:15marketeteering, advertising, and
8:17branding that surrounded me. Then 6
8:20months into it, it all came tumbling
8:22down. The fact that my brand fast lasted
8:25only six months. And the fact that a
8:27person who should have known better got
8:28punked by his own profession says a
8:30whole lot about just how shrewd
8:32companies are at engineering desire. So
8:35does what happened to me immediately
8:36after I toppled off the wagon. If I
8:39fell, my relapse took place in Cyprus.
8:43The night it happened, I was scheduled
8:45to give a keynote presentation. But when
8:48my plane touched down at the airport, I
8:50discovered the airline had misplaced my
8:52suitcase. It was gone, which meant I
8:55didn't have anything to wear for my
8:57speech. I had the pants I was wearing,
9:00but no shirt other than a sweaty,
9:02unfragrant black t-shirt that I had no
9:04time to wash. Here's something they
9:06don't teach you in Harvard Business
9:08School. Never give a keynote
9:10presentation naked from the waist up.
9:12This wasn't some driveby meet and greet
9:15appearance, either. It was an important
9:17presentation and they were paying me
9:19well and expecting a good crowd. I admit
9:22it, I freaked out. Half an hour after
9:25checking into my hotel, I found myself
9:27standing at the cash register of a local
9:29tourist trap holding a white t-shirt in
9:32my hands. It was the only color the
9:34store had. The letters on the front
9:36spelled out I Cyprus. I'd officially
9:40relapsed and all for a crappy t-shirt,
9:43too. Not only did I break my detox, but
9:45for the first time in recent memory, I
9:48broke my all-in-lack rule and gave my
9:50presentation wearing black pants and my
9:52ridiculous white t-shirt. Despite my
9:54questionable attire, the evening went
9:56well. But that wasn't the point. As they
9:59say in certain 12step programs, one
10:01drink is too much and a thousand is too
10:03few. In other words, now that I'd given
10:06myself permission to end my brand fast,
10:08the dam had burst. I went a little nuts.
10:1224 hours later, I was debarking in
10:15Milan, Italy, the fashion capital of the
10:17world. Let me tell you, this is not a
10:20place you want to be if you're trying to
10:22give up brands. Wouldn't you know it,
10:24but there happened to be a huge
10:26furniture sale in a store not far from
10:28my hotel. Fantastic handcrafted stuff,
10:31too. Sold to the little blonde guy in
10:34the eye Cyprus t-shirt. From then on, I
10:37was buying San Pellegrina water,
10:39Wrigley's gum, and Minibar M and Miz by
10:41the case load. Then there was the black
10:43hole high and winter jacket I bought in
10:45New York. And the list goes on. Over the
10:48next few weeks and months, I couldn't
10:50stop. You could have sold me Roadkills
10:52so long as it had a label and a logo on
10:55it. All because of one lost suitcase and
10:57one cheap replacement t-shirt. Yes, I
11:01make my living helping companies build
11:02and strengthen brands. And in the end,
11:05even I couldn't resist my own medicine.
11:08That's when I realized I had been
11:10brainwashed.
11:11The new generation of hidden persuaders.
11:14When I was first approached to write
11:16this book as a follow-up to my previous
11:18book, Uology, the world was still
11:20digging out from economic freef fall.
11:23Did anyone really want to read a book
11:25about brands and products? I wondered at
11:27a time when the vast majority of our
11:29wallets and handbags were either empty
11:31or zippered shut. Then it struck me,
11:34could there actually be a better time to
11:36write a book exposing how companies
11:37trick, seduce, and persuade us into
11:40buying more unnecessary stuff? In 1957,
11:43a journalist named Vance Packard wrote
11:45The Hidden Persuaders, a book that
11:47pulled back the curtain on all the
11:49psychological tricks and tactics
11:51companies and their marketers and
11:53advertisers were using to manipulate
11:55people's minds and persuade them to buy.
11:58It was shocking. It was groundbreaking.
12:01It was controversial and it's nothing
12:04compared to what's going on in the
12:06marketing and advertising worlds today.
12:09Nearly six decades later, businesses,
12:11marketers, advertisers, and retailers
12:13have gotten far craftier, savvier, and
12:15more sinister. Today, thanks to all the
12:18sophisticated new tools and technologies
12:20they have at their disposal, and all the
12:22new research in the fields of consumer
12:24behavior, cognitive psychology, and
12:26neuroscience, companies know more about
12:28what makes us tick than Vance Packard
12:30ever could have imagined. They scan our
12:33brains and uncover our deepest
12:34subconscious fears, dreams,
12:36vulnerabilities, and desires. They mine
12:38the digital footprints we leave behind
12:40each time we swipe a loyalty card at the
12:43drugstore, charge something with a
12:45credit card, or view a product online.
12:47And then they use that information to
12:49target us with offers tailored to our
12:51unique psychological profiles. They
12:53hijack information from our own
12:55computers, cell phones, and even
12:57Facebook profiles and run it through
12:59sophisticated algorithms to predict who
13:01we are and what we might buy. They know
13:03more than they ever have before about
13:05what inspires us, scares us, soothes us,
13:08seduces us. What alleviates our guilt,
13:11or makes us feel less alone, more
13:13connected to the scattered human tribe.
13:15What makes us feel more confident, more
13:17beloved, more secure, more nostalgic,
13:20more spiritually fulfilled. And they
13:22know far more about how to use all this
13:24information to obscure the truth,
13:26manipulate our minds, and persuade us to
13:28buy. In the pages ahead, we'll learn all
13:31about what they know, how they know it,
13:33and how they turn around and use that
13:35knowledge to seduce us and take our
13:37dollars. We'll pull back the curtain on
13:39how specific companies have crafted the
13:41most successful ad campaigns, viral
13:43marketing plans, and product launches in
13:46recent memory, including how Axe probed
13:48the sexual fantasies of thousands of
13:50male consumers in preparation for
13:51rolling out its infamous body spray
13:53campaign. how Calvin Klein rolled out
13:55its best-selling fragrance, Euphoria.
13:57How a marketing campaign for a popular
13:59brand of vodka transformed an entire
14:01country's drinking habits, and more.
14:04We'll look at the subtle yet powerful
14:06ways companies use peer pressure to
14:08persuade us. We'll see how they
14:10stealthily play on our fear, guilt,
14:12nostalgia, and celebrity worship, often
14:14in ways that hit us beneath our
14:16conscious awareness. We'll see examples
14:18of how some particularly devious
14:20companies have figured out how to
14:22physically and psychologically addict us
14:24to their products and how certain
14:25popular websites are actually rewiring
14:28our brains to hook us on the act of
14:30shopping and buying. We'll look at the
14:32new way sex is being used to sell to us,
14:34including the results of infere study
14:36that reveals something shocking about
14:38how heterosexual men really respond to
14:40sexually provocative images of
14:42attractive men in surprising findings
14:44about who marketers are really selling
14:46to when they brand the newest
14:4716-year-old teen heartthrob. We'll see
14:51all the underhanded ways companies are
14:52collecting information without our
14:54knowledge. Not just about our buying
14:56habits, but about everything about us.
14:58Our race and sexual orientation, our
15:00address, phone number and real-time
15:02location, our education level,
15:03approximate income and family size, our
15:06favorite movies and books, our friends
15:07favorite books and movies, and much
15:09more, then turning around and using this
15:11information to sell us even more stuff.
15:14We'll explore the techniques advertisers
15:16and marketers are using to reach and
15:18influence children at a younger and
15:19younger age and read about alarming
15:21research revealing that not only do
15:23these techniques work, but children's
15:25lifelong preferences for brands can be
15:27shaped and set and at a much younger age
15:29than ever imagined. I'll also be
15:32revealing the results of a revolutionary
15:34guerilla marketing experiment I carried
15:36out in service of this book. The
15:39inspiration for it was the 2009 David
15:41Dukovny and Demi Moore movie, The
15:43Joneses, about a picture perfect family
15:45that moves into a suburban neighborhood.
15:48As the movie unfolds, it turns out
15:50they're not a real family at all, but a
15:52group of cover marketers who are
15:54attempting to persuade their neighbors
15:56to adapt new products. Intrigued by this
15:58premise, I decided to stage my own
16:00reality television show, The Morgensson.
16:03I picked a family, armed them with a
16:05bunch of brands and products, and let
16:08them loose on their neighbors in an
16:09upscale Southern California gated
16:11community. The questions going in were,
16:14"How powerfully can word of mouth
16:16influence our buying habits? Can simply
16:18seeing another person drink a certain
16:20type of beer, apply a certain line of
16:22mascara, spray a certain brand of
16:24perfume, type on a certain make of
16:26computer, or use the latest
16:28environmentally conscious product
16:30persuade us to do the same?" You'll find
16:32out in the last chapter of this book.
16:35And should you pick up the enhanced
16:36ebook version of this book and have a
16:38video enabled reading device, you'll get
16:41to see the Morgenssons in action.
16:42Throughout the book, you'll encounter
16:44countless video clips of actual footage
16:46from the experiment. My goal is that by
16:49understanding just how today's newest
16:51hidden persuaders are conspiring to
16:53brandwash us, we as consumers can battle
16:55back. The purpose of this book is not to
16:58get you to stop buying. I've proved that
17:00is frankly impossible. The purpose is to
17:03educate and empower you to make smarter,
17:05sounder, more informed decisions about
17:07what we're buying and why. After all,
17:10enough is enough. Martin Lindström, New
17:13York. Chapter 1. Located in Paris, Sue,
17:17France, short for cosmetic executive
17:19women, is a group of 270 female beauty
17:22business professionals whose avowed
17:24mission is to show the world that beauty
17:26products not only are more than a
17:27trivial indulgence, but can actually be
17:30used to improve people's lives. To that
17:32end, in 1996, Sue set up its first ever
17:36center of beauty at one of Europe's most
17:38prestigious hospitals with the goal of
17:40providing emotional and psychological
17:42support to patients afflicted by trauma
17:44or disease. Many of the patients at the
17:46center suffer from dementia or from
17:48amnesia caused by brain traumas
17:50resulting from car, motorcycle, skiing,
17:53and other accidents. Some are comeosse.
17:56Many are alert but can no longer speak.
17:59Most can't remember any details of their
18:02accidents, how they ended up in the
18:03hospital, or in many cases even their
18:06names. Which is why the professionals at
18:08the center of beauty led by former
18:10psychotherapist Marie France Arbelt
18:13decided to enter their patients pasts
18:15through their noses. Teaming up with the
18:17international fragrance company
18:19International Flavors and Fragrances,
18:20Arcam Belt's team has bottled more than
18:23150 distinct aromomas including the
18:25forest, grass, rain, the ocean,
18:27chocolate, and many others and then run
18:29what they call alactive workshops in
18:31which they use these fragrances to help
18:33patients regain memories they've lost.
18:36Sue works closely with hospital medical
18:38teams and language therapists and also
18:40brings in family members and close
18:42friends to create a portrait of the life
18:44a patient was leading before his or her
18:46accident took place. Where did he grow
18:49up? In the country, in the city? What
18:53were the smells of his childhood? What
18:55were his youthful passions, his hobbies,
18:58his favorite foods and drinks? What
19:00smells might be most familiar? Then they
19:03designed fragrances to trigger those
19:05memories. Sue worked with one former
19:08cosmetics company executive who had
19:10suffered a serious stroke. When probed
19:13by doctors, he remembered almost nothing
19:15about his past. Yet once the Sue team
19:18placed the smell of strawberry under his
19:20nose, the patient began speaking
19:22haltingly about his youth. For another
19:24severely impaired patient who had no
19:26recollection of his motorcycle accident,
19:28the mere smell of street pavement was
19:30enough to unfreeze his brain. Just
19:33murmuring the words tar, motorcycle
19:35after sniffing the scent helped him take
19:37his first cognitive steps toward
19:39recovery. The team has also worked with
19:42geriatric and Alzheimer's patients who
19:44after being exposed to fragrances from
19:46their childhoods have shown radical
19:48improvements in recalling who they were
19:50and are. What this goes to show is that
19:53certain associations and memories from
19:55our childhoods are resilient enough to
19:57survive even the most debilitating of
19:59brain traumas. When I first heard about
20:02this amazing Sue program, it confirmed a
20:04suspicion I've had for a long time.
20:06Namely, that most of our adult tastes
20:08and preferences, whether for food,
20:10drink, clothes, shoes, cosmetics,
20:12shampoos, or anything else, are actually
20:14rooted in our early childhoods. After
20:16all, if a childhood love for the smell
20:18of strawberry can survive a serious
20:20stroke, the preference must be pretty
20:22deeply ingrained, right? Studies have
20:25indeed shown that a majority of our
20:27brand and product preferences, and in
20:29some cases, the values that they
20:31represent are pretty firmly embedded in
20:33us by the age of seven. But based on
20:35what I've seen in my line of work, I'd
20:37posit that thanks in no small part to
20:39the tricks and manipulations of probing
20:41marketers, stealth advertisers, and
20:43profit-driven companies that you'll be
20:45reading about throughout this book, our
20:47brand preferences are set in stone even
20:49before that by the age of four or five.
20:51In fact, based on some new research I've
20:54uncovered, I'd even go so far to suggest
20:56that some of the cleverest manufacturers
20:58in the world are at work trying to
21:00manipulate our taste preferences even
21:02earlier. Much earlier like before we're
21:05even born
21:07to buy when I was very young my parents
21:11loved the sound of Bosa Nova Stan gets
21:14Ostrude Gilberto the girl from Epana
21:17Cooado Sodeno Samba and all the others.
21:21There was one long dreary winter when
21:22they played Bosan Nova practically
21:24non-stop. So I suppose it's little
21:27wonder I grew up to be completely in
21:29love with its sound as I still am today.
21:32Only thing is my mother was 7 months
21:35pregnant with me that winter. Scientists
21:38have known for years that maternal
21:39speech is audible in uterero. In other
21:41words, a fetus can actually hear the
21:44mother's voice from inside the womb. But
21:46more recent research has found that a
21:48developing fetus can hear a far broader
21:50range of tones that come from outside
21:52the mother's body as well. It used to be
21:55assumed that the mother's internal
21:57bodily sounds, the beat of the heart,
21:59the swooshing of the amniotic fluid,
22:01drowned out all external noises like
22:03music. Chapter 2. The most recent
22:06outbreak of the H1N1 influenza virus,
22:09better known as swine flu, was first
22:11detected in Veraracruz, Mexico, in the
22:14spring of 2009. Both the World Health
22:16Organization and the US Centers for
22:19Disease Control turned the outbreak a
22:21pandemic. Millions of people all over
22:23the world panicked. And although swine
22:25flu never became the kind of global
22:27catastrophe the 1,918
22:29flu did, it has been blamed for roughly
22:3214,000 deaths. 6 years earlier in 2003,
22:36another potentially fatal flu, severe
22:38acute respiratory syndrome or SARS,
22:40caused a similar global panic. SARS
22:43originated in southern China, but spread
22:45to infect citizens in roughly 40
22:47countries. By the time the virus was
22:49contained in 2006, it was thought to be
22:52responsible for nearly 800 deaths, and
22:55people all over the world were going to
22:57heroic lengths to protect themselves and
22:59their children from exposure. For
23:01doctors, CDC workers, and other health
23:04officials, a well publicized global
23:05contagion spells a nightmare scenario.
23:07stockpiling and administering gallons of
23:09vaccines, diagnosing and treating
23:11thousands of patients, and spending
23:13countless hours and dollars trying to
23:14allay widespread panic. For a number of
23:17companies and marketers, however, it
23:19spells something entirely different, a
23:22golden opportunity. Can anyone say hand
23:25gel? Thanks in large part to these two
23:28global health scares, today we've
23:29welcomed antibacterial hand sanitizers
23:32into our lives as a cheap everyday,
23:34utterly essential staple, expected to
23:36exceed $42 million in profits a mere 5
23:40years from now. And that's just in the
23:41United States when containers of the
23:43soaps and hand gels can now be found at
23:45virtually every airport, hotel,
23:47restaurant, public restroom, newspaper
23:49kiosk, grocery store, and kitchen and
23:51bathroom sink across the globe. Millions
23:54of women, men, teenagers, and children
23:56won't leave home without a small bottle
23:58or spritz canister in their purse or
24:00pocket. Bath and Body Works, and
24:02Victoria's Secret have even devised hand
24:04sanitizers as fashion accessories.
24:07Recently, while I was on a layover in
24:09Chicago's O'Hare International Airport,
24:11a voice over the loudspeaker alerted me
24:13repeatedly to the presence of hallway
24:15soap dispensers. In short, our war on
24:18this unseen enemy, a terrorist cell of
24:20germs, so to speak, has become a global
24:22family affair. Turns out though, that
24:25neither swine flu nor SARS can be
24:27prevented by the use of antibacterial
24:29cleansing gels. Both viruses are spread
24:32via tiny droplets in the air that are
24:33sneezed or coughed by people who are
24:35already infected, or though this is far
24:37less common, by making contact with an
24:39infected surface than rubbing your eyes
24:41or your nose. Nevertheless, the idea of
24:44an unseen, potentially fatal contagion
24:46has driven us into nothing short of an
24:48antibacterial mania, one that has helped
24:50sales of Carell, the top selling hand
24:52sanitizer, to jump by 50%, too, and
24:54Clorox disinfecting wipes 23% since the
24:572009 panic three. But our near addiction
25:01to these overpriced germ killers isn't
25:04just a happy accident for the companies
25:06that make them. The advertisers and
25:08marketers at brands like Purell, Germex,
25:11Germout, and Lysol have worked extremely
25:13hard to make us believe that using their
25:15product is the only surefire way to
25:17stave off grave and deadly disease. How?
25:20Well, first, they capitalized on the
25:22global panic during the swine flu scare
25:25by releasing an onslaught of new
25:26products and redoubling their efforts to
25:28stress the importance of hygiene in
25:30staving off disease. We want to make
25:32sure that people understand that
25:34effective handwashing is the best way to
25:36keep yourself and your family healthy,"
25:38echoed a spokesperson for Dial, the soap
25:41manufacturer. Purell then posted on
25:43their website. According to the Centers
25:45for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC,
25:48one of the ways you can help protect
25:50yourself from swine flu is by practicing
25:52good hand hygiene. Specific CDC
25:55recommendations include keeping your
25:57hands clean by washing with soap and
25:59water or using an alcohol-based hand
26:01sanitizer when soap and water may not be
26:03available. Four, the disinfectant brand
26:06Lysol 2 updated its homepage with
26:09information on swine flu, asserting that
26:11although it is not yet clear how the
26:13virus spreads, following proper hygiene
26:15routines can help prevent the spread of
26:17illness. Five. Of course, what they are
26:20trying to insinuate is that their
26:21product is the key to good hygiene and
26:24in turn instrumental in staying healthy.
26:26Only they can't say that because well,
26:28it would be a lie. In fact, hand
26:30sanitizers have not been found by the
26:32CDC or anyone else to be effective in
26:34fighting airborne disease. It wasn't
26:37just makers of soap and hygiene products
26:39who saw serious marketing opportunities
26:41in the swine flu panic. Kleenex very
26:44swiftly rolled out a line of antiviral
26:46tissues which allegedly have a specially
26:48treated middle layer that helps stop
26:50cold and flu viruses and that kills
26:5299.9% of cold and flu viruses in the
26:55tissue within 15 minutes and are viridal
26:57against rhino viruses type 1 ampurine 2
27:00influenza and B and respiratory sinkial
27:02virus six major online retailers such as
27:06Amazon.com and restockit.com also got
27:09into the game taking the opportunity to
27:11manufacture and market swine Swine flu
27:13protection kits, swine flu safety DVDs,
27:16ionic air purifiers, ranging in price
27:18from $50 to $600, and $100 designer face
27:22masks. Seven. The spread of swine flu is
27:25of global concern, and we want to do our
27:27part to help contain it, said Jennifer
27:29Dimmita, VP of marketing at
27:31restockit.com.
27:32These products really work to help curb
27:35the spread of germs and disease, she
27:37added. Eight. What's in a swine flu
27:40protection kit, you ask? Why? hand
27:43sanitizer and bacterial wipes, among
27:45other useless items designed to give us
27:47the illusion of protection and safety.
27:49None of these kits, some of which came
27:52with surgical masks and a light blue
27:54garment that looks uncannily like a
27:56hospital gown, were endorsed or
27:58distributed by the World Health
27:59Organization or any other health
28:01organization. But it was no coincidence
28:04that they were designed and packaged to
28:06have a decidedly clinical medical feel.
28:09Even some of the food companies tossed
28:11their hat into the ring of paranoia a
28:14few months after those first swine flu
28:16cases began to appear in the headlines.
28:18Kelloggs in an attempt to tap into the
28:20growing misconception fed largely by the
28:23opportunity to profit off it of course
28:25that a healthy immune system was the key
28:27to staying swine flu free introduced a
28:29new variant of Rice Krispies and Cocoa
28:31Krispies loaded with antioxidants and
28:33nutrients that help the body's immune
28:35system. Too bad it was also loaded with
28:3840% sugar. Just a few months later, the
28:42company's health claims were so widely
28:43criticized for being bogus that it
28:45decided to pull the words help support
28:47your child's immunity from all boxes.
28:50The word immunity, it should be noted,
28:52appeared in giant bold-faced letters
28:54that could practically be seen from
28:56Jupiter. Nine. Kelloggs denied praying
29:00on swine flu fear, claiming that it had
29:02begun work on its revamped Rice Krispies
29:04a year before the H1N1 virus peaked.
29:07Still, one has to question the company's
29:10motives, given that in November 2009, it
29:12bowed to the negative publicity,
29:14announcing that given the public
29:16attention on H1N1, it would no longer
29:18sell the antioxidant-enriched cereal,
29:21though we will continue to respond to
29:22the desire for improved nutrition. 10.
29:26Companies are equally quick to prey on
29:28public panic over food contamination
29:30scarce. For example, in 2010, when over
29:33half a billion eggs were recalled due to
29:36reports of Salmonella, the marketers of
29:38brands like Egg Beers and Davidson
29:40sprang into action, adding sections to
29:42their websites boasting that their
29:44products were uncontaminated. Davidson's
29:46even bought the Google Adwords for the
29:48searches pasteurized eggs and safe eggs,
29:50so that panicked egg lovers looking
29:52online for information on the recall
29:54would most likely find themselves on the
29:56Davidson's website, where they were
29:58immediately assured, "Our pasteurized
30:00eggs eliminate the risk of food bornne
30:02illness and crosscontamination of your
30:04kitchen from shell eggs." 11.
30:07Fearongering is also a tactic favored by
30:09big box retailers like Walmart, Kohl's,
30:12and Target, which employ a company
30:14called Weather Trends International to
30:16help them adjust their inventory to
30:17capitalize on the anxiety generated by
30:20predictions of hurricanes, fires, ice
30:22storms, and other extreme weather
30:23events. 12. It's true that in the case
30:26of an actual disaster like Hurricane
30:28Katrina, this can be a genuine public
30:30service. As one journalist reported,
30:32unlike local, state, and the federal
30:34government, which didn't react until
30:36days after the hurricane hit, Walmart
30:38was at work around the clock before
30:40Katrina even hit to have the stores
30:42fully stocked with full pallet positions
30:44of water, flashlights, batteries, canned
30:46soup, and canned meat. 13. But it's also
30:49true that if there's even a remote
30:50possibility of extreme weather, these
30:52retailers are lightning quick to erect
30:54huge front of store displays of
30:56everything from bottled water to power
30:58generators to shovels to mosquito nets,
31:00pulling in a tidy profit in the process.
31:03Why thriller's thrill? Fear is an
31:06interesting, complex, and not altogether
31:09unpleasant emotion. Do you remember the
31:11delicious thrill you felt as a kid when
31:13you watched your first horror movie?
31:15Whether it was the Blair Witch Project
31:17or The Shining or The Exorcist, your
31:20pulse probably raced. Your heart likely
31:22beat wildly in your chest. And you may
31:24have found yourself involuntarily
31:26holding your breath as you waited for
31:28that axe wielding killer to jump out of
31:30the shadows. You were scared out of your
31:33mind, and you loved every minute of it.
31:35It's not just horror movies and scary
31:38urban legends that deliver this
31:40delicious thrill. Ever wonder why
31:42Stephen King has sold more than 500
31:44million copies of his books over the
31:46years? Or why on Publishers Weekly's
31:48list of best-selling books in 2009, a
31:51staggering 13 of the top 15 fell under
31:54the category of thriller? 14. As the
31:56popular media gossip blog, Gawker.com
31:59noted sarcastically, "American readers
32:01love being scared of everything from
32:03Freemasons to lawyers to murderers to
32:05aliens to lawyers to pirates to even our
32:07northern neighbor, Canada. And what do
32:09you think is behind the enormous
32:11popularity of scary TV shows like Bones
32:14or CSI or even the Discovery Channels
32:16Shark Week? I read once that a human
32:19being's chances of being eaten by a
32:20shark are smaller than his chances of
32:22being hit by a coconut falling from a
32:24palm tree. But if you look at how many
32:26movies and TV shows feature shark
32:28attacks, you'd think otherwise.
32:31Counterintuitive though it sounds,
32:33there's a real biological basis behind
32:35our attraction to fear. Fear raises our
32:37adrenaline, creating that primal
32:39instinctual fight or flight response.
32:42This in turn releases epinephrine, a
32:44hormone and neurotransmitter that
32:46produces, as many adrenaline junkies
32:48will attest, a deeply satisfying
32:50sensation. There's a substantial overlap
32:52between those brain areas involved in
32:54processing fear and pleasure, said Alan
32:56Kuf, a neuroscientist at the University
32:59of Toare in Finland. adds National
33:02Primate Research Center neuroscientist
33:04Carrie Ristry. The amygdala, our brains
33:06fear center, gets just as activated by
33:08fear as it would in the real world. But
33:10because your cortex knows you're not in
33:12danger, that spillover is rewarding and
33:14not frightening. 15. By uniting us
33:18against a common enemy, fear also brings
33:20humans together. It has a perverse yet
33:23delicious binding quality. It's for this
33:25reason that we love to spread fearful
33:27rumors, sometimes blowing them out of
33:30all proportion just to heighten the
33:31sense of danger. Nothing travels as
33:34quickly as a frightening rumor. Think of
33:36those ubiquitous urban legends about
33:38highway murder gangs and escaped
33:40convicts, says Michael Lewis, director
33:42of the Institute for the Study of Child
33:44Development at Robert Wood Johnson
33:46Medical School in New Brunswick, New
33:48Jersey. Fear has a certain contagious
33:50feature to it. So the fear in others can
33:52elicit fear in ourselves. It's
33:54conditioning like Pavlov and the
33:56salivating dog. 16. According to Harot
34:00Singh, the senior vice president and
34:02director of planning at the marketing
34:04communications firm Gray Canada, "Our
34:06brains are hardwired to fear potential
34:08threats." 17. Professor Joseph Leu of
34:11the Center for the Neuroscience of Fear
34:13and Anxiety at New York University
34:15concurs, explaining that we come into
34:17the world knowing how to be afraid
34:19because our brains have evolved to deal
34:21with nature. 18. What's more, as anyone
34:25can attest who's ever had the
34:27scared out of them by the sound of a
34:29branch scratching on a window pane on a
34:31windy night, fear is far more potent
34:33than our facility for reason, explains
34:35Newsweek. The amydala sprouts a
34:37profusion of connections to higher brain
34:39regions, neurons that carry one-way
34:41traffic from amydala to neoortex. Few
34:44connections run from the cortex to the
34:46amygdala. However, that allows the
34:48amygdala to override the products of the
34:50logical, thoughtful cortex, but not vice
34:53versa. 19 adds UCLA neurobiologist
34:56Michael Fanselo. Fear is far, far more
34:59powerful than reason. It evolved as a
35:01mechanism to protect us from
35:02life-threatening situations, and from an
35:04evolutionary standpoint, there's nothing
35:06more important than that. 20 says an
35:10article on political fear-mongering that
35:12appeared on the left-leaning political
35:13website Daily Cause. When a threat is
35:16perceived, the body goes into automatic
35:18mode, redirecting blood to certain parts
35:20of the body and away from the brain. The
35:23respiratory response also decreases the
35:26blood supply to the brain, literally
35:27making a person unable to think clearly.
35:30In other words, the loss of blood to a
35:33person's brain can make him or her
35:34stupid literally. 21. What's more, an
35:38academic study entitled the extended
35:40parallel process model explains that
35:42people who are exposed to fear appeals
35:44think carefully about the responses
35:46proposed in these messages than follow
35:48the advice of the persuasive message in
35:50an attempt to neutralize the danger. 22.
35:54Clearly, fear is a powerful persuader,
35:56and you'd better believe that marketers
35:58and advertisers know it and aren't
36:00afraid to exploit it to the fullest.
36:03Which is why the marketing world uses
36:04scare tactics to sell us everything from
36:07anti-depressants to condoms, dental
36:09floss to laundry detergent, burglar
36:11alarms to cell phones, bottled water to
36:13pizza dough, as well as countless other
36:15brands and products you'll read about in
36:17this chapter. I recall once seeing a
36:20vintage 1950s ad for lunchbox thermoses
36:23that bore the unforgettable tagline, "A
36:25fly in the milk may mean a baby in the
36:27grave." As you're about to read,
36:29advertisers have since gotten a lot more
36:31subtle and creative in the ways they use
36:33fear to persuade us. But really, I don't
36:36mean to scare you. Nothing to fear, but
36:39future selves. Perhaps you recall a
36:421,994
36:44TV advertisement for an Aquaresh
36:46toothbrush. In one hand, a woman is
36:49holding up a toothbrush. In the other, a
36:51Reich tomato. With this tomato, I'm
36:54going to make an important point about
36:56your toothbrush, she says. Pressing the
36:58bristles into the poor tomato, creating
37:00a gash that resembles a bleeding gum.
37:03Only Aquaresh Flex Brush has a unique
37:05pressure sensitive neck that bends and
37:07flexes if you press too hard, the woman
37:09continues. So, you can prevent damaging
37:12your gums while still giving your teeth
37:14a thorough cleaning. 23. On the face of
37:16it, Aquaresh was just using a simple
37:19prop to show how great its product was.
37:22But in fact, something a little bit more
37:23subtle and sneaky was going on. After
37:26all, a prop resembling a bleeding gum
37:28calls to mind only one thing, a trip to
37:31the dentist. What else could be more
37:33universally terrifying?
37:35So, besides dentists and germs, what
37:38other kinds of fears do companies play
37:40on in marketing their products? For one,
37:42the fear of failure. In a surprising
37:452008 study, researchers at the
37:47University of Bath, UK, found that the
37:49fear of failure drives consumers far
37:51more than the promise of success. The
37:53latter oddly tends to paralyze us, while
37:55the former spurs us on and prize open
37:57our wallets. In fact, as the study
38:00found, the most powerful persuader of
38:02all was giving consumers a glimpse of
38:04some future feared self. 24. We all have
38:08some version of a future self we take
38:10great pains to avoid. Do most of us go
38:13to the gym because we want to be healthy
38:16or because we're scared of getting
38:17flabby or out of shape? Do we bathe,
38:20shampoo, and brush and floss our teeth
38:22out of reverence for the rules of
38:23hygiene? Or are we imagining the feared
38:25self we might resemble if we smelled
38:27bad, our hair were scraggly and
38:29unwashed, and our teeth were rotted and
38:31yellow? I can't help but think back to a
38:34classic L'Oreal ad in which an older man
38:36is walking down the street. To our eyes,
38:39he looks great, dapper, and
38:40distinguished. The camera then cuts to a
38:43beautiful younger woman passing him by
38:45and through her eyes we see him as old,
38:48decrepit and repulsive, his worst feared
38:50self-realized.
38:52Sometimes advertisers prey on our fears
38:54of our worst selves by activating
38:56insecurities that we didn't even know we
38:58had, like about the appearance of our
39:00armpits. This is exactly what Dove's
39:03recent Go Sleeveless ad campaign was
39:05doing by claiming that their new special
39:06moisturizing formula will make our
39:08underarms not only odor-free but
39:10prettier. Dove was subconsciously
39:12planting the fear that our armpits might
39:14be not only smelly but also hideous. As
39:17Slate aptly pointed out, Dove's
39:19empowerment via shame marketing approach
39:21for go sleeveless has its roots in
39:23advertising techniques that gained
39:24popularity in the 1920s. A pinpoint a
39:27problem, perhaps one consumers didn't
39:29even know they had, b exacerbate anxiety
39:32around the problem. C, sell the cure.
39:34Among the many feared cells that have
39:36been historically planted by marketers,
39:38the article cites such concerns as bad
39:40breath, smelly underarms, and the many
39:42troubles down there. 25. What else
39:46frightens us nowadays? A lot. Most of us
39:49are scared about the economy, of losing
39:52our jobs, and of defaulting on our
39:54mortgages. We're scared that our spouse
39:56or partner might leave us. We're scared
39:59of loneliness and having no friends.
40:02We're afraid of sexual inadequacy, of
40:05getting cancer, of getting old and
40:07breaking a hip, of death. We're scared
40:10of driving and we're scared of flying.
40:13We're scared of terrorists and of global
40:15warming. We're scared of the bright sun
40:18and the dark night. We're afraid of
40:20E.oli holy bacteria in our beef,
40:22hormones in our milk, and mercury in our
40:25fish. We're scared of viruses infecting
40:27our computers and our water supplies.
40:30We're scared of earthquakes quite
40:32literally shifting the ground beneath
40:34our feet, and of our children being
40:36abducted by strangers in cars. We're
40:38scared that we talk too much or too
40:40little, that we dress badly, that our
40:42nails are unclean and our hair weward,
40:45or that no one will tell us about the
40:46piece of kale in our teeth, or that
40:48while we strive to be charming and
40:50amusing, we're actually fatally unfunny
40:52and everyone knows it but us. According
40:55to Gavin Johnston, a behavioral
40:57science-based branding consultant, many
40:59brands prey on what anthropologists dub
41:01panoramic fear, namely an overwhelming
41:04sense that control has been lost,
41:06prompting consumers to scramble to find
41:08any kind of comfort they can. 26.
41:12It's these seemingly infinite fears,
41:14some planted in our minds by marketers
41:16and advertisers, others merely amplified
41:18by them, that drive us to buy triple
41:20moisturizing creams and heats safe
41:22leave-in conditioners, teeth whitening
41:24strips and multivitamins, not to mention
41:26gym memberships and organic food and
41:28bottled water and humidifiers and
41:30dehumidifiers and designer clothing and
41:32Viagra and earthquake insurance and
41:34water filtration systems and plastic
41:36surgery and bike locks and burglar
41:38alarms. If you're a lady, most men want
41:42to kill you. Picture this. You're a
41:44single 20-something female in a skimpy
41:47t-shirt and sweats, ready to work out at
41:49home to a yoga DVD when you hear
41:51suspicious noises coming from outside.
41:53Or you're a teenage girl home alone at
41:56night, convinced you hear the sound of
41:58keys jiggling in the downstairs lock. Or
42:00you're a mother preparing dinner while
42:02your kids play in the yard, and you fail
42:04to notice the suspicious looking fellow
42:06lurking near the garage. Or perhaps
42:09you're a recent divorcee who's just been
42:11flirting with a charming hunk at your
42:13house party and are startled once the
42:15house has emptied out to see this same
42:17hunk punching in your back door. These
42:19are all scenes from widely viewed
42:21commercials for Brinks Home Security,
42:23now known as Broadview Security. When
42:26they aired in 2008, many media observers
42:28and consumer advocates decrieded them as
42:30sensationalistic, salacious, and sexist.
42:34Not to mention transparently obvious in
42:36their intent to terrify. Airing a few
42:38months into the global recession for
42:40many Americans, one of the scariest
42:42times in recent memory, the ads worked
42:44like a charm, especially among their
42:46target audience, women. Thanks to this
42:48unabashed fear-mongering, alarm sales
42:50rose by an unprecedented 10% in a single
42:53year, a year during which crime rates
42:55actually decreased. 27.
42:59Are you a single woman who lives alone
43:01in a large fivep person house? Studies
43:04show that if you're a lady, most men
43:06want to kill you. Went the hilarious
43:07parody of these ads that ran on Saturday
43:10Night Live. 28. But what's not funny is
43:13the fact that Broadview and Burglar
43:14alarm companies are hardly alone in
43:17identifying our most deeply held fears
43:19and then playing them back to us in the
43:21most nightmarish scenarios possible. In
43:23one ad sponsored by the Insurance
43:25Corporation of British Columbia, it was
43:27build as a drunk driving ad, although
43:29I'm willing to bet it sold more
43:31insurance policies than it saved lives.
43:33An adolescent boy is pictured flying
43:34through a car windshield because he's
43:36forgotten to secure his seat belt. In a
43:39TV commercial for American Express
43:41travelers checks, a vacationing couple
43:43suddenly victimized by theft is shown
43:45huddled, helpless, and broke before the
43:47credit card company, like a white
43:49knight, comes obligingly to the rescue.
43:52Credential life insuranceances don't
43:53wait until it's too late. Ad campaign
43:55featured a pitiful looking family barely
43:57managing to carry on because a deceased
43:59patriarch had failed to sign up for life
44:02insurance. And of course, there's GMS
44:04OnStar, a subscription-based vehicle
44:07security, safety, and communication
44:09service whose manipulative but riveting
44:11radio commercials are recordings of
44:13actual distress calls from customers.
44:15From a panicked woman reporting she's
44:17just been involved in a collision to a
44:19terrified child calling for help because
44:21his mother is having trouble breathing.
44:24I'm not proud of it, but I once helped
44:26create an ad like this. It was a TV
44:29commercial featuring a father and his
44:31young daughter. The father was about to
44:33leave on a business trip and the
44:35daughter was dejected. The camera cut to
44:38the father in a black limousine as it
44:40pulled away from his visibly unhappy
44:42daughter. Next, the screen showed dad on
44:45an airplane. Then the daughter again
44:47looking up longingly into the sky. Next,
44:50we see dad striding into a meeting
44:52overseas. His daughter back at home. At
44:55last, the phone rings. The daughter
44:57picks it up almost tearily. It's dad. He
45:01told her he would call her, didn't he?
45:03The commercial was for Aliens, a
45:05well-known life insurance company. Yes,
45:08we were using fear to remind fathers to
45:10look out for the families they love.
45:13Without saying so, the ad asked, "If
45:15something were to happen to you, would
45:17your family be financially protected?"
45:19Later, we scanned people's brains as
45:21they viewed it to see which shot was the
45:23most affecting and persuasive. The
45:26hands-down winner was the shot of the
45:28little girl gazing up at the sky.
45:30Yet, this was nothing compared to
45:32another ad I saw once. I want more time,
45:35which is available on YouTube, is dubbed
45:37the saddest commercial ever. But I think
45:39a more proper description is the most
45:41emotionally manipulative commercial
45:43ever. In it, a middle-aged man driving a
45:46car along a highway speaks in voice over
45:48about his teenage son. I want time to
45:51understand him, we hear as we see
45:53flashbacks of the father berating the
45:55young man. I want to listen to his
45:57songs. The father's voice over resumes
45:59and tell him I'm sorry and I want time
46:01to do what I've never done. Take better
46:03care of him. Love him more. At which
46:06point a highly realistic looking
46:08commuter bus rams his car head on. He's
46:11dead. Cue the words Thai life insurance.
46:1529. The reason ads like these work so
46:18well is because they hit us in two
46:20powerful places. Fear and its close
46:23cousin guilt. I consider guilt to be a
46:26global virus. And no one is better at
46:29spreading that virus than marketers and
46:31advertisers. As an article that appeared
46:33in the Journal of Consumer Research in
46:352006 explained, "Fear mixed with a high
46:38level of blame, regret, guilt, or even a
46:41dare tends to translate emotion into
46:43action." 30. This instinctively makes
46:45sense after all. Isn't it the
46:47combination of fear and guilt that makes
46:49you reach for the nicotine gum instead
46:51of the cigarettes or baked Cheetos over
46:53the fried ones? I might add that the
46:55packaging of these baked snacks is
46:57designed with the feared self of today's
46:59healthconscious woman in mind. Note the
47:01matte on shiny bags they come in
47:03compared to the slippery cleaning bags
47:05enclosing regular Cheetos which
47:07subconsciously remind us of oily greasy
47:09skin. In short, fear and guilt are
47:11marketers one-two punch. The mother of
47:14all fear. You may have noticed that many
47:17of the tactics we've been talking about
47:19so far seem to be aimed at women. That's
47:22because studies have shown that women
47:24are more prone to fear and guilt than
47:26men are. When psychologists in Spain
47:29recently questioned 300 men and women
47:31between the ages of 15 and 50 about the
47:34kinds of daily situations that
47:36engendered feelings of guilt, whether
47:38failing to make the time to visit a sick
47:40relative in the hospital, forgetting a
47:42friend's birthday, or losing patience
47:44with a friend. In each and every case,
47:46women felt significantly higher levels
47:48of guilt than their male counterparts
47:50and were also more likely to feel angry
47:52with themselves if they felt they had
47:54hurt another person. 31.
47:57No one is more vulnerable to fear and
47:59guilt than mothers, particularly new
48:01mothers. Now that you're responsible for
48:04this fragile little person, the entire
48:06world has suddenly become one giant
48:08death trap. And you haven't seen
48:10germaphobia until you've seen a new
48:12mother. No matter where I am in the
48:14world, when I ask new mothers what they
48:16do when the baby finally arrives, 90%
48:19tell me that they begin to clean as if
48:21there's no tomorrow. They're absolutely
48:23terrified of anything that could
48:24possibly harm or even contaminate their
48:26new arrivals. If Purell and other body
48:29and home sanitizers don't yet play a
48:31major part in their lives, they will
48:33now. But those aren't the only products
48:36out there marketed to paranoid mothers
48:38and fathers. Not even clothes. Among the
48:41many other health and safety related
48:43items, there are ointments, humidifiers,
48:45car seats that make Alcatraz look easy
48:47to escape, baby gates, cabinet locks,
48:50$300 digital color video baby monitors,
48:52safety bath time thermometers, safety
48:54bath time faucet covers, and more. This
48:57stuff doesn't necessarily make the
48:59little ones any safer either. For
49:01example, across Japan, physicians are
49:03finding that Japanese baby's immune
49:05systems are actually breaking down as an
49:07unfortunate consequence of their
49:09parents' preoccupation with germs.
49:11Still, marketers and advertisers are
49:14very skilled at playing to new mothers
49:15inherent fears, which I believe to be
49:17evolutionarily wired that if they don't
49:19buy all this stuff, they're not a good
49:21enough mother. And in fact, these are
49:24the first words that pop out of mother's
49:26mouths when their infant gets an
49:27infection or catches a cold. Even though
49:29the chances of this happening at some
49:31point in the first few years of the
49:33child's life are nearly 100%.
49:36Nonetheless, an insecure, hormonal,
49:38frequently isolated new mother believes
49:40it's her fault. She messed up. She
49:43didn't protect her child. A false
49:44impression she gleaned from one
49:46televised image after another of plump
49:48cheicked, airbrushed babies who look as
49:50though they've never caught a cold, had
49:52an ear infection, or had a scrape on
49:54them. I don't know any new mother who
49:57doesn't feel guilty about something.
49:59Maybe she's worried she doesn't buy her
50:01child enough educational toys or that
50:04she's not preparing every meal from
50:06scratch or that if she is, she isn't
50:08using fresh or highquality enough
50:10ingredients. Is she a good mother
50:12compared to other mothers? There are so
50:15many ways for her to feel she isn't
50:17living up to society's standards.
50:19Naturally, there are an endless array of
50:21products out there. From leapfrog
50:23computers for young children to organic
50:25baby food to postnatal exercise videos
50:27to LED light bulbs to Priuses to
50:30alleviate all that guilt. In our time
50:32starve society, how many mothers have
50:34time to drive to the supermarket, buy
50:36fresh ingredients, lug them home, and
50:38spend hours peeling, chopping,
50:40simmering, sautéing, baking, and
50:42broiling them to perfection. Yet, most
50:45moms and dads feel incredibly guilty
50:47about bringing home a prepackaged meal
50:49or worse yet, getting takeout. No matter
50:51how convenient that frozen lasagna looks
50:54if it comes in a cardboard box, most
50:56mothers feel guilty about serving it, as
50:58if doing so would be saying she doesn't
51:00really care. That's why food marketers
51:03came up with the ruse known as the
51:04finishing touch. A few years ago,
51:07supermarkets began selling pizza. Not
51:10just in the frozen food section. Now a
51:12busy mom can buy raw pizza dough, a bag
51:14of mozzarella, and a jar of sauce. Bring
51:16it home, roll out the crust herself, and
51:18voila, feel as though she's cooked
51:20homemade pizza. In the real world, they
51:22may call it cooking. But behind the
51:23scenes, marketers dub creating a meal of
51:26any kind assembling. This was a
51:28brilliant marketing ploy, not just on
51:30the part of the supermarkets for
51:32shelving these existing products
51:33together, but also on the part of brands
51:35like Pillsbury for rolling out a new
51:37pizza dough not so different from its
51:39regular crescent roll dough and Ragu for
51:41expanding its offerings to include pizza
51:43sauce not very different from its
51:45regular tomato sauce. These canny
51:48companies learned that they could make a
51:49killing by selling us products that look
51:51finished but in fact require a little
51:53effort, the finishing touch on our part.
51:56Thus, a guilt-ridden mother can now
51:58provide a well-rounded, nutritious,
52:00home-cooked meal for her family. In the
52:02time it takes to mix in a packet of
52:04spices, gone is the fear that she's
52:06served her family a pre-made,
52:08manufactured, subpar product, now you
52:11understand what Hamburger Helper or
52:13Duncan Hines Brownie mix, add an egg,
52:16and half a cup of water are all about.
52:18There's a pill for that. Your dad wants
52:21you to have things he never had. Like
52:24hair, reads the ad for Rogain.
52:27Immediately, the male viewer thinks
52:28about his hard-working, self-sacrificing
52:30father before terror of losing more
52:32inches of his own rapidly retreating
52:34hairline sets in. Notice the sly
52:37combination of guilt and fear at work
52:39here. An ad for the much maligned pain
52:42reliever vioed shows the famous figure
52:44skater Dorothy Hamill perched on a bench
52:46lacing up her skates with the voice over
52:48along with all the great memories has
52:50come something I thought I'd never
52:51experience the pain of osteoarthritis.
52:54Our reaction. Oh no. If an Olympic ice
52:58skater can come down with arthritis, so
53:00can I. But look, thanks to Vios, she's
53:03skating again. Fear followed by hope and
53:06renewal. The classic one-two punch. Do
53:09you suffer from allergies? The woman
53:12pictured in the ad for Fllona's allergy
53:14spray sure does. In a series of photos,
53:17we see her unhappily rubbing and wiping
53:19her runny red nose and finally clutching
53:21her nostrils in agony. She looks
53:24miserable at the end of her rope. Then
53:26we see her after two squirts of Fllona
53:29spray. She's now outdoors laughing while
53:31her hunky husband rakes the lawn. Her
53:34teeth quite miraculously have suddenly
53:36become blindingly white. A beautiful
53:38blonde child stands nearby, beaming.
53:41There's a wheelbarrow and a watering can
53:43and probably more pollen and dander and
53:46grass than anyone can imagine. And guess
53:48what? It doesn't bother her one bit.
53:51Fllon has transformed our sneezy,
53:53hacking worse nightmare into a sexy,
53:55feminine, outdoors loving, allergy-free
53:57object of our envy and desire. Sure,
54:01pharmaceutical ads play on our fear of
54:03death and disease and aging to get us to
54:05buy their products. But I believe that's
54:07not the only fear tactic at work.
54:10Pharmaceutical companies also play on
54:12one of the most subtle yet powerful of
54:14psychological tricks, our fear of social
54:16isolation, of being outsiders. Countless
54:19studies show that humans have a
54:20universal need to belong, dating way
54:22back to our early ancestors, for whom
54:25survival depended on being a member of a
54:27band or tribe. For most of us, the
54:29thought of being left out or alone is
54:31terrifying. How exactly do the drug
54:34companies play and prey on this fear?
54:37Believe it or not, they use a formula
54:39that, according to a research study
54:41carried out at Stanford University, is
54:43more or less standard for this kind of
54:45fear-based advertising. They begin with
54:47solitary shots of our worst feared self,
54:49a balding man, an overweight woman, or
54:52an unhappy or distracted child whose
54:54gaze is conspicuously averted. Once the
54:56person in the ad has taken whatever it
54:58is that is designed to improve their
55:00appearance, steady their mood, or
55:02alleviate their symptoms, not only do
55:04they look brighter, happier, and sexier,
55:06but they face straight ahead at the
55:08camera. This accomplishes two things.
55:11First, as any psychologist will tell
55:13you, averted gazes are generally
55:14associated with shame and social
55:16isolation, while a straight ahead gaze
55:18is a sign of confidence and
55:20connectedness. So the straight ahead
55:22gaze implies that taking the drug or
55:24medication has magically made the person
55:26in the advertisement not just healthier
55:28but more popular, loved and accepted.
55:31Second, it invites you, the viewer, into
55:34the person's life. In the advertising
55:36industry, this after picture is termed a
55:38demand photo because the newly slimmed
55:40down/reocused/cured
55:42model demands a connection from the
55:44viewer. Recognize me, the photograph
55:47says. Meet my gaze. You know me. This
55:50brand works. If you want to be as happy
55:53as I am, use it. 32. Big pharma has
55:58plenty of critics. And while I'll
56:00concede that pharmaceutical executives
56:02don't actually sit around in boardrooms
56:04rubbing their hands together, concocting
56:06new ways to terrorize the public, given
56:08that the very nature of their products
56:10is to cure or treat things that most
56:12people find universally scary, like
56:14serious disease, it's inevitable that
56:16fear finds a way into their marketing
56:18and advertising strategies.
56:20Pharmaceutical companies don't just
56:22remind us of all the horrible conditions
56:24we might one day come down with like an
56:26embarrassing skin disease, sexual
56:28dysfunction, cancer, and so on. They
56:30also spend millions of dollars a year
56:32stirring up fear in our hearts over
56:34conditions we never even knew to be
56:36afraid of. Restless leg syndrome,
56:39fibromyalgia,
56:40premenstrual dysphoric disorder. Who
56:43knew such things even existed? Well,
56:46thanks to the psychologically
56:47manipulative and off-air commercials, we
56:49all do now. Do you suffer from shyness?
56:53Apparently, shyness isn't just a
56:55personality trait, but an actual
56:57pathology and one that only Paxel can
56:59cure. What about acid reflux disease,
57:02formerly known as heartburn? Today,
57:04there are over a dozen drugs from Nexium
57:07to Prylok to Zantac, available to treat
57:10it. Who knew that irritable bowels
57:12weren't just the unfortunate
57:13repercussions of a spicy Mexican dinner
57:16and were actually a syndrome? PMDD, or
57:19premenstrual dysphoric disorder, is a
57:21relatively recent condition, though it
57:23bears much in common with the monthly
57:25hormonal changes fertile women have been
57:27experiencing for centuries. LBL, which
57:30stands for light bladder leakage, is an
57:32even newer one pharmacologically
57:34speaking. Anyone who's ever gone
57:36swimming in a public pool has probably
57:38encountered a young child who suffers
57:40from this. These days, we're being
57:42persuaded to ask our doctors for
57:44medications to address what were once
57:46considered nothing more than everyday
57:48inconveniences.
57:50A recent study by two York University
57:52researchers found that big pharma spends
57:54nearly twice as much on promotion and
57:56advertising as it does on research and
57:59development. No wonder Americans are the
58:01most overmed people on Earth with
58:03overall domestic sales of prescription
58:05drugs totaling $235.4
58:08billion. 33.
58:11Germaphobia.
58:13I'll bet that if you're in the habit of
58:15buying the morning paper, you bypass the
58:17one directly on top of the stack.
58:19Instead, you lift up the top newspaper
58:22and pull out the one directly underneath
58:24it. Did you know that consciously or
58:26not, 72% of people do the same? Why?
58:30Because we imagine that the second one
58:32from the top hasn't been manhandled by
58:35countless germy fingertips and is
58:37therefore somehow cleaner than the one
58:39above it. Ironically though, after
58:41scanning the headlines, many of that
58:43same 72% of consumers replace that paper
58:45right where they found it, under the top
58:47one. So, they all end up thumbming
58:49through the same finger smudged
58:50newspaper over and over. It's the same
58:53phenomenon that explains why when women
58:55visit the ladies rooms of hotels,
58:57stores, and restaurants, only 5% of them
59:00will enter the first stall. Why? Because
59:03they believe it's less clean than the
59:05second or third one. Go figure. The
59:08point is that the illusion of
59:10cleanliness or freshness is a subtle but
59:12powerful persuader, and marketers know
59:14it. I believe this is tied into our
59:16nearly universal fear of germs, which
59:19ties into our innate fear of disease,
59:21illness, and even death. Think of all
59:23the lengths we go to in order to avoid
59:25contaminants in our lives. We slather on
59:28epic amounts of hand sanitizer. We pay
59:31exorbitant prices for fruit and produce
59:34grown without pesticides. We shell out
59:36extra for household cleaning products
59:38labeled non-toxic. So persuasive is this
59:41messaging that the company Method, which
59:43claims its products are a cleaner clean,
59:45is now the seventh fastest growing
59:47private company in the United States.
59:5034. Does any of this actually make us
59:52any healthier? No, not really. But it
59:56does make us less afraid of getting
59:58sick. Global contagions aside, our fear
1:00:01of germs pervades a whole host of buying
1:00:03decisions we make in our everyday lives.
1:00:05From which newspaper we pull off the
1:00:07stack to which groceries we buy. On a
1:00:09recent NBC Today segment, when my team
1:00:12and I scanned the brain of a female
1:00:14volunteer named Kelly as she made her
1:00:16way down the supermarket aisle so we
1:00:18could analyze her thought patterns as
1:00:19she made her selections, one of the most
1:00:21interesting things we found was that
1:00:23perceptions of cleanliness had a big
1:00:25impact on her decisions without her even
1:00:27realizing it. Over the length of the
1:00:30segment, store executives, the film
1:00:32crew, the producer, and even TV viewers
1:00:34failed to notice one thing that our
1:00:36brain scanners were able to pick up.
1:00:38Every time Kelly picked a product off
1:00:40the shelf, the scientists were able to
1:00:42detect a slight pause or increase in
1:00:44reaction time before she put the object
1:00:47either in her basket or back on the
1:00:49shelf. This in itself isn't all that
1:00:51surprising. It takes most of us a second
1:00:53or two to decide whether or not to buy
1:00:56something. But what was really
1:00:58interesting was that every time Kelly
1:00:59held a product in her hand, the brain
1:01:01scans revealed strong activity in her
1:01:03brain's amydala region. the region
1:01:05responsible for fear, dread, danger, and
1:01:08discomfort. It also serves as a memory
1:01:10storage unit. Literally every product
1:01:12she touched during her shopping
1:01:14excursion sparked a fear response in
1:01:16Kelly's brain. What was going on here?
1:01:20After watching the tapes again, we
1:01:22noticed that generally if Kelly liked a
1:01:24product enough to touch it, study it,
1:01:25and ponder it, she'd buy it. But not the
1:01:28one she picked up. Instead, just like
1:01:30those newspaper buyers, she put that
1:01:32tainted bottle of shampoo or can of
1:01:34coffee or bag of tortilla chips back on
1:01:36the shelf before selecting an identical
1:01:38one, stashed one or two items behind it.
1:01:41And on one occasion, when the product
1:01:43Kelly wanted was the lone one remaining
1:01:45on the shelf, the fear response in her
1:01:47brain was so pronounced she ended up
1:01:49choosing another brand altogether.
1:01:51Though if you had asked her, she would
1:01:53have had no idea why she had done so. It
1:01:56makes sense that our fear of germs or
1:01:58contamination would be particularly
1:02:00pronounced when it comes to food
1:02:02products. But how do we explain the fact
1:02:04that Kelly's fear response was just as
1:02:06strong for, say, paper towels as it was
1:02:09for a carton of milk? I chalk it up to
1:02:12clever marketing that plants seeds in
1:02:13our brains. Subconsciously, of course,
1:02:16that maybe a product is or isn't as
1:02:18clean as we believe. To see what I mean,
1:02:21picture, say, a marmalade display.
1:02:23Marmalade, as most people know, is a
1:02:25fruit preserve with a thick peely
1:02:27texture and a syrupy taste. From the
1:02:30beginning of time, marmalade, which
1:02:32originated in Scotland, has been
1:02:34marketed and sold in jars with tartan
1:02:36plaid screw tops to cultivate that
1:02:38exotic suggestion of it being imported,
1:02:41even though most is manufactured in the
1:02:43United States. Still, because most
1:02:45Americans believe jars of this exotic
1:02:47product have traveled thousands of miles
1:02:49and who knows what conditions and been
1:02:51manhandled by who knows how many grimy
1:02:53emys, the average consumer before buying
1:02:55a jar of marmalade will carefully
1:02:56inspect it, hoping to confirm that what
1:02:58he or she is buying is safe, fresh, and
1:03:00uncontaminated.
1:03:02Yet, there is no way on earth a
1:03:04marmalade manufacturer can guarantee
1:03:06freshness. Marmalade is simply not a
1:03:09fresh product. It's not meant to be.
1:03:12Those glass jars have been sitting on
1:03:14this supermarket shelf for upwards of 8
1:03:17months. But marketers don't want us to
1:03:19know that. So what do they do? They try
1:03:23to create the illusion of freshness by
1:03:25attaching the top of the marmalade lid
1:03:27to the glass jar with a narrow white
1:03:29strip of adhesive paper. When the strip
1:03:31is unbroken, it means that no one has
1:03:34twisted the top of the can open and done
1:03:36who knows what to it. It signals to
1:03:39consumers, "Hey, don't worry. you've got
1:03:41a fresh jar. Hotels, incidentally,
1:03:44employ a similar tactic by placing a
1:03:46paper seal on the seats of their toilets
1:03:48and a paper lid on glasses you'll find
1:03:50in the bathroom or near the minibar.
1:03:52I've always been astonished by the fact
1:03:54that a single flimsy sheet of paper is
1:03:57enough to create the illusion that no
1:03:58other person has ever used that toilet
1:04:00or drank out of that glass. But somehow
1:04:02it does. And in fact, one hotel employee
1:04:05once admitted to me that the glasses are
1:04:07not actually washed, merely dried with a
1:04:09towel before being used again and again.
1:04:12Yet that paper lid gives us the illusion
1:04:14of cleanliness.
1:04:16Marketers call this the fresh strip.
1:04:19Along with its close relative, the
1:04:20plastic seal, the Fresh Strip is today
1:04:23standard in many food and product
1:04:24categories, including, among others,
1:04:26yogurt, peanut butter, coffee, ketchup,
1:04:29iced tea, mustard, juice, vitamins, and
1:04:31over-the-counter medicines. It conveys
1:04:33the in many cases false impression that
1:04:36what's inside this jar, bag, or
1:04:38container is unsullied by germs,
1:04:39untouched by another human being.
1:04:42Moreover, many of these jars and
1:04:44containers are deliberately engineered
1:04:45so that when we unscrew that marmalade
1:04:47at home, we'll hear that comforting
1:04:49smack sound. Further reassurance that
1:04:51what we've bought is fresh, clean, and
1:04:53safe. Never mind that the smacking sound
1:04:55was created and patented in a sound lab
1:04:58to manipulate us into believing that the
1:05:00marmalade was flown in from Edinburgh
1:05:02just this morning. Don't be fooled. The
1:05:05reality is that this jar of marmalade
1:05:08has likely been sitting on this shelf
1:05:09unbothered for months. Occasionally, a
1:05:12clerk will come by and dust it. When a
1:05:15banana is not just a banana to truly see
1:05:19all the tricks marketers have for
1:05:20creating the illusion of freshness,
1:05:22there's no place better to go than Whole
1:05:24Foods, the world's largest purveyor of
1:05:26natural and organic edibles. What passes
1:05:30through your mind when I say the word
1:05:31fresh? free roaming cows and chickens,
1:05:35handpicked fruit and flowers, homegrown
1:05:38tomatoes still on the vine. As we enter
1:05:41Whole Foods, symbols or what advertisers
1:05:43call symbolics of freshness just like
1:05:45these overwhelm us. No matter what whole
1:05:48foods you visit in any city in America,
1:05:50the first thing you see is flowers,
1:05:52geraniums, daffodils, jonquils. Behind
1:05:57the display of flowers cascades a stream
1:05:59of clear water against a coppery
1:06:00backdrop, another symbolic suggestive of
1:06:03calm and serenity. Flowers, as everyone
1:06:06knows, are among the freshest, most
1:06:08perishable objects on earth. Which is
1:06:10why fresh flowers are placed right up
1:06:12front to prime us to think of freshness
1:06:15the moment we enter the store. Consider
1:06:17the opposite. What if we entered the
1:06:19store and were greeted with stacks of
1:06:21canned tuna and plastic flowers? Now
1:06:24that we're primed, we proceed to carry
1:06:26that association, albeit subconsciously,
1:06:28with us as we shop. The prices for the
1:06:31flowers, as for all the fresh fruits and
1:06:33vegetables, are scrolled in chalk on
1:06:35fragments of black slate, which is a
1:06:37tradition of outdoor European
1:06:39marketplaces. It's as if, or so we are
1:06:42meant to believe, the farmer or grower
1:06:44pulled up in front of Whole Foods just
1:06:46this morning, unloaded his produce,
1:06:48chalk, and primitive slate boards in
1:06:49hand, then hopped back in his flatbed
1:06:52truck, and motortored back upstate to
1:06:53his country farm. The dashed off straw
1:06:56also suggests the price changes daily or
1:06:58even throughout the day, just as it
1:07:00might at a roadside farm stand or local
1:07:02market. But in fact, most of the produce
1:07:05was shipped in by plane days ago. Its
1:07:07price set and fixed at the Whole Foods
1:07:09corporate headquarters. Not only does
1:07:11the price not change daily, but what may
1:07:13look like chalk on the board is actually
1:07:15indelible. The signs have been mass-
1:07:17prodduced in a factory. In industry
1:07:20parliament, marketers use the term
1:07:22farmgate to refer to this strategy of
1:07:24planting a false image of a real
1:07:26allnatural working farm in our minds and
1:07:28factory gate to refer to the fact that
1:07:30most everything we see before us is
1:07:32actually manufactured by a large
1:07:34corporation. These same farmgate tactics
1:07:37are behind the coolers of chipped ice
1:07:39planted everywhere you look. Ever notice
1:07:41that there's ice everywhere in this
1:07:43store? Why does hummus really need to be
1:07:46kept ice cold? What about cucumber and
1:07:49yogurt dip? No. And no. This ice is
1:07:53another symbolic and unconscious
1:07:55suggestion that what's before us is
1:07:56bursting with freshness. To our
1:07:59irrational, germfearing minds,
1:08:00tortillas, hot dogs, pickles, and other
1:08:03non-p perishables must be fresher and
1:08:05thus safer to eat when they're sitting
1:08:07on a bed of ice, especially when the
1:08:08soda or juice persspires a little, a
1:08:10phenomenon the industry dubs sweat. The
1:08:12refrigerators in most juice and milk
1:08:14aisles are deliberately kept at the
1:08:16exact temperature needed for this
1:08:18sweating to occur. Similarly, for years
1:08:20now, supermarkets have been sprinkling
1:08:22select vegetables with regular dew drops
1:08:24of water, a trend that came out of
1:08:26Denmark. Why? Like ice displays, those
1:08:30sprinkler-like drops serve as a
1:08:31symbolic, albeit a bogus one, of
1:08:33freshness and purity. Ironically, that
1:08:36same dewy mist makes the vegetables rot
1:08:38more quickly than they would otherwise.
1:08:41So much for perception versus reality.
1:08:44When carrying out experiments on
1:08:46consumer behavior across the world, I
1:08:48often ask people a truly obnoxious
1:08:50question. Would they mind emptying the
1:08:52contents of their fridge and freezer
1:08:53onto the kitchen table, then one by one
1:08:56ranking and replacing the items
1:08:58depending on how fresh they perceive the
1:09:00products as being. You would be
1:09:02surprised at how the extraordinarily
1:09:04persuasive effects of advertising play
1:09:06into people's perceptions of freshness.
1:09:09The one product consistently at the top
1:09:11of people's lists, Hines ketchup. That's
1:09:15right. Consumers rank bottled ketchup as
1:09:17being fresher than lettuce, tomatoes,
1:09:19onions, and so on. Why, hides? I always
1:09:22ask, noting that the expiration date on
1:09:24the bottle isn't for another 6 months.
1:09:27You're right, the majority reply after a
1:09:30moment. I have no idea why I put that
1:09:32there. So, what's behind this bizarre
1:09:35impression that ketchup is fresh? It's
1:09:38all in the way it's marketed. Hin subtly
1:09:40plays up the tomatoess of ketchup with
1:09:42its deep red color, the shade of a
1:09:44picked right off the vine beef steak
1:09:46tomato, even though it's actually made
1:09:48from tomato concentrate. Moreover, Hines
1:09:51does not in fact have to be refrigerated
1:09:54once the seal is broken, as we are led
1:09:56to believe. That's yet another illusion
1:09:58meant to trick us into thinking the
1:10:00product is fresh. My extensive work for
1:10:03McDonald's shows that symbolics like
1:10:05these can alter our perception of
1:10:07everything from freshness to value or
1:10:10even quality. I once helped McDonald's
1:10:12incorporate symbolics of freshness in
1:10:15its restaurants throughout Europe. We
1:10:17painted green leaves on the insides of
1:10:19the lamps and even went so far as to
1:10:21display fresh tomatoes and vegetables
1:10:24behind glass displays. In France,
1:10:26McDonald's went so far as to transform
1:10:28its fabled logo from yellow to a dark
1:10:31leafy green. And trust me, it worked.
1:10:34Another powerful symbolic of purity and
1:10:37freshness. Fruit. In the juice world,
1:10:40it's a general rule of thumb that the
1:10:42more fruit a manufacturer displays on
1:10:44the side of the juice carton, the
1:10:46greater will be our perception of
1:10:48freshness. Note the spill of kiwis,
1:10:50oranges, mangoes, strawberries, and
1:10:52raspberries that blanket most juice
1:10:54cartons. Would it surprise you to find
1:10:56out that many of these blends contain
1:10:58only the tiniest trace amounts of the
1:11:00more expensive exotic fruits like kiwi
1:11:03and mango and are typically more water
1:11:05and sugar than actual fruit juice? By
1:11:07the way, even though you might think of
1:11:09brands like Dole, Minuteade, Just Juice,
1:11:11and Oddwala as natural brands. In fact,
1:11:14they are owned by Coca-Cola while Pepsi
1:11:16owns Tropicana. And guess who has a true
1:11:18monopoly on the entire category of fruit
1:11:21juices, not to mention milk, buttermilk,
1:11:23and lemonade? a Swedish conglomerate
1:11:26called Tetropac, the global manufacturer
1:11:28of those rectangular plastic containers
1:11:30in which our juices and milks are
1:11:32packaged. This reminds me of the time a
1:11:35couple of decades ago when I was asked
1:11:37to develop a cheese ball snack, a round
1:11:39version of Cheetos. On my preliminary
1:11:41package design, I placed five cheese
1:11:44balls in a minimalist Stonehengeike
1:11:46pattern. The person who hired me had a
1:11:48fit. Who would buy only five cheese
1:11:50balls? He asked. We need to see tons of
1:11:54cheese balls on that package. Over the
1:11:56years, I've realized how right he was
1:11:58and across all categories, too. I
1:12:01redesigned the package to show seemingly
1:12:03hundreds of those cheese balls. Why?
1:12:06Because it seduces us into thinking we
1:12:08are getting that much more in the
1:12:10package. This may have nothing to do
1:12:12with freshness. After all, even the
1:12:14smartest marketers out there would be
1:12:16hardressed to fool any consumer into
1:12:18thinking that Cheetos are remotely
1:12:19fresh. But it goes to show why despite
1:12:21the minimal amount of actual fruit
1:12:23inside most fruit juices, their
1:12:25containers picture a veritable
1:12:26cornucopia of kiwis, mangoes, and so on.
1:12:30Speaking of fruit, you may think a
1:12:32banana is just a banana, but it's not.
1:12:35Dole and other banana growers have made
1:12:37the creation of a banana into a mini
1:12:39science in part to manipulate
1:12:41perceptions of freshness. In fact,
1:12:43they've issued a banana guide to green
1:12:45grocerers illustrating the various color
1:12:47stages a banana can attain during its
1:12:50life cycle. Each color represents the
1:12:52sales potential for the banana in
1:12:54question. For example, sales records
1:12:57show that bananas with panon color 13 to
1:12:59858, otherwise known as vibrant yellow,
1:13:02are less likely to sell than bananas
1:13:03with panton color 12 to 752, also called
1:13:06buttercup, which is one grade warmer
1:13:08visually and seems to imply a riper,
1:13:11fresher fruit. Companies like Dole have
1:13:13analyzed the sales effects of all
1:13:15varieties of color and as a result plant
1:13:18their crops under conditions most ideal
1:13:20to creating the right color. And as for
1:13:22apples, believe it or not, my research
1:13:25found that while it may look fresh, the
1:13:27average apple you see in the supermarket
1:13:29is actually 14 months old. Knowing that
1:13:32even just the suggestion of fruit evokes
1:13:34such powerful associations of health,
1:13:36freshness, and cleanliness, brands
1:13:38across all category lines have gone
1:13:40fruity on us. Infusing everything from
1:13:42shampoos to hair conditioners to baby
1:13:44soaps to bottled waters to nicotine
1:13:45chewing gum to lip balm to teas to
1:13:47vitamins to cosmetics and even to
1:13:49furniture polish with pineapple,
1:13:50oranges, peaches, passion fruit, and
1:13:53banana fragrances. Engineered in a
1:13:54chemist's laboratory, of course. Mango
1:13:57papaya conditioner. Anyone? Lemon lip
1:14:00gloss, orange scented pine soul. Will
1:14:03these products get your hair or your
1:14:05floors any cleaner than the regular
1:14:07versions? Of course not. But the scent
1:14:10of fruit evoke strong associations of
1:14:12cleanliness for germaphobic consumers,
1:14:15and that's really all that matters.
1:14:17We've reached a point where our shampoos
1:14:19are so fruity, we almost want to guzzle
1:14:21them down. Shampoo companies also
1:14:24realize that the sheer volume of bubbles
1:14:25a shampoo generates can evoke
1:14:27associations of freshness and
1:14:29cleanliness. Bubbles signal that the
1:14:30shampoo is strong and invigorating, just
1:14:33as the sting of an aftershave or the
1:14:34bubbles hitting our throat when we down
1:14:36sparkling water inform us that the
1:14:38product is fresh and uncontaminated.
1:14:41Some companies I know have even gone so
1:14:43far as to create a chemical that
1:14:44accelerates the appearance and quality
1:14:46of bubbles to make unwitting bayers feel
1:14:49as though their hair is getting cleaner
1:14:50faster. I call this a perceived
1:14:53justification symbol, a moment designed
1:14:55to reassure us that we made the right
1:14:57purchase and of course ensure that we'll
1:14:59stay loyal to that product in the
1:15:01future. Similarly, ever wonder why
1:15:04Aquaresh toothpaste looks the way it
1:15:06does? There's a good reason each squirt
1:15:08is a rainbow of colors. The white is
1:15:11meant to be a symbolic for whiter teeth,
1:15:13the red is symbolic for protecting the
1:15:15gums, and the blue is symbolic for fresh
1:15:17breath. And it works. In one experiment,
1:15:21I asked two groups of consumers to try
1:15:23two different versions of the
1:15:24toothpaste. One the regular version and
1:15:27one that had been dyed just one color.
1:15:29Sure enough, the group using the paste
1:15:31with the three colors not only reported
1:15:33that the toothpaste worked 73% better,
1:15:36they even claimed they believed that
1:15:38their teeth looked whiter. Back at Whole
1:15:40Foods, as I round the corner, a
1:15:42decidedly non-fruit smell hits me.
1:15:45Seafood. There are whole fish eyes,
1:15:48scales, and all laid out on yet another
1:15:50cold bed of symbolic ice. Again,
1:15:52suggesting that the fish in this store
1:15:54were reeled in just this morning. But
1:15:56the fish you actually buy sit behind a
1:15:58glass counter in individual plastic
1:16:00containers and have already been
1:16:01beheaded, deboned, and paired down to a
1:16:04more manageable size. You'll never
1:16:05actually take home one of those four
1:16:07whole fish lying balefully across their
1:16:09ice coffin. In fact, these are probably
1:16:12the only four intact fish in the entire
1:16:14store, and they probably aren't even
1:16:15fresh at all, as they've been lying out
1:16:17there in the open all day, if not
1:16:19longer. Yet again, our brains have been
1:16:22tricked into believing that everything
1:16:23in the store was fished, trucked in, and
1:16:26handd delivered just this morning. I was
1:16:29once called in to advise the owner of a
1:16:31Dubai fish market who had attempted to
1:16:33sell frozen fish. At first, very few
1:16:36customers showed any interest. Then the
1:16:39manager decided to place the store
1:16:40supply of frozen fish at top coolers of
1:16:43ice cubes. Suddenly and irrationally,
1:16:45sales of the fish, the frozen fish,
1:16:47remember, rose by 74%.
1:16:50Why? It was perceived as fresher simply
1:16:53because it was displayed on blocks of
1:16:55ice. Interestingly, in France, consumers
1:16:58actually believe frozen foods are
1:17:00fresher than fresh fruits and
1:17:01vegetables. I credit an ingenious frozen
1:17:04food industry for stressing in its
1:17:06marketing and advertising how long it
1:17:09takes fresh produce to make its way from
1:17:11the farm to the production facility to
1:17:13the supermarket to a consumer's
1:17:15refrigerator. Why? That fresh bunch of
1:17:17spinach could easily be weeks old.
1:17:20Whereas they inform consumers frozen
1:17:22food is conserved and preserved on the
1:17:24spot. A final fish story. A friend of
1:17:28mine once worked on the small island of
1:17:30Tenneref, largest of the Canary Islands
1:17:32off the coast of Spain. He was a
1:17:34fisherman and his very best customer was
1:17:37a popular local restaurant known as
1:17:39Losabrigos. But the restaurant owners
1:17:42had specific instructions. Once my
1:17:44friend and the other fishermen had
1:17:46caught their day supply of seafood,
1:17:47Losrigasa's management asked them to
1:17:50deliver the fish to a small nearby port
1:17:52where it was then transferred onto a
1:17:54traditional looking fisherman's boat,
1:17:55the kind no one, including my friend,
1:17:57uses anymore. When customers would
1:18:00arrive for lunch between noon and 300
1:18:02p.m., the fisherman's boat would putter
1:18:04into the harbor and everyone would look
1:18:06on as a grizzled old Spanish fisherman
1:18:08would step out and hand over the fish
1:18:10ostensibly reeled in just moments
1:18:12earlier to the waiting restaurant staff.
1:18:15It was all completely staged, but people
1:18:17fell for it and soon the restaurant had
1:18:19to turn away a daily overflow of
1:18:21customers. So whether it's germs or
1:18:24disease or some feared version of a
1:18:26future self, marketers are amazingly
1:18:28adept at identifying a fear out of the
1:18:30zeitgeist, activating it, amplifying it,
1:18:33and preying on it in ways that hit us at
1:18:35the deepest subconscious level. As you
1:18:38read on, you'll learn that fear is far
1:18:40from the only psychological tool
1:18:41companies and marketers are
1:18:43surreptitiously using to persuade us,
1:18:46which may be the scariest thing of all.
1:18:49Chapter 3. Your cell phones ringing. Is
1:18:52it a colleague checking in? News of a
1:18:55canceled meeting, a sick child, a death,
1:18:58a birth, an emergency. Without this
1:19:01lifeline in your hand, where would you
1:19:03be? Lost, distracted, cut off, alone. I
1:19:09know a man whose iPhone sits in a
1:19:10bedside dock beside him at night. Most
1:19:13nights, he wakes up involuntarily at
1:19:151:00 a.m. to check his email. Then again
1:19:18at 3. Then again at 5. In the morning,
1:19:22his phone awakens him with a soft but
1:19:24audible rendition of Louisie Armstrong
1:19:26and Ella Fitzgerald's Can't We Be
1:19:28Friends. By the time he's kissed his
1:19:30wife Good Morning, or roused his kids,
1:19:32he's already sent three text messages,
1:19:34checked his three email accounts,
1:19:35scanned the headlines of the New York
1:19:37Times, and watched a highlight reel from
1:19:39last night's Knicks game on ESPN.com.
1:19:42As he gets ready for the day, his phone
1:19:44goes with him everywhere to the
1:19:46bathroom. while he takes his morning
1:19:48shower outside when he takes the dog out
1:19:51for a quick walk. While driving to work,
1:19:54he recharges it in the passenger seat,
1:19:56lest the battery run out before he makes
1:19:58it to his office, where he has a backup.
1:20:01As he drives, his GPS app tells him
1:20:03which route has the least traffic. He
1:20:06checks the day's weather on it, not to
1:20:08mention the temperatures in Paris, New
1:20:10York, and five other cities. At work, he
1:20:13plugs it into his computer. In idle
1:20:15moments, he plays Angry Birds, Tetris,
1:20:18and Super Mario Kart on it. Sometimes he
1:20:21squints to read a book on the Kindle
1:20:23app. He uses his smartphone as a
1:20:25stopwatch, a flashlight, a calculator, a
1:20:27calendar, a camera, a stock checker, a
1:20:29notetaker, and more. More than once,
1:20:32he's misplaced it. At those times, he
1:20:35felt as though his very identity had
1:20:37been stripped from him. The feeling, he
1:20:40tells me, was similar to that of a
1:20:42smoker who knows there's got to be one
1:20:43more cigarette around here somewhere, or
1:20:45a junkie who knows there's one more fix
1:20:48stashed in a drawer. If only he could
1:20:50find it. And in this behavior, he is far
1:20:52from alone. A recent study of 200
1:20:55students at Stanford University revealed
1:20:58that 34% rated themselves as addicted to
1:21:01their phones, while 32% worried they
1:21:03someday would be addicted. The way
1:21:05things are trending, I suspect this
1:21:08number is only going to grow. Think
1:21:10about how many times you check your
1:21:12phone throughout the course of the day.
1:21:1425, 50, 200. Now, think about that sick,
1:21:19uneasy feeling you get when you discover
1:21:21that not a soul has called, texted,
1:21:23emailed, or written on your Facebook
1:21:25wall. At least not since you last
1:21:27checked 5 minutes ago. Let me ask you
1:21:29another question. Where do you keep your
1:21:31cell phone when you go to sleep at
1:21:33night? on your nightstand within arms
1:21:36reach in bed with you tucked away
1:21:38soundly inches from your snoring
1:21:40spouse's pillow. You wouldn't be alone.
1:21:42As a recent New York Times article put
1:21:44it, after 6 to 8 hours of network
1:21:47deprivation, also known as sleep, people
1:21:49are increasingly waking up and lunging
1:21:51for cell phones and laptops, sometimes
1:21:53even before swinging their legs to the
1:21:55floor and tending to more biologically
1:21:57urgent activities. One. I was once
1:22:00dining at an elegant restaurant in
1:22:03Paris. Two tables away sat an American
1:22:06couple. It was lunchtime. I glanced over
1:22:09as the familiar digital choreography,
1:22:11what I call the cell phone dance, got
1:22:13underway. Lowering his head, the man
1:22:16drew his hand to his pants pocket,
1:22:18surreptitiously slid out his phone, and
1:22:20cocked his eyes down at the small
1:22:22glowing screen. A moment passed. Then
1:22:25the man excused himself and went to the
1:22:27bathroom. I followed him in simply
1:22:30because I wanted to prove he was there
1:22:32for no other reason than to check his
1:22:34emails and texts. I was right. The
1:22:37moment he returned to the table, the
1:22:39woman who had undoubtedly taken his
1:22:41absence as an opportunity to check her
1:22:42own phone rose to use the bathroom
1:22:44herself. I imagine the same routine took
1:22:47place in the lady's room. A female
1:22:49executive once told me about a time when
1:22:51she was having lunch with her boss and
1:22:53excused herself to use the bathroom
1:22:55where she found herself trading text
1:22:57messages with her seated boss. These
1:23:00days, we're tapping away at our phones
1:23:02and handhelds while eating breakfast
1:23:03with our families during our kids soccer
1:23:06games and apparently from the bathrooms
1:23:08of fancy Parisian beastro. Tucking our
1:23:10recharged cell phones into our purses or
1:23:13pockets before leaving the house in the
1:23:15morning has become a ritualized step of
1:23:17arming ourselves against the day. A poll
1:23:19conducted by USA Today asked Wi-Fi users
1:23:22how long they could last before they
1:23:24started getting antsy about checking
1:23:25their email inbox, instant messages or
1:23:28social networking sites. 47% replied 1
1:23:32hour or less. I recently conducted an
1:23:35experiment in conjunction with global
1:23:37audio identity experts Elias Arts to
1:23:40identify the 50 most powerful and
1:23:42addictive sounds in the world. The third
1:23:44place winner, the sound of a vibrating
1:23:47phone. Be it an iPhone, a Blackberry, or
1:23:50an Android, there's no question that the
1:23:52vast majority of us are extremely
1:23:54attached to our phones, but addicted?
1:23:57Really? Isn't that a bit much? Two? Not
1:24:01really. While it's true that most of us
1:24:03wouldn't meet the American Psychological
1:24:05Association's definition of an addict,
1:24:07some psychologists have argued that
1:24:09smartphones may tap into the same
1:24:11associative learning pathways in the
1:24:13brain that make other compulsive
1:24:14behaviors like gambling so addictive.
1:24:17Three, in other words, when we use our
1:24:19phones, our brains create a powerfully
1:24:21positive associative memory in effect
1:24:23conditioning us to crave that activity
1:24:25again. Just as with addiction to drugs
1:24:28or cigarettes or food, the chemical
1:24:30driver of this process is dopamine, that
1:24:32feel-good neurotransmitter. Some
1:24:34psychologists have asserted that when we
1:24:36receive a new email or text, our brains
1:24:39release a shot of dopamine, and thus we
1:24:41learn to associate that pleasurable
1:24:42feeling with the act of checking our
1:24:44phones. So, like an alcoholic who craves
1:24:47that euphoric feeling he gets from
1:24:48drinking, we're left craving that rush
1:24:51we get from seeing that text message pop
1:24:53up. Still, the theory that behavior like
1:24:56that of my iPhone obsessed friend is
1:24:57driven by the same neurological
1:24:59processes as drug or alcohol addiction
1:25:01remains unproven and controversial. So I
1:25:04decided to conduct infuri study to find
1:25:07out whether smartphones, iPhones and
1:25:09Blackberries are really truly addictive.
1:25:12With the help of Mindsign, a
1:25:13neuromarketing firm based in San Diego,
1:25:16California, whose brain activating
1:25:18methodology shows companies what
1:25:20consumers are thinking when they're
1:25:21using products and viewing ads. We
1:25:23enlisted eight males and eight females
1:25:25between the ages of 18 and 25. As the
1:25:28study got underway, researchers screened
1:25:30both audio and video of a ringing and a
1:25:33vibrating iPhone. Researchers then
1:25:35screened these audiovisisual images to
1:25:37our volunteers three times in a row.
1:25:40Were iPhones really truly addictive, no
1:25:42less so than alcohol, cocaine, shopping,
1:25:44or video games? Two weeks later, the
1:25:47Mind Sign Research team rang me up with
1:25:50the results. First, a straightforward
1:25:52observation. The audio and the video of
1:25:54the iPhone, both ringing and vibrating,
1:25:56activated both the audio and visual
1:25:58cortices of our study subjects. In other
1:26:00words, their brains had visual, not just
1:26:02auditory, associations with the sound of
1:26:05the ringtone. What was more surprising
1:26:07though was that there was also a flurry
1:26:09of activation in the brain's insula,
1:26:12which is connected to feelings of love
1:26:13and compassion. In short, these
1:26:16participants didn't demonstrate the
1:26:18classic brain-based signs of addiction
1:26:20to their iPhones. What the sights and
1:26:22sounds of a ringing or vibrating cell
1:26:24phone did reveal, however, was that our
1:26:26study subjects loved their iPhones.
1:26:28Their brains responded to the sound of
1:26:30the phones the same way they would
1:26:32respond to their boyfriend, girlfriend,
1:26:34niece, nephew, or family pet. In short,
1:26:37it may not be addiction in the medical
1:26:39sense, but it is true love. When you
1:26:42shop and can't stop. Brand and shopping
1:26:45addictions may not be as
1:26:46life-threatening as addictions like
1:26:48alcoholism or drug dependency, but they
1:26:50are very real and when taken to the
1:26:52extreme can be very debilitating. Take
1:26:55the case of Carolyn Longme, a
1:26:56middle-aged shopaholic secretary from
1:26:58the UK who stole roughly $225,000
1:27:02over a 2-year period from the small
1:27:04electronic store where she worked. Did
1:27:07she use this money for a down payment on
1:27:09a house or to send her kid to college?
1:27:12Nope. She used it to fund her Louis
1:27:13Vuitton, Prada, and Gucci habits when
1:27:16she was caught. The brand name clothes,
1:27:18handbags, and shoes bought with the
1:27:19stolen money were enough to fill 27
1:27:21garbage bags. Four. or the case of Amy
1:27:24Gagner, whose shopping compulsion, says
1:27:26CBS News caused her to empty out iris,
1:27:28stock options, and 401ks, all to pay off
1:27:31a $200,000 shopping debt, and who after
1:27:34spending 30 days at a residential
1:27:36addiction center, now lives for her own
1:27:38safety without a credit card, a checking
1:27:40account, or even a computer. Five. A
1:27:43true addiction can be defined as a
1:27:45persistent uncontrolled reliance on
1:27:47either a behavior or a substance.
1:27:49Whether it's alcohol, a particular food,
1:27:51chocolate, prescription pills, smoking,
1:27:53gambling, shopping, or even sex. Most
1:27:56psychologists would agree that
1:27:58addictions result from a combination of
1:28:00genetic predisposition and environmental
1:28:03factors. Though the relative influence
1:28:05of each varies and isn't precisely known
1:28:08today, most experts also agree that
1:28:10regardless of its cause or what shape it
1:28:11takes, addiction is biologically
1:28:14speaking a brain disease. In other
1:28:16words, it's caused by persistent changes
1:28:18in brain structure and function six,
1:28:20which goes a long way toward explaining
1:28:22why many addicts are unable to give up
1:28:24their particular poison by sheer
1:28:26willpower alone. The annals of general
1:28:29psychiatry defines shopping addiction or
1:28:31compulsive or pathological buying or
1:28:33onania as frequent preoccupation with
1:28:35buying or impulses to buy that are
1:28:37experienced as irresistible, intrusive
1:28:39and or senseless and goes on to say that
1:28:41in order to qualify as a true addiction,
1:28:43the buying behavior causes marked
1:28:45distress, interferes with social
1:28:46functioning and often results in
1:28:48financial problems. Seven. Based on this
1:28:51widely accepted definition, a Stanford
1:28:53University study estimates that roughly
1:28:556% of the population or 17 million
1:28:58Americans suffers from a shopping
1:29:00addiction at a condition that according
1:29:02to the authors of the study typically
1:29:04coincides with other disorders ranging
1:29:06from mood and anxiety to eating
1:29:08disorders to substance abuse. Nine. A
1:29:10more recent study published in the
1:29:12Journal of Consumer Research put the
1:29:14prevalence of shopping addiction at a
1:29:16startlingly high 8.9%.
1:29:1810. Shopping addictions tend to follow
1:29:21the same general patterns as any other
1:29:24addiction according to experts in the
1:29:26field. First comes anticipation of
1:29:28shopping or buying something followed by
1:29:30the shopping or buying experience
1:29:32itself. Often described as pleasurable,
1:29:34ecstatic even, and as providing relief
1:29:36from negative feelings. According to a
1:29:38study carried out by researchers at the
1:29:40University of Richmond and the
1:29:42University of Illinois, Urbana Champagne
1:29:44and published in the journal of consumer
1:29:46research 11. But the relief is fleeting
1:29:49and ultimately the high wears off and
1:29:51the shopper crashes. Then like an
1:29:53alcoholic after a binge, he or she is
1:29:56overcome with guilt and remorse before
1:29:58the cycle starts all over again. While
1:30:00psychiatrists aren't in complete
1:30:02agreement about whether shopping
1:30:03addiction qualifies as a clinical
1:30:05addiction, at the time of writing, the
1:30:07American Psychiatric Association is
1:30:09debating whether to include compulsive
1:30:11shopping in the fifth edition of its
1:30:13mental health bible, the Diagnostic and
1:30:15Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
1:30:17They do agree that compulsive shoppers
1:30:19use shopping as a way of escaping
1:30:21negative feelings such as depression,
1:30:23anxiety, boredom, self-critical
1:30:25thoughts, and anger. 12. And many are
1:30:27prescribing an anti-depressant known
1:30:29generically as Citila Prem and sold in
1:30:31the United States as Selixa to curb
1:30:34uncontrollable shopping urges. As we saw
1:30:37in the last chapter, marketing and
1:30:39advertising and treaties that play on
1:30:41emotions like fear, insecurity, and the
1:30:43universal need for acceptance are
1:30:45incredibly persuasive. Well, it turns
1:30:47out that if we're already predisposed to
1:30:49compulsively shop or buy, their
1:30:51seductive powers become that much more
1:30:53magnified. One four-year long German
1:30:56study has even found that a critical
1:30:58factor in shopping addiction is the
1:31:00boost of self-esteem shoppers get from
1:31:02interacting with store clerks. We
1:31:05discovered that shopping addicts get a
1:31:07real kick out of the interaction they
1:31:08have with store personnel. Their fragile
1:31:11egos are given a tremendous boost by
1:31:13salespeople who fawn over them and smile
1:31:15and treat them like royalty, says Astred
1:31:18Mueller, who wrote the study findings.
1:31:20Their conscious minds know, of course,
1:31:22that these people only want to make a
1:31:24commission on a sale. But their
1:31:26subconscious minds enjoy being treated
1:31:28as a special somebody. 13. So, how does
1:31:32shopping addiction or any addiction for
1:31:34that matter start? Again, it all goes
1:31:37back to dopamine, that feel-good
1:31:39neurotransmitter. Our brain's lyic
1:31:40system spurts out to give us a high or
1:31:42rush so pleasurable that we can't help
1:31:44but repeat the behavior as soon as the
1:31:46dopamine drops back to normal levels.
1:31:49The catch is the more we experience the
1:31:51object or behavior of our addiction,
1:31:53whether it's cigarettes, a drink, a
1:31:55drug, or new manolonic pumps, the
1:31:57greater a tolerance we build up, meaning
1:31:59we need more and more of the substance
1:32:01or the behavior to get back that
1:32:03dopamine high. Dr. Peter Khivas, chair
1:32:06of physiology and neuroscience at the
1:32:08Medical University of South Carolina,
1:32:10explains that over time, our persistent
1:32:13pursuit of that rush of dopamine can
1:32:14actually change our brain's DNA,
1:32:16specifically the proteins that control a
1:32:18neurotransmitter known as glutamate in a
1:32:21way that triggers an uncontrollable urge
1:32:23to secure the drug, the drink, or the
1:32:25item of clothing. You will not let
1:32:27things stand in your way. Kus says the
1:32:30brain has been altered permanently. 14.
1:32:34the thin line between obsession and
1:32:36addiction. Brand addiction and its
1:32:39slightly less severe cousin, brand
1:32:40obsession, are subsets of shopping
1:32:42addiction. And while they may not be
1:32:44recognized as psychiatric disorders, I
1:32:46found them to be alarmingly common. In
1:32:49fact, I'm guessing that whether it's the
1:32:51co-orker who has to have her Starbucks
1:32:52in the morning before she can function,
1:32:54not just any coffee, it has to be
1:32:56Starbucks or the brother-in-law who
1:32:58mopes around depressed for days because
1:33:00the Yankees lost or the little cousin
1:33:02who stands in line all night in minus 10
1:33:04degree weather because she just has to
1:33:06have tickets to the Miley Cyrus concert.
1:33:08Sports teams and celebrities are brands
1:33:10and highly addictive ones. Two, you two
1:33:13know plenty of people who suffer from
1:33:15it. There are so many brand obsessives
1:33:17out there. There's even an online
1:33:19community called My Brand Z where the
1:33:21afflicted can swap stories about their
1:33:22obsessions. Over the years, I've met
1:33:25people addicted to all kinds of brands
1:33:27and products. From a man who owned 10
1:33:29Harley-Davidsons to a woman who drank 25
1:33:32Diet Cokes a day. And while there's
1:33:34certainly a difference between brand
1:33:36fanaticism and true addiction, I found
1:33:38that line to be rather thin. Still, do
1:33:42companies and advertisers have a hand in
1:33:44creating these addictions to their
1:33:45products? Obviously, they can't
1:33:48penetrate our brains and alter the DNA.
1:33:51But while they may not be able to
1:33:52directly manufacture addiction, based on
1:33:55what I've seen in boardrooms and back
1:33:57rooms over my two decades of work with
1:33:59some of the most successful brands on
1:34:01the planet, you better believe that they
1:34:03do have a lot of clever tricks and tools
1:34:05for nudging us in that direction and
1:34:07spurring addictions along. Sometimes
1:34:09they use subconscious emotional or
1:34:11psychological cues like when cigarette
1:34:13companies imbue their ads and packaging
1:34:15with subtle imagery meant to induce
1:34:17craving. Other times they actually make
1:34:19their products physically addictive. The
1:34:21way cigarette companies manufacture
1:34:23tobacco products to be chemically
1:34:25addictive and potato chip companies use
1:34:27recipes that ensure we won't be able to
1:34:29stop until we've eaten the whole bag.
1:34:31and other times they persuade us to
1:34:33engage in behaviors that actually rewire
1:34:36our brains to become hooked on the act
1:34:38of shopping and buying. To find out
1:34:40exactly how these addictions form, I
1:34:42spoke with a former senior executive at
1:34:44Philip Morris seemed like the logical
1:34:46place to start my research on addiction
1:34:48about how mere consumer habits and
1:34:50preferences can cross the line into
1:34:52addictions and the role companies play
1:34:54in pushing us over it. He told me that
1:34:56his company has identified a model of
1:34:58how we get hooked on brands. It happens
1:35:01in two stages. The first is known as the
1:35:04routine stage. This is when we simply
1:35:07use certain brands or products as part
1:35:09of our daily habits and rituals. When we
1:35:11brush our teeth with Crest, use Dove
1:35:13soap in the shower, drive our Toyota to
1:35:16work, etc. These are all products we buy
1:35:19regularly and replace or replenish
1:35:21whenever they break or run out. They are
1:35:24essential to our everyday functioning.
1:35:26The second stage, known as the dream
1:35:28stage, however, is when we buy things. A
1:35:30new dress, a new pair of earphones, a
1:35:32new bottle of perfume. Not because we
1:35:34need them, but because we've allowed
1:35:36emotional signals about them to
1:35:37penetrate our brains. When do we slip
1:35:40into the dream stage? According to this
1:35:42executive who asked that he not be
1:35:44named, it's usually when we've let our
1:35:46guard down, when we're relaxed, during
1:35:49the summer, over the weekend, on
1:35:51vacation. Think about it. Beyond the
1:35:54essentials, how many times do you open
1:35:56your wallet during the work week?
1:35:58Typically, not often because you're in
1:36:00work mode, not shopping mode. But as the
1:36:02weekend approaches, we shed our routines
1:36:05like an unwanted skin and become
1:36:07susceptible to the dream stage.
1:36:09According to the former Philip Morris
1:36:11executive, that's when a real attachment
1:36:13to a brand tends to take root. Here's
1:36:16how it happens. During a brief rest bit
1:36:19from the routine stage or work mode, we
1:36:21feel more relaxed, less inhibited, and
1:36:23more open to trying new drinks, new
1:36:25clothes, new cosmetics, new foods.
1:36:27Pretty soon, we've subconsciously linked
1:36:29the good memories or pleasant emotions
1:36:31of the dream stage with the taste of
1:36:33that new cocktail or the feel of that
1:36:35new face cream against our skin or the
1:36:37fragrance of that new lemon scented
1:36:39candle. So once Monday rolls around
1:36:42again or autumn gets underway, we try to
1:36:44reactivate this feeling by integrating
1:36:46those brands and products into our daily
1:36:48routines. And once something is part of
1:36:51our routine, it becomes almost
1:36:53impossible to shake. In some a habit is
1:36:56formed during the dream stage, then the
1:36:58habit is reinforced and permanently
1:37:00embedded during the routine stage. At
1:37:02which time we are unconsciously longing
1:37:04for the dream stage feelings we left
1:37:06behind at the beach or at the spa or at
1:37:08that outdoor concert. This in fact is
1:37:11why most beverage brands are so
1:37:12ubiquitously present at summertime music
1:37:15festivals and concerts. Those companies
1:37:17know this is one of the best windows to
1:37:19hook new customers on their products.
1:37:22Red Bull, for example, got its start by
1:37:24distributing free case loads of the
1:37:26stuff at cool hangouts like malls and
1:37:28surfing shops where teenagers and
1:37:29college kids tend to gather to escape
1:37:31the mundane routines of their everyday
1:37:33lives. By the way, it's no coincidence
1:37:35that malls and certain kinds of stores
1:37:37become the cool hangout location. That's
1:37:39another happy accident engineered
1:37:41largely by marketers who often hire
1:37:43sexy, good-looking kids to stand
1:37:45casually in front of the entrance.
1:37:47Miraculously, the area is soon packed
1:37:49with other kids. Mission accomplished.
1:37:52The company knew that if it caught these
1:37:54kids in their dream stage once Monday
1:37:56rolled around and they went back to
1:37:57their classes, chores, and homework,
1:37:59they'd associate Red Bull with the
1:38:01carefree feeling of hanging out at the
1:38:02surf shop. And pretty soon they'd be
1:38:04hooked. Though in the case of Red Bull,
1:38:06there are other reasons as you'll soon
1:38:08be reading. Of course, this doesn't work
1:38:11every time. In order for a product to
1:38:13truly take root, its makers have to
1:38:15imbue it with some addictive, whether
1:38:17physically or psychologically,
1:38:19qualities. So, what exactly do companies
1:38:22and advertisers do to engineer our
1:38:24desire and make their brand or product
1:38:26so impossible to resist? Let me give you
1:38:29one example from the front lines. The
1:38:32power of craving. A couple of years ago,
1:38:36one of the largest beverage companies in
1:38:38the world hired me to help solve a
1:38:40problem. The sales of its top soft drink
1:38:43had been declining over the past 3
1:38:45years. And despite rolling out every
1:38:47trick in its playbook, nothing,
1:38:48including more TV ads and a viral
1:38:51campaign, was working. It looked
1:38:53hopeless until I realized something the
1:38:55marketing executives had overlooked.
1:38:57Though it seemed like a small detail,
1:39:00psychologically speaking, it was
1:39:01anything but. Now, I'm going to let you
1:39:04in on the secret ingredient behind some
1:39:06of the most successful food, beverage,
1:39:08and cosmetics brands out there. The
1:39:10element of craving. It's a word that the
1:39:12industry finds hard to admit that it
1:39:15strives for. Yet, most hit brands and
1:39:17products would be nothing without it.
1:39:20Face it, all of us experience cravings
1:39:22at some point or another. Whether
1:39:24they're for fast food after a long day
1:39:26at work, a bar of chocolate on our way
1:39:28home from the gym, or a cigarette with
1:39:30our morning coffee. craving is why we're
1:39:32drawn at 2 a.m. to the quiet glow of our
1:39:34refrigerator. Why the munchy allure of
1:39:36those Doritos or Cheetos refuses to fade
1:39:39until we've polished off the whole bag.
1:39:41And why we fight an internal battle each
1:39:43time we walk by the candy aisle in the
1:39:44drugstore or supermarket. But while
1:39:47cravings may seem to come out of
1:39:48nowhere, in reality, they are often
1:39:50triggered by some physical and emotional
1:39:52cues in our surroundings, whether we
1:39:54realize it or not. The truth is, no
1:39:57matter how much we believe we're in
1:39:59control when it comes to craving, we are
1:40:01often powerless in the face of these
1:40:03triggers. Companies know this, which is
1:40:05why they deliberately imbue their
1:40:07packaging and advertising with
1:40:08unconscious signals. Cues that lie just
1:40:10beneath our conscious awareness right at
1:40:12those very moments when cravings are
1:40:14liable to strike. At Coca-Cola, for
1:40:17example, marketing executives spend
1:40:19hours discussing how many bubbles they
1:40:21should feature in their print ads and on
1:40:23instore refrigerators. Realizing how
1:40:26much craving bubbles generate, they make
1:40:28us think of that cool, refreshing
1:40:30feeling of carbonation hitting our
1:40:31pallets. Some executives I spoke with
1:40:34told me they've actually come up with a
1:40:36confidential model for how many bubbles
1:40:38they need to trigger our cravings. These
1:40:40kinds of craving inducing unconscious
1:40:43symbols were precisely what the big
1:40:45beverage company that hired me had been
1:40:47overlooking. In this case, it was one
1:40:50type of symbol in particular. Think
1:40:52about the countless ads or signs you've
1:40:54seen for Coca-Cola, Pepsi, or any other
1:40:56soft drink displayed in front of kiosks,
1:40:59restaurants, or street cafes. Ever
1:41:02notice that the glass or can or bottle
1:41:04in the photo has water drops, what
1:41:06beverage executives dub sweat, trickling
1:41:08down the side? Maybe you didn't notice
1:41:11them consciously, but what those little
1:41:13drops of sweat signal to us
1:41:14subconsciously is that the beverage is
1:41:16not just cold, but ice cold, which as
1:41:19everyone knows, make soda a million
1:41:21times more tasty and refreshing. Believe
1:41:24it or not, these little sweat drops,
1:41:26which beverage companies have been using
1:41:27in their advertising for decades,
1:41:29kickstart our brains craving impulses.
1:41:32Yet, the company I was helping had
1:41:34decided that those sweat drops, in
1:41:36short, the seeds of craving looked
1:41:38chaotic and over complicated. So, it had
1:41:40left them out of its ads, and that's why
1:41:42its beverage was tanking. This wasn't
1:41:45just my theory. When we went back and
1:41:47looked at the data, it became clear that
1:41:49the decision to eliminate these
1:41:50unconscious symbols had coincided with
1:41:53the drinks decrease in sales. It was
1:41:56clear to me that if it was to revive the
1:41:58brand, the company would have to come up
1:42:00with a new unconscious symbol, something
1:42:02even more powerful, more seductive, more
1:42:04cravew worthy than the sweat drops. The
1:42:07only question was what? So, I began
1:42:09touring the country, going so far as to
1:42:11spend the night in the homes of soda
1:42:13drinkers of all ages and races. I ate
1:42:16with them. I talked with them. I partied
1:42:19with them. And of course, I drank a lot
1:42:22of sodas with them. Along the way,
1:42:25something clicked, literally. A few
1:42:27years ago, I conducted a study about the
1:42:30powerful role that sound plays in our
1:42:32subconscious minds. By scanning the
1:42:34brains of 50 consumers from around the
1:42:36world, I was able to isolate the 10 most
1:42:39evocative and addictive sounds. The most
1:42:42powerful sound was a baby laughing. But
1:42:44interestingly, also rounding out the top
1:42:4710 list were the sizzle of a broiling
1:42:49steak and the crackle and fizz of a
1:42:50beverage being poured into a glass
1:42:52filled with ice cubes. Point is, sounds
1:42:56are incredibly effective triggering
1:42:57cravings. So, if I wanted to help that
1:43:00soft drink company revive its brand, the
1:43:03key would be to find out exactly what
1:43:05sounds would trigger the most powerful
1:43:07cravings for its product. So when I sat
1:43:10down with all those soda drinkers around
1:43:12the country, I played them a long list
1:43:14of soft drink related sounds, the snap
1:43:16and hiss of a cap being opened, the
1:43:18click of a bottle cap careening off a
1:43:20glass bottle, the gurgle and crackle of
1:43:22soda being poured into an ice-filled
1:43:24glass, that unmistakable slurp when a
1:43:26straw sucks the last drop out of a
1:43:28plastic cup, and so forth to see which
1:43:30triggered the strongest craving for the
1:43:32beverage. What I found was that not
1:43:35everyone responded the same way to the
1:43:37sound of a can opening or a beverage
1:43:39being poured. These sounds didn't sound
1:43:42the same to every consumer. Believe it
1:43:44or not, people who drink a lot of soda
1:43:47can actually hear the difference between
1:43:49the click of one brand and the click of
1:43:51another. From my research on how
1:43:53cigarette companies trigger cravings,
1:43:55something I wrote a lot about in
1:43:56biology, I knew that depending on the
1:43:58person, certain unconscious signals
1:44:00trigger cravings for certain brands and
1:44:02not others. I found in my earlier free
1:44:05research that camel smokers experienced
1:44:07more cravings when they saw
1:44:09illustrations of camels and camel logos.
1:44:11And Marlboro smokers experienced more
1:44:13cravings when they saw illustrations of
1:44:15the iconic Marlboro man. True fans of a
1:44:18brand can discern a subtle, distinct
1:44:20difference, which you and I most likely
1:44:22can't hear when they snap open their
1:44:24favorite soft drink. And whether or not
1:44:26they're aware of it, that one-of-a-kind
1:44:28sound subtly activates their brains
1:44:30unconscious craving centers. Bizarrely
1:44:33enough, if soft drink engineers tweaked
1:44:35that familiar sound even slightly, the
1:44:37drink afficionado would feel no craving
1:44:39sensation whatsoever. The sound is that
1:44:42subtle. So, if a company wants to
1:44:44trigger a craving for its brand, it
1:44:46needs to own a symbol that people
1:44:48associate with its brand and no other.
1:44:51Which is why I helped this brand create
1:44:53a snap sound that was just slightly
1:44:56subtly different from that of other soft
1:44:58drink cans. First, we altered the can
1:45:00design in a lab. Then once we had
1:45:03achieved the sound we wanted, we
1:45:05recorded it in sound studios, then
1:45:07incorporated it into the soundtrack of
1:45:09the soft drinks, TV commercials, radio
1:45:11spots, and even online ads. The
1:45:14manufacturer even played its new and
1:45:16improved sound at major concerts or
1:45:18sports events it was sponsoring. That
1:45:21was 2 years ago, and to this day,
1:45:23whenever the sound is played at
1:45:25sponsored events, the manufacturer
1:45:27witnesses an instantaneous uptick in
1:45:29sales. Yet, when I ask people why they
1:45:31suddenly choose that beverage over
1:45:33another, their answer is invariably, "I
1:45:35haven't the faintest idea. I just fell
1:45:37for it." Bet you can't eat or drink just
1:45:41one. Chocolate, cheese puffs, cookies.
1:45:45It doesn't take a marketing genius to
1:45:47know that fatty foods are some of the
1:45:49most addictive products out there.
1:45:51Perhaps second only to booze and
1:45:53cigarettes. But what you probably didn't
1:45:55know is that this is no happy accident
1:45:58for the companies that sell these foods.
1:46:00Quite the contrary, the reason these
1:46:03products are so addictive is because the
1:46:05companies that sell them deliberately
1:46:06spike their recipes to include addictive
1:46:08quantities of habit forming substances
1:46:10like MSG, caffeine, corn syrup, and
1:46:13sugar. And by the way, it's also no
1:46:15coincidence that the cigarette company
1:46:17formerly known as Philip Morris and
1:46:19today known as the Ultria Group is
1:46:21currently invading the processed foods
1:46:23industry. According to a recent study
1:46:25published in Nature Neuroscience,
1:46:27high-fat, high calorie foods affect the
1:46:29brain in a way that is nearly identical
1:46:31to cocaine and heroin. When two
1:46:34researchers from Florida's Scripps
1:46:35Research Institute fed rats highfat
1:46:37content foods, including cheesecake,
1:46:39candy bars, and even bacon, every single
1:46:42one of the foods activated a release of
1:46:44dopamine, just as the drugs do. Scarier
1:46:47still, over time, the rats needed bigger
1:46:49and bigger quantities of junk food to
1:46:51get that same amount of dopamine, just
1:46:53as drug addicts need more and more of
1:46:54their drug of choice to maintain the
1:46:56same high. Researchers concluded that
1:46:59when the rats ate enough of these foods,
1:47:01and in big enough quantities, it leads
1:47:03to compulsive eating habits that
1:47:05resemble drug addiction. 15. The most
1:47:07unsettling finding of all. When the
1:47:10researchers compared the brains of the
1:47:12junk food addicted rats to the brains of
1:47:14rats hooked on heroin and cocaine, they
1:47:16found that the addictive effects of the
1:47:18junk food actually lasted seven times
1:47:20longer. While it took only 2 days for
1:47:23the depleted dopamine receptors and rats
1:47:25addicted to cocaine or heroin to return
1:47:27to baseline levels, it took 2 weeks for
1:47:29the obese rats to return to their normal
1:47:31dopamine levels. The study reported 16.
1:47:35Clearly, fatty foods aren't just
1:47:37psychologically addictive. They are
1:47:39chemically addictive as well. But what
1:47:41about the latest food villain of the
1:47:4321st century? Salt. Everyone knows that
1:47:46salt is bad for us. It causes high blood
1:47:48pressure, which is linked to heart
1:47:50disease, and so on. But were you aware
1:47:52that thanks to the obscene amounts of
1:47:54MSG or monosodium glutamate, a
1:47:57well-known flavor enhancer widely used
1:47:59in both Eastern and Western cuisines
1:48:01that companies are dumping into our
1:48:03foods, the human body is developing a
1:48:05very real addiction to salt. Indeed, by
1:48:07several accounts, the amount of MSG in
1:48:10processed, packaged, and even some
1:48:11restaurant prepared foods is doubling
1:48:13every year. Not surprisingly, given that
1:48:15it's not only much cheaper than any real
1:48:17flavor enhancing ingredient like spices
1:48:19or grains or even oil, it also keeps us
1:48:22coming back for more. As a result, our
1:48:24bodies are building up an unhealthy
1:48:26tolerance. Just as with any other
1:48:28addictive substance, studies reveal that
1:48:31adding MSG to foods not only makes us
1:48:33want to eat more of those foods in the
1:48:35moment, but also increases our cravings
1:48:37for salty foods later. One study
1:48:40reported in the annals of the New York
1:48:42Academy of Sciences found that young
1:48:44adults are more likely to acquire a
1:48:45taste for a new food if MSG is added.
1:48:48Another study found that when elderly or
1:48:50diabetic patients are given an item of
1:48:52food prepared with extra MSG, they'll
1:48:54not only eat more of it, but they'll
1:48:56also eat less of a nonSG laden food
1:48:58later, presumably because they've lost
1:49:00their taste for it. 17. If all this talk
1:49:04of salt is making you thirsty, now might
1:49:07be a good time to look at what it is in
1:49:09that can of Red Bull that makes you keep
1:49:11coming back for more. Some actually
1:49:13believe it to be cocaine, which German
1:49:15authorities claim to have found traces
1:49:17of in the popular energy drink, which
1:49:19they subsequently banned in six states
1:49:21across Germany. 18. But this hasn't been
1:49:24proven in the United States. The real
1:49:27culprit in Red Bull is actually another
1:49:29white powdery substance, which may be
1:49:31legal, but can be almost as addictive,
1:49:33sugar. A single 6 can of Red Bull
1:49:36contains 27 gram of sugar, approximately
1:49:396 teaspoons, or the amount found in a
1:49:41chocolate bar. Like most drugs, sugar
1:49:44stimulates the release of our old
1:49:46friend, the feel-good neurotransmitter
1:49:48dopamine, among others. In one Princeton
1:49:51University study, Professor Bart Hobble
1:49:53deprived rats of food and drink for
1:49:55hours each day before giving them a
1:49:57heavy dose of sugary fluids. The
1:49:59research team noted that after consuming
1:50:01the sugar meal, the rats experienced a
1:50:04torrent of dopamine. Not only that, but
1:50:06their opioid receptors, the ones that
1:50:09respond to the highly addictive drug
1:50:11morphine, were also stimulated. A few
1:50:13days later, not only did the rats crave
1:50:15more and more of the sugar water, but
1:50:17their brains actually created more
1:50:19dopamine receptors. Then when the
1:50:22researchers took away the sugar, the
1:50:24rats exhibited withdrawal symptoms to
1:50:26the point that their teeth were audibly
1:50:28chattering. While Hobble confirmed that
1:50:30it's too early to know how this finding
1:50:32might apply to humans and admits that
1:50:34sugar addiction is milder than drug
1:50:36addiction, he concludes that sugar can
1:50:38and does take on addiction-like
1:50:40properties. 19. in certain models. Obel
1:50:43says sugar binging causes long- lasting
1:50:45effects in the brain and increases the
1:50:47inclination to take other drugs of abuse
1:50:49such as alcohol. 20. And what about
1:50:53caffeine? Is it simply a habit or an
1:50:56actual addiction? Scientists agree that
1:50:58caffeine activates the pleasure centers
1:51:00of the brain by slowing down the rate of
1:51:02dopamine reabsorption, thus making us
1:51:04feel peppy and good. Cocaine and heroin
1:51:07do the same thing, but obviously to a
1:51:09much greater degree. Caffeine also
1:51:11provides a shot of adrenaline, so we
1:51:13feel charged up while blocking reception
1:51:15of adenosine, another neurotransmitter
1:51:17believed to play a part in promoting
1:51:19sleep, making us feel sharp and awake.
1:51:21Now, once the adrenaline wears off,
1:51:23what's next? Well, as any coffee drinker
1:51:26knows, we feel tired in the dumps,
1:51:28irritated and jumpy, and our heads hurt.
1:51:31two, since caffeine restricts the blood
1:51:33vessels in our brains and we need a
1:51:35coffee to get our adrenaline levels back
1:51:37to the levels to which our bodies have
1:51:39grown accustomed. So those
1:51:41unsubstantiated rumors about cocaine and
1:51:43Red Bull aside, this would all seem to
1:51:45be good evidence that its makers
1:51:46deliberately designed the stuff to be
1:51:48addictive. A glance at the Red Bull
1:51:50label tells us that a single can of the
1:51:52stuff contains 200 mg of sodium, 80 mg
1:51:55of caffeine, nearly twice as much as a
1:51:57can of Diet Coke, 27 g of sugar, about 5
1:52:00tesps per can, and some synthetic
1:52:02tarine, calcium panaththenate, aculfane
1:52:04K, and aspartame. This could explain why
1:52:07one New Zealand woman was so addicted to
1:52:09Red Bull that she suffered classic
1:52:11withdrawal symptoms ranging from
1:52:13sweating to nausea to shaking to stomach
1:52:15pain and cramping to anxiety attacks.
1:52:18Almost makes you want to quit cold
1:52:20turkey, doesn't it? A bombing influence.
1:52:24Okay, sure. Anyone who's ever polished
1:52:26off an entire bag of Doritos knows that
1:52:28salty, fatty foods are hard to put down.
1:52:31But if you think prepackaged junk foods
1:52:33are the only products out there
1:52:35deliberately infused with addictive
1:52:37ingredients, I suggest you reach into
1:52:39your pocket for your lip balm. Wait a
1:52:42sec. I can hear you saying lip balm? You
1:52:45mean that cute little tin or tube of
1:52:47strawberry flavored goop rolling around
1:52:49in my purse? If the idea that lip balm
1:52:52could be addictive seems far-fetched,
1:52:54stop and think for a minute about how
1:52:56many times a day you apply the sticky
1:52:58stuff. 5 10 25 Unless you live in the
1:53:03Arctic, there's no way your lips are
1:53:05getting so chapped that you need to
1:53:06reapply every hour. People are so hooked
1:53:09on lip balm, there's even a support
1:53:11website for people who feel mild to
1:53:13moderate withdrawal on having to stop.
1:53:1621. True. Some experts argue that lip
1:53:18balm's addictive quality isn't in the
1:53:20substance itself, but in the soothing,
1:53:22repetitive ritual of putting it on, but
1:53:25others are convinced we do get an actual
1:53:27buzz from applying lip balm, especially
1:53:29those brands that contain menthol. 22.
1:53:33Menthol, a non-essential ingredient
1:53:35added to many a brand of lip gloss,
1:53:37while not dangerous by itself, can be
1:53:39habit forming when it shows up in
1:53:41cigarettes. Some anti-tobacco groups
1:53:43claimed that it makes them more
1:53:45addictive, more dangerous, and more
1:53:46likely to hook teenagers than unflavored
1:53:49cigarettes. And in 2009, the FDA even
1:53:52considered banning it from cigarettes.
1:53:54But menthol isn't the only ingredient
1:53:56some lip balm makers add to their
1:53:58formulas to make their products more
1:54:00addictive. Many include fragrances,
1:54:03preservatives, lenoline and colorings
1:54:05that can cause sensitivity and
1:54:06irritation 23 as well as phenol carbolic
1:54:09acid which can actually dry out our lips
1:54:11by interfering with our skin cells
1:54:13natural ability to produce their own
1:54:15moisture. So with repeated use, guess
1:54:18what happens? It takes our lips longer
1:54:20to replenish their natural moisture,
1:54:22which means our lips feel drier faster
1:54:25and we need to use more lip balm to get
1:54:27the same effect. In other words, the
1:54:29more lip balm you use, the more you need
1:54:31to use. Which to me sounds a whole lot
1:54:34like an addict who's built up a
1:54:36tolerance. In the case of the
1:54:38bestselling lip balm, Carmix, it's even
1:54:40more sinister than that. According to
1:54:42Dr. W. Steven Prey, Burnernhard
1:54:45professor at the College of Pharmacy at
1:54:47Southwestern Oklahoma State University.
1:54:50An international authority on
1:54:51non-prescription products and devices,
1:54:53Dr. Prey has spent decades on what he's
1:54:56the first to admit has been a fruitless
1:54:58attempt to get Carmix to own up to what
1:55:00he maintains is the real reason it uses
1:55:02certain ingredients. Back in the early
1:55:051990s, one of Dr. Prey's students raised
1:55:07her hand in class and asked him if lip
1:55:10balm might be addictive. Upon examining
1:55:12the products ingredients, Dr. Prey was
1:55:14taken aback to find not only phenol, but
1:55:16also salicylic acid, a substance that is
1:55:19generally used to eat away at dead
1:55:20tissue like corns, calluses, and warts.
1:55:23Phenol, Dr. Prey told me, is a deadening
1:55:26agent that literally anesthetizes our
1:55:27lips. At which point the salicylic acid
1:55:30begins eating away at living tissue,
1:55:32namely our lips. In 1993, Dr. Prey
1:55:36contacted Karmicess manufacturer in an
1:55:38attempt to find out just how much phenol
1:55:40and salicylic acid its product
1:55:42contained, only to be told it was a
1:55:44trade secret. The manufacturer has since
1:55:47revealed the concentration of phenol as
1:55:490.4% 4% and that of salicylic acid as
1:55:52less than 1%. So, how can Carmix, which
1:55:56Dr. Prey calls the black sheep of lip
1:55:58balms, get away with including an
1:55:59ingredient that actually exfoliates the
1:56:01dead skin cells, effectively eroding our
1:56:04lips? By listing salicylic acid as an
1:56:06inactive ingredient, meaning an
1:56:08ingredient that's there simply to make a
1:56:10product more palatable, like a sweetener
1:56:12in cough syrup, rather than an active
1:56:14ingredient, which is what it actually
1:56:16is, says Prey. Trade Secret Carmics.
1:56:20Guess what? The secret's out. The name
1:56:23of the game. Zack Richardson is 17 years
1:56:26old and lives in Pharmace UK with his
1:56:29mother Louise. He doesn't attend school
1:56:32and has no job. So instead of spending
1:56:34his time doing homework or flipping
1:56:36burgers, he sits in his room all day
1:56:38every day playing 15 straight hours of
1:56:40video games on a small TV set and
1:56:42sometimes simultaneously playing an
1:56:44online football game on his laptop. Zach
1:56:47turns on the Xbox at 9:00 a.m., plays
1:56:49through lunch, then finally lays down
1:56:51his controls sometime after midnight. He
1:56:54often doesn't leave the house for days.
1:56:56His mother says, "There is nothing I can
1:56:58do to stop him playing." His physicians
1:57:01attribute the headaches and blackouts
1:57:03from which he's been suffering entirely
1:57:05to his video game addiction. Yet, he
1:57:08keeps playing. "I left school more than
1:57:11a year ago, and I had nothing to do,"
1:57:12says Zach. So, I turned to video games
1:57:15to fill the days while I searched for a
1:57:17job. It started off slowly. I only spent
1:57:20two or three hours a day playing. It was
1:57:22just for a bit of fun. Now, it has got
1:57:25out of control, and I know I have an
1:57:27addiction. 24.
1:57:30Nearly 9,000 mi away in Perth,
1:57:32Australia, a 15-year-old boy sits by
1:57:35himself in a dark room playing a game
1:57:37called Runescape, one of the most
1:57:38popular fantasy online games in the
1:57:40world for up to 16 hours a day. A
1:57:43community college student, bright and
1:57:45formerly before he discovered video
1:57:47games, that is outdoorsy and sports mad.
1:57:49The boy hasn't attended classes in over
1:57:52two months, fooling his parents by
1:57:53dressing each morning in his school
1:57:55uniform, then changing back into his
1:57:57bathrobe after his mother leaves for
1:57:59work. He displays all the
1:58:01characteristics of a heroin addict, his
1:58:03father later said. You haven't got
1:58:06someone putting a needle in their arm
1:58:07and having a high, but you've got all
1:58:09the telltale collateral damage of a
1:58:11heroin addict, withdrawal from his
1:58:13family, withdrawal from his friends,
1:58:15lies to cover his addiction, he'll do
1:58:18anything. 25. While these are extreme
1:58:22cases, the point is that games can be
1:58:24extraordinarily addictive. Whether we're
1:58:26playing against our friends, a stranger
1:58:28in Tokyo, or even ourselves, and whether
1:58:30the objective is to beat the high score,
1:58:32unlock the most badges, or build the
1:58:34biggest virtual farm, games are
1:58:36deliberately designed to be hard to
1:58:37quit. According to gamer segmentation
1:58:39report 2010, a trade publication Extreme
1:58:42gamers spend roughly two full days a
1:58:44week playing video games. 26. And
1:58:46according to a recent Harris Interactive
1:58:48survey, the average 8 to 12year-old
1:58:50plays 14 hours of video games per week.
1:58:53While 8.5% of gamers between the ages of
1:58:568 and 18 can be classified as
1:58:58pathological or clinically addicted to
1:59:00video games. 27.
1:59:03So I suppose it shouldn't come as a huge
1:59:05shock that marketers and advertisers
1:59:07have picked up on this and taking a page
1:59:10from the gaming playbook are using games
1:59:12and game-like tactics to persuade us to
1:59:14buy. Before we look at how they do this,
1:59:17we should first ask, are games truly
1:59:19addictive in the strictest sense of the
1:59:21word. After all, as we've seen, a true
1:59:24addiction is physiological, rewiring our
1:59:26brain in such a way that we need more
1:59:28and more of that substance or behavior
1:59:30to release the amount of dopamine needed
1:59:32to satisfy our craving or deliver that
1:59:34high. Does playing a video or online
1:59:37game really qualify? Well, according to
1:59:40a 1,999
1:59:42study, our brains do respond to game
1:59:44playing in much the same way they do to
1:59:46drugs, alcohol, and fatty foods by
1:59:48releasing more pleasure inducing
1:59:50dopamine. 28. In fact, the study found
1:59:53that any kind of repetitive activity
1:59:55that becomes increasingly more difficult
1:59:57to carry out, which is, as any gamer
1:59:59knows, the key to a successful game
2:00:01increases the amount of dopamine in our
2:00:03brains. A new study in the journal of
2:00:05neuroscience shows that we actually get
2:00:08a surge of dopamine from playing games
2:00:10that we feel we've almost won but have
2:00:12lost by a small margin when we play
2:00:14games or enter online auctions.
2:00:16Something we'll read more about in a
2:00:18minute. The authors of the study explain
2:00:20near miss outcomes stimulate the brain's
2:00:22reward system particularly those regions
2:00:25known as the vententral strriatam and
2:00:26the anterior insula. The same thing
2:00:28happens when we gamble. These brain
2:00:31regions are also linked to learning,
2:00:32meaning our brains may be duped into
2:00:34believing we're gathering new
2:00:36information with each near miss. 29. And
2:00:39according to another study, games such
2:00:41as World of Warcraft are designed to be
2:00:43filled with challenges that deliver
2:00:44powerfully articulated rewards and seem
2:00:47to be engineered specifically to get
2:00:48players dopamineergic pathways, pathways
2:00:51that mediate interest, focus, and reward
2:00:53activated and resonating. 30. But this
2:00:57means a lot more for companies and
2:00:59marketers than spiking sales of
2:01:00PlayStations and Wis. Because as clever
2:01:03marketers have discovered, when games
2:01:05are designed the right way, repeated
2:01:07playing doesn't only hook us on that
2:01:09game itself. It can actually rewire our
2:01:11brains to addict us to the act of buying
2:01:13and shopping. Our brains just want to
2:01:16keep on playing. That's right. Marketers
2:01:19are using games to make shopping addicts
2:01:21out of us. And like any brainwashing
2:01:23strategy, it starts at a very tender
2:01:25young age. According to one study, when
2:01:28habitual gaming teaches the brain to
2:01:30rewire its reward mechanism, the brain
2:01:32changes its motivation stimulus. The
2:01:34brain releases dopamine to reward the
2:01:37individual for a beneficial activity
2:01:39such as natural habits like eating or
2:01:41sex or habits like injecting a chemical
2:01:45substance or participating in a
2:01:47stimulating behavior like gambling or
2:01:49internet shopping. 31. Take Club
2:01:53Penguin, a multiplayer online virtual
2:01:55world that uses cute and cuddly penguins
2:01:57as avatars and is designed for children
2:01:59aged 6 to 14. Though most of its users
2:02:02are on the younger end, Club Penguin
2:02:05advertises itself to parents as a safe
2:02:07space, a way to keep kids away from the
2:02:09CD underbelly of the internet. The site
2:02:11is password protected. There are online
2:02:13moderators and any inappropriate
2:02:15language is blocked via a sophisticated
2:02:17filtration system. What's more, joining
2:02:20is free. In fact, Club Penguin actually
2:02:23gives its many shop aaholics what more
2:02:25or less amounts to their very first
2:02:26credit card, virtual coins they are
2:02:28encouraged to spend freely on virtual
2:02:30things. The free money lasts until the
2:02:33moment the children realize their
2:02:35penguins have to eat and that they need
2:02:38an igloo over their heads and that their
2:02:40igloos need furniture and decorations.
2:02:43that their penguins need clothing and
2:02:46toys and that penguins sometimes get
2:02:48lonely and need their own pets known on
2:02:51the site as puffles and so on. Once
2:02:54these kids get going, you'd be amazed at
2:02:56how many things they realize they're
2:02:57virtual penguins, i.e. they need. But
2:03:00wait, it turns out children can't spend
2:03:03their virtual coins unless they're
2:03:04full-fledged members of the club. No big
2:03:07deal. Club Penguin costs only $5.95
2:03:11a month. If you're a parent, that's not
2:03:13so bad, right? A small price to keep
2:03:16your children away from online
2:03:17pornography and YouTube and get some
2:03:20peace and quiet. But hold on. What
2:03:22happens when the free coins run out?
2:03:25Your child can earn more by playing. The
2:03:28more you earn, the more you can buy. The
2:03:30more you buy, the more you want to earn.
2:03:33The site may be keeping kids relatively
2:03:35safe, but it's also schooling them in
2:03:37the pain and pleasures of compulsive
2:03:39shopping. Of course, there are games
2:03:42like this for grown-ups, too. Like the
2:03:44highly addictive Facebook game Mafia
2:03:46Wars, which has so far grossed over $100
2:03:48million. And as of August 2010, at 45.5
2:03:52million active monthly accounts here,
2:03:54completing missions and jobs, like icing
2:03:57an enemy or unseeding a boss or pulling
2:03:59off a successful heist wins you cash and
2:04:01experience points. The more points you
2:04:03win, the more levels magically unlock,
2:04:06keeping you in the neverending pursuit
2:04:07of higher and higher highs and bigger
2:04:09and better rewards. Then, of course,
2:04:12there's Mafia Wars equally addictive
2:04:14cousin, Farmville, another virtual world
2:04:16phenomenon that, as of June 2010, was
2:04:18the most popular game on Facebook with
2:04:20over 61.6 million active users and over
2:04:2424.1 million fans. At time of writing,
2:04:2720 million players checked into the game
2:04:29daily, according to the New York Times.
2:04:3232. The structure of the game is more or
2:04:34less the same, only here, you win cash
2:04:36and unlock levels through activities
2:04:38like planting pumpkins, picking apples,
2:04:40and harvesting chicken eggs. Though, of
2:04:41course, as with Mafia Wars, you can also
2:04:44purchase virtual currency with real
2:04:45dollars. And the more levels you unlock,
2:04:48the bigger and better things you can
2:04:49buy. One self-proclaimed Farmville
2:04:51addict once told me, and I swear I saw
2:04:54stars in her eyes that it was her dream
2:04:55in life to someday be able to afford
2:04:57what is apparently the most coveted
2:04:59purchase in this virtual world, the
2:05:00Farmville Villa, priced at, in case
2:05:02you're wondering, 1 million Farmville
2:05:04coins. Sure, it may sound monumentally
2:05:07tedious, but it is in fact utterly
2:05:09mesmerizing. So much so that today,
2:05:11according to Carnegie Melon professor
2:05:13and game designer Jesse Shell, at the
2:05:15time of writing, there were far more
2:05:17Farmville members on Facebook than there
2:05:19were Twitter accounts. 33. And according
2:05:21to a new Neielson report, social
2:05:23networks and online games eat up roughly
2:05:25a third of our internet time. 34.
2:05:29Of course, in addition to sending us
2:05:30shots of dopamine every time we buy a
2:05:33new tractor or renovate our barn, these
2:05:35games are also hard at work persuading
2:05:37us to buy real world things. Let's not
2:05:40forget that while we're racking up all
2:05:41those experience points in pursuit of
2:05:43that dopamine high, we're also being
2:05:46exposed to a whole lot of targeted
2:05:48advertising. In fact, Zingga, the parent
2:05:51company that publishes both Mafia Wars
2:05:53and Farmville, got into hot water in
2:05:552009 for its direct marketing program
2:05:57that invited users to a mass virtual
2:05:59currency in exchange for clicking on
2:06:01various offers, filling out surveys, and
2:06:03downloading applications. a Mother's Day
2:06:05ad campaign in which Farmville players
2:06:06could earn virtual currency if they
2:06:08clicked on an offer promising that they
2:06:10would send someone real flowers. 35. And
2:06:13in 2010, a scandal erupted when it was
2:06:15discovered that 10 popular Facebook
2:06:17applications, including Farmville, may
2:06:19have been passing on users personal
2:06:21information to marketing companies. 36.
2:06:25It probably won't surprise you to learn
2:06:27that Facebook itself can be just as
2:06:29addictive as the games people play on
2:06:31it. I've spoken to teenagers and
2:06:34college-aged men and women who have
2:06:35attempted to go off the site or rather
2:06:38try to take a break from it during say
2:06:40final exams. They can't. For most users,
2:06:44particularly adolescents, it's all or
2:06:46nothing. Like alcoholics who can trust
2:06:48themselves not to drink only by emptying
2:06:51the liquor cabinet, they find they can
2:06:53trust themselves not to log on only if
2:06:55they deactivate their accounts. Believe
2:06:58it or not, part of the reason the whole
2:07:00Facebook experience is so addictive is
2:07:02that it's deliberately designed to be
2:07:04that way. According to Time magazine,
2:07:07Facebook has intentionally created what
2:07:08it calls aha moments, which reporter Dan
2:07:10Fletcher describes as an observable
2:07:12emotional connection, like stumbling on
2:07:14the profile of a long-lost friend from
2:07:16grade school, seeing a picture of a
2:07:18newborn niece for the first time, or
2:07:20catching up with an ex-boyfriend.
2:07:22And the company knows exactly how many
2:07:24of these moments users must have before
2:07:26they are good. and truly hooked. Though
2:07:28the site will not divulge the magic
2:07:30number, at least publicly. How do they
2:07:33know? Because they videotaped the
2:07:35expressions of test users as they
2:07:37navigate the site for the first time,
2:07:39says Fletcher, 37.
2:07:42Last, but not least, there's Foursquare,
2:07:44in which users earn points and badges by
2:07:46checking in at bars, stores, and
2:07:48restaurants, and compete viciously for
2:07:50mayorship of their most frequented
2:07:52establishments, giving those
2:07:53establishments free advertising in the
2:07:55process. Foursquare is hailed as the
2:07:58next big thing in social media at the
2:08:00time of writing. There were some 2.5
2:08:02million users and I've spoken to
2:08:03afficionados who describe it as being
2:08:05like a drug and admit to feeling uneasy
2:08:08and on edge if they go somewhere and
2:08:10fail to check in. A recent New York
2:08:12Times article reveals the extent of
2:08:14players obsession with the game,
2:08:16describing one Philadelphia man who was
2:08:18competing with his girlfriend overhip of
2:08:20her own home and another man who became
2:08:22so obsessed with gaining of an alley.
2:08:25Yes, an alley that he developed a
2:08:27computer program that helped him cheat
2:08:29by automatically checking him into the
2:08:30alley every day at 1:23 p.m. to explain
2:08:33this baffling phenomenon. The article
2:08:35quotes Alexander R. Galloway, an
2:08:37associate professor in the department of
2:08:40media, culture, and communication at New
2:08:42York University, who noted that
2:08:44Foursquare taps into our urge to win
2:08:46when placed in a competitive
2:08:47environment, especially in front of our
2:08:49peers, and that Foursquare turns spaces
2:08:51into a game, and part of its allure is
2:08:53the game-like aspect. 38. A similar game
2:08:57is SCVNGR, an app you can download to
2:09:00your iPhone or BlackBerry, and some
2:09:02500,000 users already have. As with
2:09:05Foursquare, you earn points and unlock
2:09:07badges by telling friends where you are
2:09:09and what you're up to. But taking the
2:09:11game one step further, you also earn
2:09:14points for completing bizarre
2:09:15challenges. Want four points? Fold the
2:09:18aluminum in which your burrito was
2:09:20served into an origami bird. According
2:09:23to Fast Company, SCVNGr is even testing
2:09:26out a partnership with City Bank to roll
2:09:28out a card that is a game itself with
2:09:30two buttons and tiny lights that allow
2:09:32users to choose at checkout whether to
2:09:34pay with credit or rewards points. 39.
2:09:38Lately, websites that make a game out of
2:09:40real life shopping are cropping up all
2:09:42over. I'm talking about social flash
2:09:45shopping sites like Guilt, Hotelic, Ru
2:09:47Laala, Woot, and Ideally, which hold
2:09:49limited time only sales of items from
2:09:51top luxury designers. If you visit one
2:09:54of these sites in the next 20 minutes,
2:09:56the breathless email in your inbox might
2:09:58say that you'll get 75% off a Coach
2:10:01handbag or a pair of Tom Ford
2:10:03sunglasses. The thrill of the hunt, the
2:10:06joy of discovery, the satisfaction of
2:10:09scoring a deal. How could that not be
2:10:11addicting? These sites are increasingly
2:10:13gaining traction. Two, at the time of
2:10:16writing, Guilt had 2 million members,
2:10:1940. And according to Hitwise data
2:10:20tracker, Botelik's online market share
2:10:23grew 750% in 2010, while Guilt Group and
2:10:27Ru Laala grew their shares by 200% and
2:10:30160% respectively. 41. So, how can a
2:10:34computer game or gambling addiction
2:10:36migrate over into a shopping addiction?
2:10:39Very simple. Once we shut down one
2:10:40dopamine supply, we desperately and
2:10:43unconsciously seek another source of the
2:10:45feel-good chemical. In short, once we've
2:10:47activated addiction in our brains, it
2:10:49stays with us forever. Groupon, an
2:10:52amalgam of Group and Coupon, is a
2:10:54similar and equally ingenious game-like
2:10:56site that is catching on fast with, at
2:10:58time of writing, a staggering 4 million
2:11:00members and a rumored market value of
2:11:03$15 billion. 42. As most people know,
2:11:06Groupon delivers daily specials in your
2:11:08city via an email offering, for example,
2:11:11an 82% discount for a one-mon membership
2:11:14at Jim. But hurry, the deal will take
2:11:17place only if, say, 150 members take
2:11:20advantage of it before time runs out.
2:11:23When I spoke to Paul Hurley, the CEO of
2:11:25Ideally, he admitted that his remarkably
2:11:27successful site has both a social
2:11:29component and a game structure. When you
2:11:32think about it, ideally Groupon and
2:11:34these other social flash shopping sites
2:11:36really do have everything an addictive
2:11:37game could want. A prize, a ticking
2:11:40clock, a challenge, other players, an
2:11:44invitation only exclusivity, not to
2:11:47mention its well fun. One study which
2:11:50looked at an online auction site known
2:11:52as Swoopo confirmed that although
2:11:53consumers are pleased when they lose out
2:11:55on a deal, near misses increased the
2:11:57desire to play the game. 43. Win or
2:12:00lose, our brains just want to keep on
2:12:02playing. Jesse Shell predicts that in
2:12:05the future, the convergence between
2:12:07gaming and buying, especially online,
2:12:09will only continue to intensify. And
2:12:12what's more, games will increasingly
2:12:14migrate over from dream stage to the
2:12:16routine stage and become more and more
2:12:18integrated in our daily lives. To some
2:12:20extent, this is happening already. From
2:12:22the bargain hunter who checks her daily
2:12:24group and guilt offers first thing every
2:12:27morning to the foursquare user for whom
2:12:29checking in at Starbucks is as routine
2:12:31as drinking his morning coffee. So where
2:12:34does it all end? Time will tell. One
2:12:37thing though is for sure. Whether by
2:12:40engineering cravings, imbooing products
2:12:42with chemically addictive properties, or
2:12:44turning shopping and spending into a
2:12:46game we can't stop playing, companies
2:12:48and their marketers will only get better
2:12:50and better at manipulating our psyches
2:12:52and our desires to hook us on their
2:12:54brands and products. Chapter 4. Guess
2:12:58how many times a day men across the
2:13:00world think about sex. 2 5 20? Try 32
2:13:05times a day, which adds up to 224 times
2:13:09a week. In my last book, I explored
2:13:12everyone's favorite subject, sex.
2:13:14Specifically, the question, does sex
2:13:16sell? My research found that men and
2:13:19women reacted to sexually provocative
2:13:21advertising, suggestive commercials, ads
2:13:24featuring scantily clad models, that
2:13:26sort of thing, in much the same way they
2:13:28respond to sexual suggestion in real
2:13:30life. In general, women tend to be more
2:13:32easily persuaded by ads that are more
2:13:35romantic than sexual ones that emphasize
2:13:37commitment, devotion, and partnership.
2:13:40Not surprisingly, men, on the other
2:13:42hand, responded to sexual innuendo and
2:13:44women in bikinis, especially when the
2:13:46ads or commercials were leavened with a
2:13:48heaping dose of adolescent humor. That
2:13:51said, my research revealed that when it
2:13:53comes to persuading us to buy, sexy ads
2:13:55can sometimes backfire. In one study, I
2:13:58showed two separate groups of men
2:14:00identical ads. The first group watched
2:14:02sexually suggestive ads, while the other
2:14:05group saw the same ads only without the
2:14:07sexual content. Turned out the men who
2:14:09saw the sexually suggestive commercials
2:14:12were no better at remembering the names
2:14:13of the brands and products they'd seen
2:14:15advertised than the men who'd seen the
2:14:17unerotic ads. In other words, while the
2:14:20male volunteers may have enjoyed the
2:14:22whiff of sexuality, ultimately it had no
2:14:25effect on their memory or impression of
2:14:27the actual product. Yet, sexually
2:14:29suggestive advertising isn't going
2:14:31anywhere anytime soon. Mostly because
2:14:33when we see attractive, scantily clad
2:14:35young people advertising an energy drink
2:14:37or a brand of underwear or a new line of
2:14:39cosmetics, the mirror neurons in our
2:14:42brain allow us to imagine ourselves as
2:14:44being equally attractive and sexually
2:14:46desirable. And after all, what is
2:14:48advertising about if not planting hopes
2:14:50and dreams inside our brains? Sure
2:14:53enough, sex and advertising still
2:14:55everywhere we look. Abberrombie and
2:14:58Fitch has recently reinstated its soft
2:15:00porn in store catalog. American apparel
2:15:02still showcases its pouty, scandally
2:15:04clad models and giant store windows.
2:15:06Footballer David Beckham still sprawls
2:15:08across a Times Square billboard in his
2:15:10skiibbies at the time of writing at
2:15:12least. And the $420 million websites
2:15:14spawned by the $4.9 billion global
2:15:17pornography industry still carry ads for
2:15:19everything from sexual enhancement
2:15:20products to escort services to well more
2:15:23pornography. By the way, in case you're
2:15:25wondering, the average age a child
2:15:27stumbles across a porn site. I hate to
2:15:30say it, but it's 11. And though it may
2:15:33not work all the time, there is evidence
2:15:35to suggest that a sexed up ad campaign
2:15:37can be persuasive if it's done in the
2:15:39right way. As Dr. Jeffrey Miller, an
2:15:42evolutionary psychologist at the
2:15:43University of New Mexico, found people
2:15:46are more likely to expend money and
2:15:48effort on products and activities if
2:15:49they're first primed with photographs of
2:15:51the opposite sex or stories about
2:15:53dating. Two, to give you one example of
2:15:56how sex can still sell, a few years ago,
2:15:59one of the world's biggest car
2:16:01manufacturers contacted me to help it
2:16:03turn around declining sales of one of
2:16:05its most iconic brands. Throughout my
2:16:08years as a branding consultant, I've
2:16:10sought to explore the personality of the
2:16:12target customer so that I could help
2:16:14import that personality into the brand.
2:16:17This time around though, I took a new
2:16:19fangled approach to connecting with
2:16:21consumer psyches. I created a rather
2:16:23unusual deck of cards, each of the 200
2:16:26cards picturing a different animal. Then
2:16:29I asked a group of middle-aged men, the
2:16:31target customers, to identify five
2:16:33different animals they believed best
2:16:35represented the brand.
2:16:37Next, I used fine neuro imaging to
2:16:39narrow the findings. When my team showed
2:16:42the men pictures of the first four
2:16:43animals they' named, it was pretty much
2:16:46business as usual in their brains. But
2:16:48to everyone's surprise, the final animal
2:16:50we showed them lit up those brain
2:16:52regions associated with sexual
2:16:54attraction and mating. When we then
2:16:56showed the same men photos and images of
2:16:58their dream cars, cars they either could
2:17:00ill afford or felt they were too old to
2:17:02drive, bingo, these same Randy Brain
2:17:04regions lit up. Turns out that
2:17:06subconsciously, these nicely dressed
2:17:08businessmen, who had been married an
2:17:10average of 23 years and were the fathers
2:17:12of an average of 2.5 children associated
2:17:15their dream cars and that particular
2:17:17animal with one thing and one thing
2:17:19only, sex. Bingo. We had our answer.
2:17:24From that point forward, the animal
2:17:26cenamed asterisk informed every single
2:17:28detail of the car's design, engineering,
2:17:30and appearance. The animal in question
2:17:32was and is black, sleek, and rare with
2:17:35smooth lines and long curves mixed with
2:17:37a feminine smoothness. The goal was to
2:17:39give the car smooth, shapely curves and
2:17:42motions to make the male driver feel as
2:17:44if he were saddling up, riding, and
2:17:46conquering a fast, powerful, supple,
2:17:48beautiful animal. The engineers at the
2:17:50auto company imported these sensuous
2:17:52qualities to the car's dashboard, gear
2:17:55stick, interior leather, and even door
2:17:57handles. In short, the car was sex on
2:18:00four wheels and four years later when it
2:18:02finally hit the road, the company
2:18:04enjoyed one of the greatest sales
2:18:05turnarounds in its history. Peas, for
2:18:08the record, it was an Arabian horse
2:18:10renowned among other things for uh the
2:18:13size of its penis. If you spray it, they
2:18:16will come. So, how do I know that men
2:18:18think about sex 32 times a day? Because
2:18:21I talked to David Kousno, a highly
2:18:24regarded Unilver executive and an expert
2:18:26in consumer and market insight, who
2:18:28shared this, as well as the many other
2:18:30surprising findings Unilver's internal
2:18:32research team uncovered when preparing
2:18:34to roll out what would become a
2:18:35multi-million dollar brand, Axe. Axe is
2:18:39a line of men's personal care products
2:18:40that includes deodorant, body sprays,
2:18:42sticks, and rollons, shampoos, and body
2:18:45washes with names like Apollo, Kilo,
2:18:47Phoenix, Tsunami, and Voodoo. Introduced
2:18:50in the United States in 2002, Axe is
2:18:52renowned in marketing circles for how it
2:18:54craftly positioned as products as
2:18:56bottled pherommones, magical potions
2:18:58that could transform the greasiest,
2:18:59scrawniest, most acne prone schlub into
2:19:02a confident, gorgeous, chiseled sex
2:19:04magnet. The behind-the-scenes story of
2:19:06how Unilver created this now legendary
2:19:08axe campaign isn't just another
2:19:10demonstration of the power of sex in
2:19:12advertising. It's also a fascinating
2:19:14example of just how deeply companies and
2:19:17marketers probe the depths of our inner
2:19:18psyches, our hopes, dreams, and
2:19:20daydreams in the service of crafting the
2:19:22kinds of provocative, scandalously
2:19:24sexual, and smashingly successful
2:19:26campaigns that push the very limits of
2:19:28advertising as we know it. First, the
2:19:31Unilver team conducted an extensive
2:19:33in-depth online survey of 12,000 boys
2:19:36and men aged 15 to 50 around the world,
2:19:38from the United States to the UK to
2:19:40Mexico to South Africa to Turkey to
2:19:42Japan. But it wasn't your average
2:19:45survey. This survey asked these 12,000
2:19:48males a series of highly personal,
2:19:50somewhat embarrassing questions such as,
2:19:52"What is your strategy when you want to
2:19:54pick up a girl?" "When do you feel
2:19:56really insecure?" When were you rejected
2:19:59by a girl? What is your ideal sexual
2:20:02fantasy? And the aforementioned, "How
2:20:05many times do you think about sex a
2:20:07day?" Why was Unilver asking these
2:20:09questions? We wanted to identify male
2:20:12human truths, recalls Kousno, whose team
2:20:14then analyze the research country by
2:20:16country. The things that make men tick
2:20:19that are the same no matter where you
2:20:20go, no matter where you were born or who
2:20:23you are. The results were, to say the
2:20:25least, revealing. There's nothing like
2:20:27online anonymity to get a guy to spill
2:20:30his guts. It may sound like a cliche or
2:20:32a scene from a bad porn flick, but as it
2:20:35turns out, the number one fantasy among
2:20:37men is this. A boy or a man is lounging
2:20:39in a hot tub or spa. He's surrounded by
2:20:42three or four naked women. A corped
2:20:44bottle of champagne stands nearby with
2:20:46its foam bubbling over into the hot tub.
2:20:49Based on these responses and others, the
2:20:51axe team realized something. The
2:20:54ultimate male fantasy isn't just to be
2:20:56found irresistible by a sexy woman. It's
2:20:59to be found irresistible by several sexy
2:21:02women. This was the groundbreaking
2:21:04revelation that was soon to become the
2:21:06crux of Ax's campaign, says Kosno. We
2:21:09realized, or rather had it confirmed,
2:21:11that if the campaign was to be
2:21:13successful, it would have to emphasize
2:21:15the pheromone aspects of the brand. But
2:21:18wait, these marketers weren't done
2:21:20probing yet. Next, in a spirit of male
2:21:22camaraderie, Kazano and his Unilver
2:21:25colleagues accompanied roughly a hundred
2:21:26males. Identical studies were later
2:21:28carried out across other European
2:21:30countries, North America and Latin
2:21:32America, age 15 to 50, to the pubs until
2:21:353:00 or 4 in the morning and soberly,
2:21:37while secretly taking copious notes,
2:21:39watched them in action. Their goal was
2:21:41to see how these men would pick women
2:21:43out of the crowd and ultimately approach
2:21:45them to analyze their game as it were.
2:21:48After pouring over their pages and pages
2:21:50of notes in the end and via a process
2:21:52known in the industry as segmentation,
2:21:54the Unilver team isolated six
2:21:56psychological profiles of the male
2:21:58animal and the potential axe user. The
2:22:01breakdown. The Predator, as Kouseno
2:22:03describes him, conceals his insecurity
2:22:06under a facade of swaggering bluster. He
2:22:08drives a brand name car, adorns himself
2:22:11with high-end fashion brands, and is
2:22:13constantly on the prowl. He has little
2:22:15if any respect for women and is markedly
2:22:18deceptive. He's liable to lie to a woman
2:22:20about his job when he's in fact
2:22:22unemployed where he lives, typically
2:22:24with his parents, and so on. The
2:22:26predator tends to target women who are
2:22:28out alone, preferably drunk ones he can
2:22:31take easy advantage of. In some, the
2:22:34predator is any woman's and her father's
2:22:36worst nightmare. Natural talent. This is
2:22:39the intelligent, athletic, achieving,
2:22:42magnetic, naturally confident male. the
2:22:44kind of guy other guys like to be around
2:22:46and women find inherently appealing.
2:22:48Natural talent usually gets the woman
2:22:50he's after, though never deceptively.
2:22:52Interestingly, when the axe researchers
2:22:54pulled all the men, they found that
2:22:56nearly everyone not only wanted to be
2:22:58the natural talent guy, the vast
2:23:00majority believed they were the natural
2:23:02talent guy. It was like a sexed up
2:23:05version of the Lake Wagon effect. The
2:23:08marriage material guy is exactly that,
2:23:10gentle, respectful, and self-confident.
2:23:13the kind of guy you want to bring home
2:23:15to mom. Despite what single women might
2:23:17tell you, according to Unilver's
2:23:19research, marriage material men make up
2:23:21a pretty large segment in the young male
2:23:23population. Always the friend. Is there
2:23:26a greater kiss of death for an amorous
2:23:28young man than to hear the word sorry,
2:23:31but I like you more like a brother? Can
2:23:33we be just good friends? Cuz remarks,
2:23:36not unkindly, you watch them deflate
2:23:39right in front of you. Not surprisingly,
2:23:41quite a few gay men and closeted gay men
2:23:44turned up in this category. The insecure
2:23:47novice. These poor young fellows haven't
2:23:49the slightest idea what they are doing
2:23:51around women. Along with marriage
2:23:53material and natural talent, the United
2:23:56States boasts quite a few insecure
2:23:58noviceses. Ironically, they outwardly
2:24:01resemble the predator in that they will
2:24:02simply step up and behave in ways that
2:24:04make most women uncomfortable, but their
2:24:07motives are pure and not deceptive. The
2:24:10enthusiastic novice. These young men
2:24:12have no idea what they are doing either,
2:24:15but they come across as eager rather
2:24:17than creepy. They might not score, but
2:24:19darn it, no one is going to tell them
2:24:21they aren't doing their best. So, now
2:24:24that the axe researchers had isolated
2:24:26these six segments, what did they do
2:24:28with the information? Well, the first
2:24:31step was to figure out which of these
2:24:33six types of men was their best target.
2:24:35Ultimately, they decided the most
2:24:37obvious choice would be the insecure
2:24:39novice, followed by the enthusiastic
2:24:41novice, followed by the natural talent.
2:24:43Why? Well, the first two segments, the
2:24:46marketers reasoned, with their lack of
2:24:48self-esteem and experience, could be
2:24:50easily persuaded that axe would be the
2:24:52key to enhanced success with women. They
2:24:54would spray it on to ramp up their
2:24:56self-confidence. The natural talent
2:24:59guys, on the other hand, didn't need a
2:25:01shot of self-confidence, but they could
2:25:03probably be convinced to use Axe as a
2:25:05finishing touch before going out for a
2:25:07night on the town. This was unlike, say,
2:25:10the Predator, who the marketers knew
2:25:12would never feel he needed the product
2:25:14or anything other than his own sexy self
2:25:16to score with women. So with the
2:25:19insecure novice as their primary target,
2:25:21Axe came up with a series of 30-second
2:25:23TV commercials that prayed on what its
2:25:25research had revealed to be the ultimate
2:25:27male fantasy to be irresistible to not
2:25:30just one but several sexy women. These
2:25:33ads were nothing short of marketing
2:25:34genius. In one 32nd spot, an army of
2:25:38bikini clad female Amazon drawn by the
2:25:40irresistible scent storms an empty beach
2:25:42to surround and seduce a helpless,
2:25:44scrawny young male axe user. In another,
2:25:47a naked, soapy young man is showering
2:25:49when suddenly the bathroom floor cracks
2:25:51and he tumbles, still naked and dripping
2:25:53with suds into a basement filled with
2:25:55scantlyclad young women who proceed to
2:25:57bump and grind lasciviously enough to
2:25:59make a porn star break out in hives. No
2:26:02one wants to play with dirty equipment
2:26:04in tones a woman in another less than
2:26:06subtle ax before proceeding with the
2:26:08help of an assistant. Monica, can you
2:26:10help me with these dirty balls? She asks
2:26:13to clean and fondle two white golf balls
2:26:16in her manicured hand. If you spray it,
2:26:18they will come. Is the suggestive
2:26:20promise of another ad in which a pair of
2:26:22college-aged women bodily drag another
2:26:24college-aged beacon to what is
2:26:26presumably awaiting bondoir. In others,
2:26:29a gaggle of young women need only take a
2:26:31deep inhale of a nearby axe man before
2:26:33they are immediately compelled to
2:26:35surrender their cell phone numbers.
2:26:36While in yet another, a man sprays on
2:26:38Ax's dark temptation body spray, which
2:26:41immediately transforms him into a
2:26:42life-sized piece of chocolate, which a
2:26:44bevy of hot women off the street nibble
2:26:47at suggestively for the remainder of the
2:26:4930 secondond spot. The message of each
2:26:51of these couldn't be clearer. Use Axe
2:26:53and get late repeatedly by different
2:26:56women. The campaign was an instant hit
2:26:58and Axe quickly became the number one
2:27:00male brand in the total antipersperent
2:27:03deodorant category. Three, earning
2:27:04Unilver $71 million in sales in 20650
2:27:08million more than its closest rival TAG4
2:27:11and $186 million, excluding Walmart
2:27:14sales in 2007, an increase of 14% from a
2:27:18year earlier, which was leagues ahead of
2:27:20its nearest rival. What's more, sales of
2:27:23the brand's other products shot up as
2:27:25well because body sprays are often used
2:27:27as a training fragrance. And if a young
2:27:29male cotton to a brand, he's more likely
2:27:31to buy other products from the same
2:27:33company, what we in the industry call
2:27:35the halo effect. Moreover, Axe had
2:27:37achieved global fame for its envelope
2:27:39pushing ads, which were variously termed
2:27:41funny, brilliant, offensive, or
2:27:43outrageously sexist. Either way, it was
2:27:46free publicity, and it worked. However,
2:27:49the brand's early success soon began to
2:27:51backfire. The problem was the ads had
2:27:54worked too well in persuading the
2:27:56insecure noviceses and enthusiastic
2:27:58noviceses to buy the product. Geeks and
2:28:00dorks everywhere were now buying Axe by
2:28:03the case load, and it was hurting the
2:28:05brand's image. Eventually, in the United
2:28:07States, at least to most high school and
2:28:09college-aged males, Axe had essentially
2:28:11become the brand for pathetic losers.
2:28:13And not surprisingly, sales took a huge
2:28:15hit. Then Axe faced another big problem.
2:28:19Insecure high school students had been
2:28:21so convincingly persuaded that Axe would
2:28:23make them sexually appealing that they
2:28:25began completely dousing themselves in
2:28:27it. After all, if Axe equals sex, then
2:28:30more axe equals more sex, right?
2:28:33According to CBC News, some boys have
2:28:35been dousing themselves in Axe,
2:28:37apparently believing commercials that
2:28:38show a young man applying the deodorant
2:28:40and being immediately hit on by
2:28:42beautiful women. It got to the point
2:28:44where the students were wreaking so
2:28:46heavily of it that it was becoming a
2:28:48distraction at school. So much so that
2:28:51in Minnesota, school district officials
2:28:53attempted to ban it, claiming that the
2:28:55man spray has been abused and the
2:28:57aerosol stench is a hazard for students
2:28:59and faculty. Five. The principal of one
2:29:02Canadian school started actually
2:29:04confiscating bottles of axe. They spray
2:29:07it all over their heads and their necks.
2:29:09One teacher said they don't realize how
2:29:12powerful the odor is. They have no idea
2:29:14how much it takes to be a walking stink
2:29:16bomb, which is basically what they are.
2:29:18Six. Today, Unilver is reinvigorating
2:29:21the brand with a series of viral videos
2:29:24focused more on showing men just where
2:29:26to spray axe. Naturally, these two are
2:29:28charged with sexual innuendo. After
2:29:30spraying a mannequin, the spokeswoman
2:29:32tears off the man's right arm and begins
2:29:34paddling herself while crying, "I have
2:29:36been naughty." Seven. Despite its few
2:29:39stumbles, the wild success of Ax's ad
2:29:42campaign just goes to show what can
2:29:44happen when a brand and its clever
2:29:46marketers probe and plug into our most
2:29:48private and deeply rooted sexual
2:29:50fantasies and desires. And it goes to
2:29:52show that these days, as ever, our most
2:29:55deeply seated sexual fantasies and
2:29:57desires can be some of the most powerful
2:29:59persuaders there are. And although some
2:30:01entrenched marketing techniques like the
2:30:04one you just read about remain in place,
2:30:06what most people don't know is that
2:30:07companies and advertisers are using sex
2:30:10in a host of sneaky new ways. In this
2:30:12chapter, we'll take a look at the
2:30:14provocative results of some experiments
2:30:16I recently did on sex and advertising,
2:30:18including shocking revelations of what
2:30:20heterosexual men really think about when
2:30:22they see naked male bodies in
2:30:23advertising. Hint, it isn't their
2:30:25girlfriends. And what type of men some
2:30:27women won't admit to daydreaming about.
2:30:29Hint, check out the posters on their
2:30:31tween daughters walls. We'll also take a
2:30:34look at how changing gender roles in our
2:30:36society are shaping the way companies
2:30:38are using sex appeal and beauty to
2:30:40brandwash the 21st century man who loves
2:30:43you baby. The ads stretch across
2:30:46countless Abberrombi and Fitch
2:30:48storefronts and billboards from Time
2:30:49Square to London to Paris. do-eyed
2:30:51shirtless men with broad smooth
2:30:53shoulders and six-pack abs jutting
2:30:55majestically out of a pair of bulging
2:30:57tight-fitting jeans arrayed in various
2:30:59supine poses like wrestling in the woods
2:31:01or lounging languidly on a summer beach.
2:31:04It's all very very sexy. But when you
2:31:06stop and think about it for a minute,
2:31:08something doesn't add up. The jeans
2:31:11being advertised here are for men and
2:31:13the majority of a bearby's customers and
2:31:15target customers are straight. If these
2:31:18billboards are trying to seduce
2:31:20customers with hot, near-neaked bodies,
2:31:22shouldn't they be women's bodies? In
2:31:24other words, why are sexy men being used
2:31:27to sell jeans and underwear to
2:31:28heterosexual men? To begin to answer
2:31:31that question, we have to go back a
2:31:33couple of decades. Back in the early 90s
2:31:36when Madonna Badger, then senior art
2:31:38director at Calvin Klein's in-house
2:31:40agency, and today the proprietor of
2:31:42Badger and Winters, her own successful
2:31:44New York boutique ad agency, and
2:31:46photographer Herb Ritz created two ads
2:31:48for Calvin Klein underwear. They
2:31:50couldn't possibly have predicted what
2:31:52effect they would have. I'm sure you've
2:31:54seen these now iconic ads. The one for
2:31:57men's briefs pictured well-muscled actor
2:31:59and stud muffin Mark Wahberg, back then
2:32:01known as rapper Marky Mark, clutching
2:32:03his crotch and grinning. The one for
2:32:05women's skiibbies featured the Wayfish
2:32:07Kate Moss hugging her bony arms to her
2:32:10bony chest. These homoerotic ads boosted
2:32:12sales of Calvin Klein underwear, both
2:32:14men's and women's, by roughly 35%,
2:32:17instantly broadcasting to the
2:32:18advertising world that yes, you can use
2:32:20male sex appeal to sell to men and
2:32:22female sex appeal, albeit a boyish
2:32:25female, to sell to women. And for the
2:32:27next two decades, use it. They did. More
2:32:30than 20 years later, American Apparel's
2:32:32billboard ads, so racy they've been
2:32:34accused of being downright pornographic,
2:32:36show young men in their underwear with
2:32:38their legs spled open, while the male
2:32:40models in Dolce and Gabana's cologne ads
2:32:42bear their glistening, rippling tan
2:32:44chests. In one controversial ad, a
2:32:46shirtless man leans suggestively over a
2:32:48woman in a skimpy black dress, while
2:32:50other men in varying states of dress
2:32:51look on. Adidas advertises its sneakers
2:32:54with posters showing Canadian model time
2:32:57Rogers bearing his perfectly toned
2:32:59athletic body while clutching a pair of
2:33:01sneakers in front of his crotch. And
2:33:03it's worth noting that Men's Health with
2:33:05its monthly cover photos of shirtless
2:33:07men with six-packs is among the most
2:33:09popular magazines in the United States.
2:33:12Point is, thanks in no small part to the
2:33:15barriers broken by those envelope
2:33:16pushing late9s Calvin Klein ads, it's
2:33:19not uncommon for advertisers to use
2:33:21provocative images of male sexuality to
2:33:23sell men on everything from clothing to
2:33:25cologne to sporting equipment. Yet, most
2:33:28straight males would be loathed to admit
2:33:30that these sexually charged images of
2:33:32attractive men with their V-shaped
2:33:33physiques, broad pectorals, rippling
2:33:35upper bodies, and bulging crotches have
2:33:37any effect on their buying behavior
2:33:39whatsoever. In the United States at
2:33:42least, it's still not considered okay
2:33:44for a straight man to admire another
2:33:46male. And in fact, men are used to
2:33:48averting their gaze when any hint of the
2:33:50naked male form is present. Which could
2:33:52explain why when a man is standing at
2:33:53the urinal in a public restroom, a
2:33:55second man who enters the bathroom will
2:33:57set up shop 10 m away from him for fear
2:34:00of being unwittingly perceived as on the
2:34:02prowl. Yet, the data doesn't lie. These
2:34:05homoerotic ads do work. They work
2:34:08incredibly well. So, what's going on
2:34:11here? Dr. Delisa Veranic, a Today Show
2:34:14psychologist who also serves as the
2:34:15psychologist for Gold's Gym and is on
2:34:17the advisory board for Shape magazine,
2:34:19conjectures that men rationalize ogling
2:34:22these ads by telling themselves they are
2:34:23simply looking at a single isolated body
2:34:25part. Say, to see how the jeans fit
2:34:28around the hips or how the t-shirt
2:34:29stretches across the chest as opposed to
2:34:31the body itself. It's called Playgirl
2:34:34Marketing, Dr. Vanic tells me, referring
2:34:36to the monthly magazine featuring male
2:34:38nudes founded in 1973,
2:34:41it says it's for men trying to impress
2:34:43women, but it's really men for men.
2:34:46Based on what I've seen in all my years
2:34:48in the advertising industry, I'd long
2:34:50suspected that these ads of chiseled
2:34:52males strike a chord in heterosexual
2:34:54men. Why else would they be so
2:34:56ubiquitous? When I've asked young men
2:34:59about the models in the Abbercrombie
2:35:00ads, they'll cheerfully admit those
2:35:02girls are fit. But when I ask, "What
2:35:05about the guys?" The discomfort in the
2:35:07room is palpable. Then quite often I get
2:35:11a chorus of I didn't really notice them
2:35:13or why do you want to know? As if I'm
2:35:15challenging their sexuality, which I'm
2:35:18not. But whether they cop to it or not,
2:35:20I believe that these ads and images that
2:35:22evoke male sexuality or the male body
2:35:24are powerful persuaders for men and
2:35:26influence their buying decisions more
2:35:28than they care to admit even to
2:35:30themselves. So I decided to carry out an
2:35:33infuri research study to see how the
2:35:35male brain was affected by this sexually
2:35:37stimulating imagery. I wasn't trying to
2:35:40make some kind of social statement or
2:35:42prove some kind of point like all men
2:35:44are secretly gay. As someone who studies
2:35:47branding and advertising for a living. I
2:35:49simply was curious as to what effect
2:35:51photographic imagery of the near naked
2:35:53male really has on the heterosexual male
2:35:56consumer. So again, with the help of San
2:35:58Diego based Mind Sign Neuromarketing, we
2:36:01were ready for our research experiment
2:36:03to kick off. Our underwear study
2:36:05subjects consisted of 16 males between
2:36:08the ages of 18 and 25, eight
2:36:10heterosexual and eight homosexual men.
2:36:13The Mindsai Neuromarketing team scanned
2:36:15the volunteers brains under infuri as
2:36:17they viewed five images of male models
2:36:19stripped down to their tight white
2:36:21skiies and boxer briefs. A couple of
2:36:24weeks later, some very provocative
2:36:26results came in. Turns out that both
2:36:29groups of men showed significant
2:36:30activation in their visual cortex to be
2:36:33expected given the visual nature of the
2:36:35stimulus. But far more revealing was the
2:36:38fact that both groups also showed
2:36:40activity in the area of the brain known
2:36:42as the inferior lateral prefrontal gyrus
2:36:44that is involved in working memory and
2:36:46that most often comes alive when a
2:36:48person is attempting to lie, manipulate
2:36:50a fact, or somehow convince themselves
2:36:52of something not quite true. As a matter
2:36:54of fact, you could easily dub this brain
2:36:57region the deception area. All of which
2:36:59indicated to the Mindsign study
2:37:01researchers that our study subjects
2:37:03didn't want to be attracted to our
2:37:05skiibbyclad male models, but in fact
2:37:07they were. And more telling still, the
2:37:10heterosexual men's brains responses to
2:37:12the male underwear ads denial followed
2:37:14by varying degrees of interest were
2:37:16extremely similar to those of homosexual
2:37:19men. All strong evidence, according to
2:37:21the team of experts who analyzed the
2:37:23results, that some of the heterosexual
2:37:25men were equally stimulated by the ads,
2:37:28their brains were just working harder at
2:37:30denying it. Scent of a woman. In
2:37:33December 2004, when the global fragrance
2:37:36firm International Flavors and
2:37:38Fragrances was bidding to win the
2:37:39account for Calvin Klein's new
2:37:41fragrance, Euphoria, it called on Erica
2:37:43Smith and her then colleague, Alex
2:37:44Mskin, who ran its internal brand
2:37:46emotions unit. The way it works in the
2:37:49fragrance world is that the
2:37:50manufacturer, in this case Calvin Klein,
2:37:53then owned by Unilver, tells the
2:37:55fragrance companies what it wants the
2:37:57scent to evoke and sends them off to
2:37:59create it. Then once a fragrance is
2:38:01submitted, the company runs focus groups
2:38:04to see whether it succeeds in summoning
2:38:06the desired associations and emotions.
2:38:08So, Unilver first submitted to the
2:38:10perfumearies what's known in the
2:38:12industry as a mood edit, a montage of
2:38:14short, almost subliminal and sexually
2:38:16suggestive clips from various films,
2:38:18like a scene in which a woman was
2:38:20willingly blindfolded and tied up,
2:38:22though in a very seductive way. Why does
2:38:25the industry use a film instead of
2:38:27simply explaining what it wants in the
2:38:29fragrance? Because, as David Kousno
2:38:32notes, language has a way of dulling
2:38:34things. Create a fragrance that takes a
2:38:36woman to this emotional space. Unilver's
2:38:39team told if and the other biders. Then
2:38:42once the fragrance was ready, Unilver
2:38:44assembled a focus group of women and
2:38:46dabbed juice, the widespread name for
2:38:48perfume across the fragrance industry on
2:38:50each woman's skin. Then the team asked
2:38:52the women to close their eyes and tell
2:38:54the first story that came to mind that
2:38:57expressed what the fragrance evoked for
2:38:59them. Without exception, the stories the
2:39:01women told were romantic, sexual, and
2:39:04passionate. Interestingly, without
2:39:06exception, the fragrance seemed to evoke
2:39:08in every woman the same gently clashing
2:39:10associations, innocence alongside
2:39:12passion, freedom, as well as capture.
2:39:14Love that was soft and sweet while
2:39:16carnal and sexual at the same time.
2:39:18Bingo. If's juice would be Calvin
2:39:20Klein's new fragrance. But the process
2:39:23was just getting started. Unilver loved
2:39:26what if had come up with but wanted to
2:39:28refine it further. To ensure they got it
2:39:31just right, the Unilver team decided to
2:39:34carry out additional research around the
2:39:36same question. Where does this fragrance
2:39:38take you emotionally? But then they
2:39:40realized something. There was no way to
2:39:42know whether the fragrance had taken the
2:39:44women to that dark sensual place until
2:39:46they figured out where for these
2:39:48specific women that place might be. So
2:39:51they decided to probe a little more
2:39:53deeply. This time they led each woman
2:39:55through a maze of corridors into various
2:39:57dark rooms. The rooms were dark to
2:39:59eliminate sensory distractions, each
2:40:01suffused with a different variation of
2:40:03the if fragrance. The women closed their
2:40:05eyes. What did they see, hear, feel?
2:40:09Afterward, the Unilever team poured over
2:40:11their responses, trying to decode where
2:40:14into what space the fragrance took each
2:40:16woman. The Unilver team knew where it
2:40:18wanted the scent to take them, to a dark
2:40:21sexual place. as one of the team members
2:40:23put it. But Unilver executives weren't
2:40:26sure which of the three or four
2:40:27different variations of the scent, then
2:40:29dubbed alchemy, had hit the spot. So,
2:40:32they showed the women the same mood edit
2:40:34they'd submitted to the fragrance houses
2:40:36and asked the women to jot down what
2:40:38they thought of when they contemplated
2:40:40visiting this dark, seductive space
2:40:42evoked by both the film and the
2:40:43fragrance. The responses ranged from
2:40:46dark to sinister to scary. Yet, one
2:40:48underlying reaction kept reemerging. The
2:40:51women were all drawn to the sensation of
2:40:53losing control sexually. It seemed the
2:40:56emotional response the Unoliever team
2:40:58was after was a kind of imprisoned.
2:41:00Thus, we wanted there to be a sense that
2:41:02they might lose a little bit of
2:41:03themselves, but at the same time, they
2:41:05were happy to give it up, David Kousno
2:41:07recalls. But by now, Unoliever was torn
2:41:10between its alchemy and a submission
2:41:12from another house. So, it hired a
2:41:15company called Scent Analysis to conduct
2:41:17a sophisticated test to figure out which
2:41:19fragrance hit every single note the
2:41:21women had described and identify the
2:41:23best fit between the emotional space and
2:41:25the juice. Then, Unilver hired a
2:41:28semi-audition to help it come up with a
2:41:30word to describe the new fragrance, an
2:41:32adjective that would help advertise and
2:41:34position the brand. That word turned out
2:41:37to be melancholic. Thus, in 2004, a
2:41:40sensual yet slightly mourful scent,
2:41:42Euphoria, was born. With the help of an
2:41:44ad company, Unilver rolled out a series
2:41:47of dark, shadowy, sensual, and naturally
2:41:50melancholic 30-cond ads. And the new
2:41:52Calvin Klein fragrance proceeded to fly
2:41:54off the shelves. In fact, even today,
2:41:57Euphoria is the only fragrance launched
2:41:59in the past decade that remains in the
2:42:01top 10 fragrances globally. So, what
2:42:04does Sex Appeal really smell like? Turns
2:42:07out it smells like money. Robbing the
2:42:10cradle. In his book, Why We Buy, retail
2:42:13anthropologist Paco Underh Hill refers
2:42:15to adults who pay for their children's
2:42:16or spouses purchases as the wallet
2:42:19carriers because tween and teens
2:42:20generally depend on their parents to pay
2:42:22for their provisions and goodies,
2:42:24whether their school supplies, clothes,
2:42:26cosmetics, or music downloads for their
2:42:28iPods. As the holder of the purse
2:42:30strings, the wallet carrying adult has
2:42:32at least some say in what the child is
2:42:34buying, which from a marketer's point of
2:42:36view poses a bit of a challenge. How to
2:42:39craft a marketing or advertising
2:42:41strategy that will persuade an adult
2:42:43when you're selling a product meant for
2:42:45children. very sneakily, as you'll read
2:42:48in a minute. Today, thanks to
2:42:50technology, never before in the history
2:42:52of our species have contemporary parents
2:42:55had more in common with their teenage or
2:42:57even tweenage children. Mom, dad, and
2:43:00the children all have cell phones,
2:43:02Facebook accounts, and a roughly similar
2:43:04cultural sensibility. They go to the
2:43:06same movies, they listen to much of the
2:43:08same music, they watch the same shows on
2:43:10TV or iTunes or Tibbo or Hulu. The
2:43:13result being that Hollywood and the
2:43:15music industry have had to find ways to
2:43:17develop adult content that will still be
2:43:20suitable for young audiences. How do
2:43:22they do it? By cleverly crafting
2:43:25semi-ambiguous lyrics and dialogue that
2:43:27have an adult, which more often than not
2:43:29means sexual, meaning to grown-ups, but
2:43:31say something completely different and
2:43:33innocuous to an 8-year-old. Take for
2:43:36example a tune like the black eyed peas
2:43:38pumpet or Fergie's solo hit London
2:43:41Bridge with its lyrics how come every
2:43:43time you come around my London London
2:43:45Bridge want to go down makes you long
2:43:46for the innocent days of Peter Paul and
2:43:48Mary S Puff the magic dragon doesn't it
2:43:52to see what I mean try watching an
2:43:54episode of the Simpsons with an
2:43:558-year-old you'll both be enjoying
2:43:58yourselves but the kid will likely be
2:44:00gawing at the toilet humor or Homer
2:44:02Simpson is a klutz type scenes while
2:44:04you'll be chuckling inward wardly at the
2:44:06homoerotic tension between Smithers and
2:44:08Mr. Burns. In one 2000 Simpsons episode,
2:44:11a tale of two Springfields after the
2:44:13residents of Old Springfield find gold
2:44:15in a nearby river, one woman exclaims,
2:44:17"Thanks, Mayor Simpson. From now on,
2:44:20we'll all be taking golden showers."
2:44:22Movie franchises like Shrek and Toy
2:44:24Story employ this strategy as well.
2:44:26Consider that the king in Shrek is named
2:44:28Farquad, pronounced While in
2:44:30Toy Story 2, Buzz's love struck reaction
2:44:32to a cowgirl named Jesse makes his wings
2:44:35spring rigidly erect. These scenes give
2:44:37a wink and nod to the wallet carrying
2:44:40parents, but aren't so overtly sexual
2:44:42that their children will pick up on it.
2:44:44As the BBC points out, Hollywood moguls
2:44:47didn't get where they are without being
2:44:48aware that the ultimate film is one that
2:44:51audiences of every age and type can sit
2:44:53through. Eight. So successful is this
2:44:56strategy in the entertainment industry
2:44:58behind closed doors. They in fact call
2:45:00this the Simpsons or Shrek strategy that
2:45:02companies have begun to take a page from
2:45:04Hollywood's playbook and marketers of
2:45:06all stripes are now employing the
2:45:08strategy across their brands. For
2:45:10example, the sandwich chain Quiznos
2:45:12recently came out with a new sub called
2:45:14the toasty torpedo. It's 12 in of flavor
2:45:18ads proclaim just before a smoky voice
2:45:20toaster asks a chef to say it's sexy and
2:45:22put it in me. nine years here's hoping
2:45:24the eight-year-olds didn't pick up on
2:45:26that one. But no brand, and yes, he is a
2:45:30brand, has enjoyed so much success from
2:45:32the Shrek strategy as contemporary pop
2:45:34singing sensation Justin Bieber. As
2:45:37anyone with a teenage daughter knows,
2:45:38Justin Bieber is a cherubic 17-year-old
2:45:41musician who got his start in 2007 when
2:45:44his mother uploaded videos of him
2:45:46singing in his bedroom onto YouTube.
2:45:48Weeks later, Bieber's videos had been
2:45:50viewed a hundred times, then a thousand,
2:45:52then 10,000, then a million, and two
2:45:54years later, Bieber's album, My World
2:45:572.0, debuted at number one on Billboard.
2:45:59With 50 million subscribers to his
2:46:02YouTube channel, Time magazine dubbed
2:46:04Bieber the first real teen idol of the
2:46:06digital age, a star whose fame can be
2:46:08attributed entirely to the internet. 10.
2:46:11Aside from this distinction though,
2:46:12Bieber merely is the latest in a long
2:46:14tradition of moppy hair teenage boys
2:46:16whose perfect boyish features adorn the
2:46:18walls of countless botted tween and
2:46:20teenage girls bedrooms. Plump lips,
2:46:23dark, soulful eyes, smooth skin, a
2:46:26disarmingly sweet smile, and let's not
2:46:29forget the hair flip. Incidentally, if
2:46:32you glance at a photo of 1970s tween
2:46:34idol Donnie Osmond, who sang Hey There
2:46:36Lonely Girl, followed by a photo of
2:46:38Justin Bieber, one of whose hits is one
2:46:40less lonely girl, you'll be struck by
2:46:42the spooky similarity, not just of their
2:46:44song's content, but also of their facial
2:46:46features. No doubt about it, to girls
2:46:49aged 10 to 17, the pure and innocent
2:46:52look is hot. But wait a minute, turns
2:46:55out not all the millions of adoring
2:46:57Bieber fans are teens and tween at all.
2:47:00Many are, of course, but not all. Not by
2:47:03a long shot. So, who are they, then?
2:47:06Believe it or not, a significant
2:47:08percentage of this boyish 17-year-old's
2:47:10most fervent admirers are actually women
2:47:12in their 30s and 40s. That's right,
2:47:15women old enough to be his mother. Now,
2:47:18over the years, I've spoken to many
2:47:20middle-aged women who will admit to an
2:47:22occasional crush on a young male
2:47:23celebrity. Understand that I'm not
2:47:26referring here to anything nefarious,
2:47:28illegal, or perverse. I have yet to hear
2:47:30of any middle-aged Bieber fans ever
2:47:31acting on their crush. At the same time,
2:47:33I recognize that if a 47year-old father
2:47:36acknowledged lusting after a teenage
2:47:38girl, he would be remanded to therapy or
2:47:40in the worst case scenario led away in
2:47:42shackles. Still, these women can be
2:47:45scary in their own way. It's not unusual
2:47:47at a Bieber appearance to see eager
2:47:49mothers pushing their way through
2:47:50clusters of screaming twins, literally
2:47:52shoving the young girls out of their
2:47:54path to the adolescent heartthrob. 11.
2:47:58As a marketer fascinated by the
2:47:59celebrity brand, I couldn't help but
2:48:02wonder what this was all about. Bieber
2:48:04mania among teenagers made perfect
2:48:06sense. After all, the teen idol
2:48:08phenomenon does go back decades, and
2:48:10Bieber is objectively cute in a
2:48:1217-year-old kind of way. But what was
2:48:15his appeal to these women twice his age?
2:48:18Were they sexually attracted to him? Was
2:48:21he simply some kind of projection of an
2:48:23old fantasy from their own teen years? I
2:48:26decided to find out. So I teamed up with
2:48:29Murray Hill Associates, a nationwide
2:48:31recruitment group. And together we
2:48:32assembled a focus group composed of
2:48:34women and mothers who in their own
2:48:35teenage years had been decided by a teen
2:48:38idol. Whether it was Leif Garrett or
2:48:39David Cassidy or Davy Jones. But before
2:48:42asking these women some admittedly
2:48:44personal questions, I first sought the
2:48:46insight of a female psychologist and
2:48:48mother who herself had admitted to
2:48:50similar crushes now and again on
2:48:52good-looking underage young men. My
2:48:54question intrigued and amused her. She
2:48:57paused. It's not necessarily sexual,
2:49:00Martin, she said. Then she paused. But
2:49:03it's not unsexual either. Of course, I
2:49:06had to know more. Which is how on a
2:49:09rainy night in Chicago, I found myself
2:49:11sitting in a focus group with a dozen
2:49:1345year-old mothers gazing at me from
2:49:15around an oval table. So, ladies, I
2:49:18said, I want to ask you what may seem
2:49:20like a strange question. I hesitated. As
2:49:24an adult, have you ever had a crush on a
2:49:26really, really young guy? At this point,
2:49:29I expected looks of utter outrage, maybe
2:49:31even a few pens or cups of coffee hurled
2:49:34in my face. But amazingly, no one in the
2:49:37room took any offense at my suggestion
2:49:39whatsoever. Quite the opposite. Every
2:49:42female beamed back at me with
2:49:44recognition and what could only be
2:49:46described as release. Clearly, I'd hit a
2:49:49major artery. Ever see the Saturday
2:49:51Night Live sketch where Tina Fay,
2:49:53playing Bieber's high school teacher,
2:49:55mutters to herself, "I don't know
2:49:56whether I want to marry him or put him
2:49:58in a stroller and push him around the
2:50:00mall." Based on what I learned that
2:50:02night, this was apparently a widespread
2:50:04yet seldom discussed sentiment. The
2:50:07women in the room made sport of their
2:50:09crushes, all the while being careful to
2:50:11stress that, of course, they never acted
2:50:13on them. But the sense of pentup desire
2:50:16in the room was palpable. I could barely
2:50:19hear all the women as they all tried to
2:50:21speak over one another, throwing out
2:50:22name after name of some alluring
2:50:24adolescent boy or another. One woman
2:50:27describes taking her daughter to see
2:50:29Eclipse, the second of the two films
2:50:31based on Stephanie Meyers Twilight
2:50:33books. I literally had to contain myself
2:50:35in my seat when then 18-year-old Taylor
2:50:38Lauder came on screen. She said, "Oh my
2:50:40god, he's gorgeous." Though, of course,
2:50:43I couldn't say a word since I know my
2:50:45daughter would die if she heard that.
2:50:47And so it went for the next 10 minutes.
2:50:50Finally, one woman at the end of the
2:50:53table raised her hand. As a teenager,
2:50:55she'd been a huge fan of the singer
2:50:57formerly known as Prince. "Well, back
2:50:59then, I guess he was just Prince," she
2:51:01told me. Just as I began to question her
2:51:03taste, she said something
2:51:05extraordinarily insightful. "I think
2:51:07that women are much more attuned to
2:51:08beauty and to beautiful things than men
2:51:11are, and that includes boys." Once the
2:51:14focus group wrapped up, I realized that
2:51:16both my theories had been partially
2:51:18correct. These maternal crushes were
2:51:20sexual in that they served as a way to
2:51:22relive the women's own teenage
2:51:24sexuality, but at the same time, they
2:51:26were more about the nostalgia than the
2:51:28sex, a way to recapture the heat and
2:51:30thrill of longing for the Paul McCartney
2:51:32and David Cassidies of the women's
2:51:34youth. I sense that more than anything,
2:51:37these women were trying to prove,
2:51:38perhaps to their daughters, as well as
2:51:40to themselves, that beneath the armor of
2:51:42motherhood, they were still the girls
2:51:44they'd once been. More important, I'm
2:51:48convinced that certain marketers are
2:51:49acutely aware of this Bieber phenomenon.
2:51:52And that when they sell the next teen
2:51:53sensation, they are deliberately, if
2:51:55stealthily, targeting the mothers of the
2:51:57teens, they more transparently court. In
2:52:00fact, I'm quite certain that when
2:52:01marketers use Sex Appeal to sell wallet
2:52:04carrying adults on a teenage celebrity
2:52:06or any other brand ostensibly meant for
2:52:08children or teens for that matter, they
2:52:10know exactly what they are doing. Media
2:52:13firms are fully aware that a middle-aged
2:52:15mother is liable to be watching TV shows
2:52:18with her daughter or listening to the
2:52:19daughter's music in the car. When you
2:52:22have a millennial target referring to
2:52:23someone born between 1980 and 2000, says
2:52:27Jack McKenzie, president of the
2:52:28Millennial Strategy Program at Frank and
2:52:30Maget Associates, a consulting firm, you
2:52:33necessarily have a secondary target of
2:52:35her mother. That's the way it is today.
2:52:38Exploiting that is smart business. 12.
2:52:42So, husbands, beware. Your wife, who you
2:52:45may think is buying that new Justin
2:52:46Bieber CD for your daughter, just may be
2:52:49concealing a shocking yet common secret
2:52:50that companies and marketers have known
2:52:52for years. Gay, straight, young, or old,
2:52:55sex appeal comes in all shapes and
2:52:56sizes. And it's a mighty powerful
2:52:58persuader, whether we can admit it to
2:53:00ourselves or not. I shop like a woman.
2:53:04What it it means to be a male consumer
2:53:06in America today is changing.
2:53:08Historically in our culture, women have
2:53:11been freer to play around with the
2:53:12boundaries of their gender than men. For
2:53:14example, for many years, it's been
2:53:16acceptable for women to wear jeans or
2:53:18slacks, spray on a musky scent, or sport
2:53:20a masculine looking watch, whereas most
2:53:22men wouldn't have been caught dead in a
2:53:24pink flowery shirt or wearing perfume or
2:53:27makeup. But this is changing fast. In
2:53:30the United States at least, more and
2:53:32more boys and men are giving themselves
2:53:34permission to wear and adapt totems from
2:53:36the feminine world. Whether it's an
2:53:37earring, skinny jeans, cosmetics, or a
2:53:40fragrance. In Europe, more men wear
2:53:42fragrance than American females do. In
2:53:44fact, men today are more concerned about
2:53:46looking good than they've ever been, and
2:53:48more willing to shell out the dollars to
2:53:50do it. The global men's grooming
2:53:52industry is already valued at roughly
2:53:55$27 billion worldwide, and fashion
2:53:57experts anticipate it will grow to $31
2:54:00billion by 2014. And in 2009, the number
2:54:04of men who went so far as to undergo
2:54:06plastic surgery procedures increased by
2:54:09900,000 in the United States alone. 13.
2:54:14Companies and marketers are well aware
2:54:15of this shift, which is why they are
2:54:17going to new lengths to target the
2:54:19appearance and beauty conscious male.
2:54:21Take the recent roll out of Dove Men
2:54:23Plus Care, the first male only line from
2:54:26a brand that's always catered to and
2:54:28been associated with females. Now that
2:54:30you are comfortable with who you are,
2:54:32isn't it time for comfortable skin? One
2:54:35ad asks. 14. This migration of the male
2:54:39consumer into a traditional female arena
2:54:42is overturning the rules of marketing
2:54:44and advertising for all kinds of
2:54:46unexpected products. Take body wash for
2:54:49example. According to research data from
2:54:52Deutsche Bank and Information Resources
2:54:54Incorporated in 2009, body wash out sold
2:54:57bar soap $756.3
2:54:59million versus $754.2
2:55:02million for the first time in the United
2:55:05States. And believe it or not, this is
2:55:08largely due to the fact that the
2:55:09marketers of this historically feminine
2:55:11product are more actively going after
2:55:13the male customer. So why are so many
2:55:16boys and men immunable to using body
2:55:18wash all of a sudden? A few reasons. The
2:55:22first is that our worldwide
2:55:23preoccupation with hygiene, which I
2:55:26talked about in an earlier chapter, is
2:55:27starting to take hold among more and
2:55:29more men. Fear-mongering marketers have
2:55:32managed to convince many male consumers.
2:55:34Females generally need less convincing
2:55:36that bar soap is slimy, germy, even
2:55:38downright dirty. A second reason is that
2:55:41the makers of liquid hand soaps are
2:55:43beginning to hook new generations of men
2:55:45at an early age by strategically placing
2:55:47dispensers in elementary school boys
2:55:49restrooms, high school, and college gym
2:55:51shower stalls, and co-ed college
2:55:52dormitories. As a result, by the time
2:55:55these men are out on their own and
2:55:56purchasing their own hygiene products,
2:55:58applying a liquid soap to their hands
2:56:00and body feels normal, even ordinary.
2:56:03Some years ago, one maker of body wash
2:56:06noticed that men were resisting the
2:56:08product because they felt that the way
2:56:09it was applied by touching one's own
2:56:11body was too feminine. So what did the
2:56:14company do? It invented a new type of
2:56:17lofah providing men with a physical
2:56:19barrier of sorts between their hands and
2:56:21their bodies. It then distributed
2:56:23hundreds of thousands across the United
2:56:25States. And lo and behold, use of bar
2:56:28soap went down and sales of body wash
2:56:30went up. The third reason more men are
2:56:33using body wash is one even I can't
2:56:35attribute to marketers. The rise in
2:56:37single motherhood. Today, many sons
2:56:39raised by single mothers have grown used
2:56:41to using mom's body wash. And as we
2:56:44learned in chapter 1, the products we
2:56:46grow accustomed to using as children
2:56:48tend to stick with us as adults. All of
2:56:50which of course is a boon for companies
2:56:52like Unilver and Proctor and Gamble
2:56:54since selling body wash is far more
2:56:56lucrative than selling bar soap. Seeking
2:56:59perspective on all this, I spoke with
2:57:01Rose Cameron, the chief marketing
2:57:03officer of UR CG Chicago and a widely
2:57:06acknowledged expert on the male
2:57:07consumer. Cameron points out that as the
2:57:10first axe generation, as she calls it,
2:57:12the guys who were twins in the early
2:57:14naughties is coming of age, there's no
2:57:16question that the wants and needs of the
2:57:18male consumer and in turn how he is
2:57:20being targeted by marketers are
2:57:21changing. They were the first male
2:57:23generation to have scented products that
2:57:26early, she explains. So, what's next,
2:57:29Rose? I asked. Where are we going with
2:57:32all this? The new trends I'm seeing are
2:57:35tattooing and the removal of body hair.
2:57:38Have you ever heard of smoothies? Just
2:57:40the drink, Rose. I'm talking about
2:57:43people, men in particular. Apparently,
2:57:47getting rid of all, and I mean all, of
2:57:49one's body hair is a trend that started
2:57:51in the gay community and then caught on,
2:57:53albeit for a different reason. In the
2:57:55world of professional sports, "In some
2:57:58sports, body hair slows you down. At
2:58:00least that's the rational
2:58:01justification." Rose tells me, "It could
2:58:04also come from the pornography industry
2:58:06since more and more men shave themselves
2:58:08down there, and pornography, as everyone
2:58:10knows, is a huge industry. It's a rather
2:58:13extraordinary truth." I found out from a
2:58:15source who works for a large consumer
2:58:17product company. 15% of all US males
2:58:20shave their private parts. I kid you
2:58:22not. And it's a growing trend. One that
2:58:24Gillette was quick to capitalize on by
2:58:26posting a video on its website
2:58:28instructing men on how to shave their
2:58:30groin area. It was entitled trim the
2:58:33bush to make the tree look taller. In
2:58:36the marketing world, it's long been
2:58:38accepted that when a typical woman
2:58:40chooses a product, 80% of the reason is
2:58:43emotional and only 20% is rational.
2:58:46Women will generally respond to an
2:58:48intreaty for a conditioner, a new brand
2:58:50of makeup, or even a laundry detergent
2:58:52from an emotional perspective, as in my
2:58:54mother always used this brand, or the
2:58:56family down the street drives this car
2:58:58before butressing her emotional decision
2:59:00with a rational argument. This is why
2:59:03most advertising aimed at women tends to
2:59:05play to emotions like nostalgia or fear
2:59:08or envy. For men, the conventional
2:59:10wisdom in marketing circles has always
2:59:12been that this ratio is reversed. That
2:59:1420% of a man's decision is emotional and
2:59:1780% rational. But I don't believe that
2:59:21for a second. Men and women are both
2:59:23emotional beings. The difference being
2:59:25that men need to disguise their
2:59:27emotional drivers under features and
2:59:29specs. Men's decision-making is 8020ths.
2:59:32Two, I simply call their internal
2:59:34process emotional, meaning that the
2:59:36practical features of a product permit
2:59:38men to disguise their own emotional
2:59:40natures, and manufacturers are well
2:59:42aware of this, too. Ever noticed that
2:59:45marketers of products aimed at men tend
2:59:47to stress specs and numbers like a 20 GB
2:59:50hard drive or a 14.1 megapixel camera?
2:59:53Yes, that does make a difference. Or an
2:59:55Optimax 225 Sport XS engine and so on.
2:59:59That's because these numbers provide a
3:00:01rational, quantifiable justification for
3:00:03choosing that product over another,
3:00:05usually cheaper model. According to Time
3:00:08magazine, product specifications
3:00:10disproportionately sway our decisions as
3:00:12shoppers, even when our own experiences
3:00:14tell us they don't matter. 15. And this
3:00:16is generally true more for men than for
3:00:18women. Yet, the male consumer is
3:00:21changing, and so are all the time-
3:00:23tested strategies for marketing to them.
3:00:25These days, if you look in the cosmetics
3:00:27aisle at the products aimed at males,
3:00:29you'll notice their macho names like
3:00:30Ripped Fuel, Edge, Facial Fuel, and Axe,
3:00:33which evoke associations of sporty,
3:00:34manly things like Extreme Sports,
3:00:36motorcycles, even war. This is because
3:00:39marketers know full well that these
3:00:40tough guy names allow them to still feel
3:00:42tough and athletic even when buying a
3:00:44product that's in fact all about beauty,
3:00:46a traditional no for most straight
3:00:49males. Advertisers tread carefully
3:00:51around this issue. Even Menagy, a
3:00:54spectacularly successful online male
3:00:56cosmetics company that offers a full
3:00:58line of natural products, including a
3:00:59face mask, a concealer, and an under eye
3:01:02treatment, gives its products aggressive
3:01:04names like camo and eraser. Axe has even
3:01:06rolled out an all black bottle
3:01:08constructed to look like a grenade,
3:01:10complete with indentations for a young
3:01:12man's fingertips. The underlying
3:01:14emotional promise these brands are
3:01:16making is to smooth out the rough edges
3:01:18and make him look good while still being
3:01:20rugged and masculine at the same time.
3:01:23This upsurge in male vanity is why men
3:01:25are increasingly falling prey to a
3:01:27cunning trick that retailers use to
3:01:29reserve for women. Ever been shopping
3:01:31for a pair of khakis or jeans? And when
3:01:34you finally find a pair that fits, you
3:01:36are delighted to discover that your size
3:01:38hasn't changed since you were back in
3:01:40graduate school. I have some bad news
3:01:42for you. You've likely fallen victim to
3:01:45vanity sizing, a devious ploy by which
3:01:47stores make clothes bigger so we think
3:01:49we can fit into a smaller size. 16. Many
3:01:52retailers have been doing this with
3:01:54women's clothes for years, but the
3:01:56tactic is now starting to creep into the
3:01:58men's sections of stores as well. When
3:02:01Esquire magazine sent reporter Abram
3:02:03Sour into various stores with a tape
3:02:05measure, he found that pairs of men's
3:02:07pants with so-called 36-in waists
3:02:09actually ranged in size from 37 in at
3:02:11H&M to 38.5 in at Calvin Klein to 39 in
3:02:16at the Gap Hagar and Dockers to a
3:02:18generous 41 in at Old Navy. 17. It used
3:02:22to be that the typical man couldn't care
3:02:24less what the size of his waistband was.
3:02:26But today, experts know full well that
3:02:28both genders will be more likely to buy
3:02:30a product that makes them feel trim and
3:02:32spelt. There's no question that
3:02:35marketers are making a pretty penny by
3:02:37exploiting the fact that it's becoming
3:02:38more and more socially acceptable for
3:02:41men to take an active role in
3:02:43maintaining their appearance. In 1995,
3:02:4653% of men shopped for themselves. By
3:02:492009, that figure had risen to 75%. As
3:02:53Wendy Leeman, the founder and CEO of
3:02:55Wsil Strategic Retail, a marketing
3:02:57consulting firm, observes, the era of a
3:03:00man needing a woman's opinion before he
3:03:02buys something may be on the way out.
3:03:04Part of what we're witnessing is a
3:03:06cultural shift. Leeman says men are
3:03:08marrying later in life, and they're
3:03:10living on their own longer. 18. Which
3:03:13means that when men finally decide to
3:03:15walk down the aisle, they already know
3:03:16which brands they like. sometimes even
3:03:18bringing the brands they love into the
3:03:20marriage and influencing what their
3:03:22wives buy. Unlike the males of yestery
3:03:24year who went straight from under their
3:03:26mother's wings to under their wives,
3:03:28today's bachelors have to know how to do
3:03:30more when it comes to shopping, like how
3:03:32to get fitted for a suit, how to pick
3:03:34out sheets with the best thread count,
3:03:36and so on. This goes a long way toward
3:03:39explaining why one smart store, the San
3:03:41Antonio-based supermarket HB, has
3:03:44created a men's zone, a safe haven set
3:03:46apart from the rest of the store where
3:03:48beauty conscious men can shop for
3:03:49personal care items to their heart's
3:03:51content while still feeling macho and
3:03:53masculine. Adorned with sci-fi blue
3:03:56floor lighting and flat screen TVs, this
3:03:58standalone man cave offers 534 items
3:04:00that promise to do everything from
3:04:02soothe tired skin to tighten baggy
3:04:04eyelids to keep a guy smelling like
3:04:05fresh lemons all day. while five
3:04:07touchscreens provide grooming tips and
3:04:09product advice. 19. And just in case it
3:04:12all starts to feel a little too girly,
3:04:14soccer, car racing, basketball, and
3:04:16other sports play continuously on the
3:04:18flat screens. 20. Similarly, Proctor and
3:04:22Gamble is now ensuring that men's and
3:04:24women's cosmetics will be shelved in
3:04:26different aisles and stores so that the
3:04:28independent male shopper won't feel
3:04:29uncomfortable or emasculated picking out
3:04:32a facial cream or under eye smoother as
3:04:34the woman beside him chooses a shade of
3:04:36lipstick. How do these companies know
3:04:38that shelving the men's products
3:04:40separately will increase sales? Thanks
3:04:42to the shadowy investigations they
3:04:45conduct in the dead of the night. Very
3:04:47few people know this, but most major
3:04:49consumer goods companies including
3:04:51Unilver, Craft, Pepsico, and Coca-Cola,
3:04:54among others, have set up fake
3:04:55supermarkets, typically in abandoned
3:04:57warehouses in industrial parts of town.
3:05:00They stock the shelves with their own
3:05:02products as well as their competitors.
3:05:04Then, late at night, under the cover of
3:05:05darkness, they invite people to come
3:05:07and, well, shop. While they're browsing
3:05:10the aisles, cameras and in some extreme
3:05:12cases, brain scanning equipment are
3:05:14measuring what happens in real time as
3:05:16they select and reject various brands
3:05:18and items. Not unlike in the Phil
3:05:20Minority Report, these supermarkets
3:05:23generally have a control room lined with
3:05:25TV screens on which reps can actually
3:05:27measure the changes in consumers brain
3:05:29waves as they encounter different
3:05:31positioning of products. Based on this
3:05:33data, the company develops what in the
3:05:36business is called a planagram, a model
3:05:38showing where each product should be
3:05:39placed on the shelves to generate the
3:05:41highest sales, then buy shelf space in
3:05:43supermarkets and drugstores accordingly.
3:05:46As it turns out, the reason that
3:05:48shelving men's beauty products
3:05:49separately is such a booster of sales is
3:05:51that even though gender roles may be
3:05:53changing, many men still don't want
3:05:55fellow customers watching them lingering
3:05:57over the grooming shelves. But if they
3:05:59feel like they can browse freely without
3:06:01the scrutiny of other people's stairs,
3:06:03they're more likely to go for the
3:06:05higherend items or pick up an extra
3:06:07item. So, can brands traditionally aimed
3:06:10at women with extremely feminine
3:06:12ladylike names like Dove make a
3:06:14successful crossover to guys? Well, when
3:06:16you consider that Marlboro began as a
3:06:19filtered cigarette marketed to women
3:06:20back in the 1920s that N rolled out a
3:06:23chest and back hair exfoliant for men in
3:06:252002 and that Ugg was advertised as a
3:06:28men's brand long before it became known
3:06:30as a must-have female boot. The odds are
3:06:32looking pretty good. And for an example
3:06:34of how even traditionally male brands
3:06:36are catering to men's feminine sides,
3:06:38recently Dutch electronics giant Philips
3:06:40decided that men wanted a more robust,
3:06:43heavyduty tool to tackle hampers of
3:06:45laundry. Something with a larger grip
3:06:47and a more masculine look. So, it
3:06:50created the GC 4490, which offers more
3:06:53power, more steam, more performance.
3:06:56What exactly is this manly item? It's an
3:06:59iron. Sure, sex and advertising may be
3:07:02one of the oldest tricks in the book,
3:07:04but from what I've seen in my work, one
3:07:06thing couldn't be more clear. Whether
3:07:08it's by probing our deepest and darkest
3:07:10sexual fantasies, by engineering
3:07:12nostalgia for the sexual heyday of our
3:07:14youth, or by coverly selling the promise
3:07:16to make us more sexually attractive,
3:07:18today's marketers and advertisers have
3:07:20all kinds of new ways of tapping into
3:07:22our most basic and primal human desire
3:07:24and making a whole lot of money in the
3:07:27process. Chapter 5. In 1931, a dedicated
3:07:32bird watcher named Edward Celis started
3:07:34pondering a curious phenomenon he'd been
3:07:36observing for years. How, Celis
3:07:38wondered, could so many species of
3:07:40birds, rooks, gulls, lap wings, geese,
3:07:42starings, you name it, rise from a field
3:07:44in complete synchrony as though doing a
3:07:46choreographed dance. Everyone knew birds
3:07:49aren't that bright and have no way of
3:07:51communicating with one another. So, how
3:07:53could they possibly coordinate their
3:07:55actions in such a seamless manner? It
3:07:57must be mind readading, he concluded. At
3:08:00the time, no one gave Celus's ESP theory
3:08:03credence. After all, he had no proof,
3:08:05and the scientific community then, just
3:08:07as now, preferred facts over
3:08:09speculation. Still, back in the 1930s,
3:08:12no one could come up with a better
3:08:14explanation. As it later turned out,
3:08:17Celis wasn't completely crazy. The
3:08:20bird's behavior was the result of a mind
3:08:22meld of sorts. The birds weren't reading
3:08:25one another's minds, of course, but they
3:08:27were, in a sense, acting as if they
3:08:29shared one collective brain. This
3:08:31phenomenon isn't unique to birds. The
3:08:34animal kingdom is rife with examples of
3:08:37it. Even termites, yes, those nasty
3:08:40little creatures that were put on Earth
3:08:41to gnaw down structures and cause the
3:08:43foundations of houses to buckle, are
3:08:45capable of a collective consciousness.
3:08:48To put it not so kindly, a single
3:08:50termite is spectacularly dumb. Its brain
3:08:53doesn't contain enough neurons even to
3:08:55conceive of what it's doing. Yet a
3:08:57million termites have enough collective
3:08:59brain power to build giant complex
3:09:01structures, some as high as 30 ft tall,
3:09:03the termite mount. The question is how?
3:09:07It wasn't until the late 1950s that
3:09:09science came up with an explanation.
3:09:12When biologist Pierre Paul Grass
3:09:13observed many groups of termites during
3:09:15the early phase of building, he found
3:09:17that each little fellow appeared to be
3:09:19carrying out three simple steps.
3:09:22First, the termite would chew a mouthful
3:09:24of earth and mold it into a pellet with
3:09:26its saliva. Second, the termite would
3:09:29wander around directionlessly, and as
3:09:31soon as it stumbled upon an elevated
3:09:33area, it would dump the pellet just as a
3:09:36golden retriever might drop a
3:09:37spitcovered tennis ball. Third, the
3:09:40termite would repeat steps one and two
3:09:42over and over. It's hard to comprehend
3:09:45how these dim-witted insects can
3:09:47eventually construct a giant
3:09:48well-designed structure through this
3:09:50achingly slow, seemingly random and
3:09:52uncoordinated process. But they can. The
3:09:56more earth pellets the termites drop
3:09:57into place, the higher the ground
3:09:59becomes. And the higher the ground
3:10:02becomes, the greater the chance that all
3:10:04the other aimlessly meandering termites
3:10:06will bash into it, allowing it to grow
3:10:08even more. When these few mounds or
3:10:10pillars reach a certain height, Grass
3:10:12explains, a new behavior kicks in and
3:10:14the termites start to build arches
3:10:16between them. The whole elaborate
3:10:18termite mound with its chambers and
3:10:20tunnels and sophisticated air
3:10:22circulation channels arises from the
3:10:24work of thousands of termites with no
3:10:26central coordination at all. Just a few
3:10:28simple rules. One the name Grass gave to
3:10:31this bizarre phenomenon was cooperation
3:10:33without communication. In short, no big
3:10:36cheese termite queen issued any orders.
3:10:38There was no strategic planning, no
3:10:40formal organizing intelligence telling
3:10:42the termites what to do. They simply
3:10:45created a world by operating as if they
3:10:47were tiny singular cells in one enormous
3:10:50termite brain. Two, the process can be
3:10:53explained by a theory known as complex
3:10:55adaptive systems, which says that many
3:10:57systems in nature, like birds taking
3:10:59simultaneous flight or termites
3:11:01painstakingly constructing a colossal
3:11:03mound, are inherently emergent and
3:11:05non-deterministic, which means in plain
3:11:08English, that the whole is mightier than
3:11:09the sum of its parts, and that you can't
3:11:11predict the collective results simply by
3:11:13looking at the individual actions, like
3:11:15a single termite holding a saliva
3:11:17drenched bit of sand, or one bird about
3:11:19to take flight. According to this
3:11:21theory, although the process might be
3:11:23invisible to the human eye, termites are
3:11:26actually able to intuit it when and
3:11:28where to add to the structure by
3:11:30maintaining a high degree of
3:11:31connectivity to others in the colony.
3:11:34Three, in other words, only by observing
3:11:36and mimicking the behavior of its
3:11:38neighbors can a termite figure out what
3:11:40it should be doing. We, as consumers,
3:11:43I've observed time and again, act in
3:11:45much the same way. Just like those birds
3:11:47and those termites, we too are wired
3:11:50with a collective consciousness in that
3:11:52we size up what those around us are
3:11:54doing and modify our own actions and
3:11:56behaviors accordingly. In a 2008
3:11:59experiment conducted by researchers at
3:12:01Leeds University, groups of people were
3:12:03instructed to walk aimlessly around a
3:12:05large hall without conversing with one
3:12:07another. But first, the researchers gave
3:12:09just a few of the people detailed
3:12:11instructions on where precisely they
3:12:13should walk. When they observed the
3:12:15resulting behavior, they found that no
3:12:17matter how large or small the group,
3:12:19everyone in it blindly followed that
3:12:21handful of people who appear to have
3:12:23some idea where they were going. As the
3:12:26scientists put it, the research suggests
3:12:28that humans flock like sheep and birds,
3:12:30subconsciously following a minority of
3:12:32individuals for that it takes a mere 5%
3:12:35of informed individuals to influence the
3:12:38direction of a crowd of up to 200
3:12:40people. The other 95% of us trail along
3:12:43without even being aware of it. Five.
3:12:47According to Professor Yens Krauss, who
3:12:49engineered the study, what's interesting
3:12:51about this research is that our
3:12:53participants ended up making a consensus
3:12:55decision despite the fact that they
3:12:57weren't allowed to talk or gesture to
3:12:59one another. Just like those termites,
3:13:01in most cases, the participants didn't
3:13:03realize they were being led by others.
3:13:06Six. Want more evidence that it takes
3:13:09only a few people in a group to steer
3:13:11the direction of others around them? In
3:13:14a study conducted in Cologne, Germany, a
3:13:17crowd of 200 people clustered in the
3:13:19center of a large circle that was
3:13:21numbered like a clock. Researchers then
3:13:23handed out slips of paper to 10 informed
3:13:26individuals that read, "Go to 9:00, but
3:13:28do not leave the group." The others were
3:13:31given no specific instructions, just
3:13:33notes that read, "Stay with the group."
3:13:35For a while, the group seemed to mix and
3:13:38mingle fairly randomly, but soon enough,
3:13:40the informed individuals had led all the
3:13:43others to the designated 9:00 target.
3:13:46Seven. In 2007, the Washington Post
3:13:49rolled out an intriguing and now famous
3:13:51experiment. The newspaper hired one of
3:13:54the best musicians in the world to play
3:13:56a $3.5 million Stratavarious violin on a
3:13:59subway platform during morning rush hour
3:14:02in America's capital city. Most, if not
3:14:04all, commuters walked right by and
3:14:06ignored him. Just another downtrodden
3:14:09street musician after my loose change,
3:14:11they undoubtedly thought. The
3:14:13violinist's final take for the entire
3:14:15morning, $32.17,
3:14:18just a fraction of what a single ticket
3:14:20to one of his performances would cost.
3:14:22On the face of it, it might seem these
3:14:24commuters were just Philistines who
3:14:26wouldn't know musical talent if it hit
3:14:29them over the head. But I believe this
3:14:31was an example of our collective
3:14:33consciousness, our herd mentality at
3:14:35work. Think about it. One harried
3:14:38commuter ignores the performer. Maybe
3:14:40she was in a particular hurry that
3:14:42morning or is tonedeaf. And so the
3:14:44commuter behind her, assuming there must
3:14:46not be anything to see here, rushes past
3:14:48him as well. So does the person behind
3:14:51her and the 10 people behind him and so
3:14:53on and so forth until the entire mass of
3:14:56morning commuters is brushing past a
3:14:58worldclass performer whom under other
3:15:00circumstances they might have happily
3:15:02paid hundreds of dollars to see perform
3:15:04at the Kennedy Center or Carnegie Hall.
3:15:07Eight. Standing out or being different
3:15:10from everyone else causes most of us
3:15:12great discomfort. Sometimes even
3:15:14literally. I'll never forget a Unilver
3:15:17focus group I once observed where
3:15:19consumers were discussing shampoos. As
3:15:22soon as the moderator brought up the
3:15:23topic of itching, everyone in the room
3:15:25began scratching their scalps. Did they
3:15:28all suddenly develop a head of lice? Of
3:15:31course not. They were simply and utterly
3:15:34unconsciously mimicking the behaviors of
3:15:36others in the room. Over the years, I've
3:15:39noticed another interesting phenomenon.
3:15:42When you show people a stack of photos
3:15:44from a party or an album of pictures
3:15:46just uploaded onto Facebook, the first
3:15:48thing they do is pause and look at the
3:15:50picture of themselves. Not so
3:15:52surprising. We're a vain species. But
3:15:55what's the second thing they do? Pause
3:15:57and look at the pictures of people
3:15:59surrounding them. Why? Because once
3:16:02they've taken note of how they appear,
3:16:04they need to analyze how they appear
3:16:06compared to others. Do they look as
3:16:08though they belong? Are they making the
3:16:10right impression? Are others looking on
3:16:12at them approvingly? This is telling. It
3:16:15shows that we as human beings never
3:16:17assess ourselves, our behaviors, or our
3:16:20decisions in a vacuum. We assess them in
3:16:22relation to everyone else. The point is,
3:16:25we're a social species wired to display
3:16:27this kind of herd behavior. Even
3:16:3014-month-old babies show evidence of it.
3:16:33In a series of studies, researchers
3:16:35trained 14-month-olds to play with five
3:16:37distinctive toys. These same children
3:16:40later demonstrated their newly won toy
3:16:42playing skills to other 14-month-old
3:16:44children at a daycare. Children who'd
3:16:46never seen these particular toys before.
3:16:492 days later, one of the researchers
3:16:51brought the same toys to each of these
3:16:53second children's homes. Without
3:16:55hesitation, the children began playing
3:16:57with the toys in the exact same way
3:16:59they'd witnessed at the daycare center.
3:17:01The conclusion. 14-month-old babies
3:17:04automatically imitate behaviors carried
3:17:06out by peers and bring what they've
3:17:08learned home with them even 48 hours
3:17:10later. Nine. There is ample research to
3:17:14show that we instinctively look to the
3:17:15behavior of others to inform the
3:17:17decisions we make. Everything from which
3:17:19way we should walk to what music we
3:17:21should listen to to which kind of car we
3:17:23should drive. It seems in short that we
3:17:26instinctively believe that others know
3:17:28more about what we want than we
3:17:30ourselves do. Psychologists have a name
3:17:33for this phenomenon. It's called peer
3:17:35pressure. When we hear those two words,
3:17:38we tend to sigh inwardly as deeply and
3:17:41darkly as we did when we were
3:17:42adolescence. What a loaded and even
3:17:45faintly patronizing expression,
3:17:46conjuring up memories of teenage
3:17:48insecurity, acne, and trying to fit into
3:17:51a small universe where a phantom
3:17:52classmate hisses. Come on, just one of
3:17:55these won't hurt you into your ear.
3:17:57While that kind of old-fashioned peer
3:17:59pressure certainly exists, that's not
3:18:01exactly the kind I'm talking about here.
3:18:03I'm talking about a more implicit kind
3:18:05that taps into our primitive human
3:18:07desire to be accepted. Those
3:18:09evolutionary instincts not to be left
3:18:11out or exiled from the human tribe. As
3:18:14you're about to read, this implicit pure
3:18:16pressure is a far more insidious kind,
3:18:19and companies and marketers are taking
3:18:21advantage of its persuasive powers in
3:18:23ways you couldn't even imagine. Monkey
3:18:26see, monkey spend. Author and social
3:18:29psychologist Robert Scolini once
3:18:31demonstrated the persuasive power of our
3:18:33peers in a fascinating experiment.
3:18:36Several hundred volunteers took their
3:18:38seats in a room purportedly to fill out
3:18:40a survey. But that was only a
3:18:42distraction from the real purpose of
3:18:44Kaldin's experiment, which had to do
3:18:46with how our behavior is swayed by those
3:18:48around us. A large glass jar of cookies
3:18:51stood prominently on a nearby desk
3:18:54filled to the brim with deliciousness.
3:18:56"Would you like a cookie?" one of the
3:18:58researchers asked the survey takers.
3:19:01Approximately 1if of the volunteers took
3:19:04him up on his offer. How very
3:19:06self-disiplined of them. In the second
3:19:09stage of the experiment, the research
3:19:11team surreptitiously removed most of the
3:19:13cookies from the jar so that it looked
3:19:15as though others had already taken one.
3:19:18Still only about 1/5if of respondents
3:19:20reached for a cookie. In the final stage
3:19:23of the experiment, however, a researcher
3:19:25sat behind a desk beside a large glass
3:19:28cookie jar. But this time, before the
3:19:30researcher could ask volunteers if they
3:19:32wanted a cookie or not, a stranger
3:19:34ambled into the room, removed the glass
3:19:36lid, took a cookie in front of everyone
3:19:38in the room, and walked out again. This
3:19:41time, when the survey takers were asked
3:19:43if anyone wanted a cookie, nearly every
3:19:45single person took one. This experiment
3:19:48revealed something that advertisers and
3:19:50marketers have long been instinctively
3:19:52aware of. Humans want what other humans
3:19:55want. And the more visible other
3:19:57people's demand is, the more we want
3:19:59what they are having. In the cookie jar
3:20:01experiment, people didn't want more
3:20:04cookies when they thought that others
3:20:05might have taken a cookie. But when they
3:20:08actually saw another person take a
3:20:09cookie, their brain said, "Give me." Now
3:20:12imagine it's two weeks before Christmas
3:20:15and you have yet to buy a gift for your
3:20:17young child. Not surprisingly, as was
3:20:19the case with previous Christmases.
3:20:21There appears to be one at present that
3:20:23you've read and heard about and that
3:20:25every parent on the playground has
3:20:26already bought or plans to buy for their
3:20:29little darling. Those of us with durable
3:20:31memories can cast our minds back to
3:20:33recent Christmas toy fads, ranging from
3:20:35Furbies to Beanie Babies to Razor
3:20:37Scooters to Tamagotchas to Tickle Me
3:20:39Elmo. the a gift of 1996 which inspired
3:20:42such mania that desperate mothers around
3:20:45America were duking it out in store
3:20:46aisles 10 in each case the furer and
3:20:49pursuit of these must have toys reached
3:20:51the scale of a full-fledged social
3:20:53epidemic meaning a social trend that
3:20:55spreads quickly and widely like some
3:20:57kind of consumer virus in 2009 the
3:21:00hottest must- have Christmas toy on
3:21:02every child's wish list was the Juju pet
3:21:04hamster though the actual price was $10
3:21:07so extraordinary and frankly Bizarre was
3:21:10the national demand that the toy was
3:21:12being sold on Amazon for three times
3:21:14that. And before long, people were
3:21:16bidding up to five times its value on
3:21:18eBay. Clearly, fads like this are
3:21:20extremely contagious. And as we've read,
3:21:22when it comes to what we buy for our
3:21:24children, guilt can also play a part.
3:21:27Still, the question remains, what
3:21:29determines which fads catch on and which
3:21:31die, or which brands and products become
3:21:33social epidemics and which don't? Why
3:21:35the Guju pet hamster and not some other
3:21:38toy or gizmo? After all, the toy doesn't
3:21:41do anything special. It doesn't sing or
3:21:43dance or grant wishes. It makes a
3:21:46variety of odd sounds like chirping,
3:21:48beeping, and mooing, but that's about
3:21:50it. Yet, by the end of 2009, CPIA LLC,
3:21:54the St. Louis company that created and
3:21:56distributed the hamsters, had sold tens
3:21:59of millions of dollars worth of the
3:22:00furry things. Turns out, this wasn't
3:22:03just a happy accident.
3:22:05How sepia made its bizarre product via
3:22:07Christmas toy is a fascinating example
3:22:10of the art and craft of viral marketing.
3:22:12In other words, peer pressure. First,
3:22:15the company staged hamster giveaways at
3:22:17hospitals, zoos, and major league
3:22:19baseball games. Next, it sponsored
3:22:21roughly 300 invitationonly hamster
3:22:24parties where influential mommy bloggers
3:22:26were the fortunate recipients of the
3:22:27toys, as well as habit trails and a
3:22:29recipe for hamster crunch, whatever that
3:22:32is. It also hosted a live 9,000 tweet
3:22:35interconnected Twitter party complete
3:22:37with party prizes on the popular Mom
3:22:39Talk Radio channel where host Maria
3:22:41Bailey oversaw an interactive discussion
3:22:43in which fans across the June never
3:22:45share d what made Guju pets so special
3:22:47to them. 11. The result was that soon
3:22:49mothers around the country were hearing
3:22:51and reading about the toy everywhere
3:22:53they went creating a phenomenon so
3:22:55contagious and a heat so intense that
3:22:57Guju hamster sold out all across the
3:22:59United States. Then sepia did something
3:23:02ingenious and extremely commonplace. It
3:23:05started manufacturing fewer Guju pets.
3:23:08That's right, fewer. Why? Because
3:23:11deliberately limiting inventory makes us
3:23:14think that a product is even more in
3:23:16demand. If everyone wants one in our
3:23:18minds, it becomes more valuable. 12.
3:23:21Creating a sense of scarcity stimulates
3:23:23our pack mentality, our fear of missing
3:23:25out. 13. It's human nature to covet what
3:23:28others have. This fear of missing out on
3:23:31something being gobbled up by our peers
3:23:33is what drives rabid crowds of shoppers
3:23:36to line up at 4 a.m. to get their hands
3:23:38on the newly launched iPad 2 or a pair
3:23:40of Uggs in a hard to come by color. 14.
3:23:42And it's why a few years back a bargain
3:23:44hunter was trampled to death outside a
3:23:46Long Island Walmart on Black Friday. If
3:23:49you've ever bid for an item on eBay,
3:23:52you've probably unwittingly fallen prey
3:23:54to this same trap. With a supply of only
3:23:56one, there can be only one penguin tea
3:23:59set in the world. The panic that some
3:24:01other person might walk away with a
3:24:03matching set of orange beaked mugs is
3:24:05what can drive people to raise their bid
3:24:07exponentially and pay far more than what
3:24:09the product is worth. 15. Once social
3:24:13contagion sets in, it can take on a life
3:24:15of its own. Take another rather bizarre
3:24:18example, a fad called icing that caught
3:24:20on a few years ago among college
3:24:22students and males in their mid20s. No,
3:24:25I'm not talking about the sugary stuff
3:24:27on top of birthday cakes. I'm talking
3:24:30about a phenomenon that the New York
3:24:31Times dubbed the world's biggest viral
3:24:34drinking game. Never played? Lucky you.
3:24:37Here's how it works. First, you give a
3:24:40friend a can of Smirnoff ice malt
3:24:42beverage. Said friend then has to
3:24:45balance the can on his knee and drink
3:24:47the whole thing at once. The only way to
3:24:50avoid becoming a victim of this
3:24:51uncertain fate is to carry a bottle
3:24:53yourself, in which case you have to
3:24:55drink both bottles before, of course,
3:24:57going out and icing someone else. Sounds
3:25:00absolutely awful, yet somehow this game
3:25:02quickly infected college campuses around
3:25:04the country, spawned several websites,
3:25:06and according to the New York Times,
3:25:08explode from obscurity into a bizarre
3:25:10pastime for college kids, Wall
3:25:12Streeters, and minor celebrities. 16.
3:25:16Smirnoff has emphatically denied that it
3:25:18bears any responsibility for icing and I
3:25:21believe it's telling the truth. But
3:25:22regardless, it's been quite lucrative
3:25:25for the company. As the Times reports,
3:25:27the phenomenon has not only raised
3:25:29awareness of the brand, but also
3:25:31extended it to young men who formerly
3:25:33saw ice as girly and feminine. And sales
3:25:36of ice products almost immediately took
3:25:38off in some southern college towns where
3:25:40the game took early root. The point is
3:25:42whether it emerges organically or is
3:25:44deliberately orchestrated by marketers,
3:25:47peer pressure delivers a windfall for
3:25:49brands and companies. This is exactly
3:25:52why companies of all stripes have become
3:25:54so skilled at planting the seeds of
3:25:56social epidemics and then sitting back
3:25:58to watch them grow as Smirnoff was
3:26:00accused of doing in this case. As we'll
3:26:02read more about in the last chapter, the
3:26:04most persuasive marketing messages
3:26:06aren't magazine ads or TV commercials or
3:26:08billboards. They're the ones that come
3:26:10from, or at least seem to come from our
3:26:12peers. In fact, one of the most
3:26:14effective and sneakiest viral marketing
3:26:17strategies is for a company to create a
3:26:19blog or YouTube video that is so
3:26:21extreme, funny, outrageous, provocative,
3:26:23or frightening, or a combination of the
3:26:25above that it raises the question, is
3:26:27this a joke or is it real? Among the
3:26:30most successful and talked about viral
3:26:32marketing campaigns of all time were
3:26:33ones created by John West Salmon in
3:26:36which a man and a bear grapple over a
3:26:37fish Trojan condoms which in 2003
3:26:40launched the Trojan Games, a sequence of
3:26:42Olympics like championships based on
3:26:44sexual performance Levis's in which men
3:26:46athletically sprang and backflip
3:26:47themselves into their blue jeans and
3:26:49surfing apparel manufacturer Quicksilver
3:26:51which released a memorably phony
3:26:53internet video showing a group of kids
3:26:55hurling dynamite into a river. then
3:26:57surfing the giant wave it created.
3:27:00Still, few companies were as downright
3:27:02crafty or as downright double-talking in
3:27:04their use of viral videos as Viacom, the
3:27:07media conglomerate. In a 2010 suit
3:27:10against Google, which owns YouTube,
3:27:12Viacom, which has long railed against TV
3:27:14and movie piracy, claimed that YouTube
3:27:16had knownly allowed its users to post
3:27:18clips they'd illegally downloaded, i.e.
3:27:20stolen from Viacom's copyrighted movies
3:27:22and TV shows in order to boost traffic
3:27:24and sales. Google counter sued, alleging
3:27:27that Viacom had surreptitiously uploaded
3:27:29many of the clips itself and also
3:27:31manufactured phony YouTube comments in
3:27:33an attempt to create phony grassroots
3:27:35viral marketing campaigns for its TV
3:27:38shows and movies. In fact, Google had
3:27:40evidence that Viacom mandated that its
3:27:42clips should definitely not be
3:27:44associated with the studio should appear
3:27:46as if a fan created and posted it. 17.
3:27:49How did the studio manage this?
3:27:51According to Unsealed Corpor, by hiring
3:27:54at least 18 third-party marketing agents
3:27:57who used untraceable YouTube accounts
3:27:58with no connection to Viacom and by
3:28:01deliberately altering the clips to make
3:28:02them look pirated or stolen. Then
3:28:05marketing agents uploaded the videos
3:28:07from untraceable computers and locations
3:28:09such as the local Kinkos. 18. Though
3:28:13YouTube and Google won the case when a
3:28:15federal judge ruled the site was
3:28:17protected under US copyright law. 19.
3:28:19One thing is certain, these video clips
3:28:21wouldn't have become the viral sensation
3:28:23they did if YouTube viewers had known
3:28:25they were uploaded by marketers rather
3:28:27than by their own peers. We've got to
3:28:30have it. Many of us spend our days, at
3:28:33least parts of them, quietly cursing our
3:28:35fellow human beings. The guy in the
3:28:38Hummer who cuts us off at the
3:28:40intersection. The old woman in the
3:28:42supermarket line counting out pennies
3:28:44one by one. the teenagers in blue
3:28:46hoodies perched in front of the
3:28:48convenience store blocking our path to
3:28:50our cars. They may be annoying, but when
3:28:53all is said and done, we actually rely
3:28:55on these people and others like them to
3:28:57help dictate our purchasing choices with
3:28:59more than a little help from companies
3:29:01and marketers. Of course, when it comes
3:29:04to the things we buy, what other people
3:29:06think matters a lot, even when these
3:29:09people are complete strangers. A recent
3:29:12survey by Opinion Research shows that
3:29:1461% of respondents said they had checked
3:29:17online reviews, blogs, and other online
3:29:19customer feedback before buying a new
3:29:21product or service. 20 in a similar
3:29:23February 2008 study commissioned by
3:29:25Power Reviews showed that nearly half of
3:29:27US consumers who shopped online four or
3:29:29more times per year and spent at least
3:29:31$500 said they needed four to seven
3:29:34customer reviews before making a
3:29:36purchase decision. 21. So persuasive are
3:29:39the opinions of others that though most
3:29:40of us are well aware that at least 25%
3:29:43of these reviews are fakes written by
3:29:45friends, company staffers, marketers,
3:29:47and so forth, we purposely overlook
3:29:49this. As the Times of London points out,
3:29:52we are born to believe in part because a
3:29:55collective belief helps us to bond with
3:29:57others. In short, we want to trust in
3:30:00these messages, even when we may also be
3:30:02deeply skeptical. To see just how
3:30:04powerfully complete strangers
3:30:06preferences and purchases can sway our
3:30:08decisions, consider the phenomenon of
3:30:10best seller lists. Imagine that you're
3:30:13entering a big chain bookstore where
3:30:15you're confronted by square footage that
3:30:17rivals a football field. Given the sheer
3:30:19number of choices, the risk of shelling
3:30:21out $27.99
3:30:24for a novel or a memoir that you will
3:30:26later deem unreadable is considerable.
3:30:29But wait, what's on that standalone
3:30:31shelf directly to your right? This
3:30:33week's New York Times bestsellers, both
3:30:35fiction and non-fiction, perhaps two
3:30:37dozen books in all. Subconsciously, you
3:30:40think, "If so many people are buying
3:30:42this book, then it must be good."
3:30:44followed shortly by, "If so many people
3:30:46are reading this book, won't I be left
3:30:48out if I don't read it?" Two, now not
3:30:50only are you spared the ordeal of
3:30:52waiting through the four floors of books
3:30:54and the anxiety of confronting all that
3:30:56choice, but you have a solid endorsement
3:30:58from your book buying peers. This is no
3:31:01happy accident for the publishing
3:31:03industry. In fact, despite what
3:31:06publishers might like you to believe,
3:31:08the main reason best-seller lists exist
3:31:10in the first place isn't just to track
3:31:12sales, but also to make us think these
3:31:14titles have been preapproved. In other
3:31:16words, to imply that if we don't read
3:31:18what everyone else is reading, we'll be
3:31:20uncultured, irrelevant, and excluded
3:31:22from the national conversation.
3:31:24Bestseller lists work so well in
3:31:26persuading us that they've migrated well
3:31:28beyond book publishing to other products
3:31:30and industries. From Sephra's list of
3:31:32bestselling cosmetics to Entertainment
3:31:34Weekly's 10 most popular TV shows to
3:31:37Variety's list of the 10 highest
3:31:38grossing movies of the week to the Apple
3:31:40iTunes music stores list of bestselling
3:31:42or recommended which as we'll see in a
3:31:44minute eventually become one and the
3:31:46same singles, albums, movies, and music
3:31:49videos. Let's talk for a moment about
3:31:51the latter. Not unlike a Barnes & Noble
3:31:54Superstore, the iTunes Start page is a
3:31:56cluttered, chaotic place teeming with
3:31:58choices. Luckily for the overwhelmed
3:32:01shopper, however, these endless
3:32:02offerings are organized into tidy
3:32:04recommended categories like what we're
3:32:06watching, what's hot, what we're
3:32:07listening to, new and noteworthy, and of
3:32:09course, top songs and top albums. Two
3:32:12things of interest are going on here.
3:32:15First, I am convinced Apple did this not
3:32:17to make life easier for the casual
3:32:19browser, but rather to imply that its
3:32:21team of music experts have spent the
3:32:23past month parsing through thousands of
3:32:25albums and that the dozen or so
3:32:26highlighted on the start page represent
3:32:28their carefully considered picks, the
3:32:30cream of this month's crop. Nothing
3:32:32could be further from the truth. Chances
3:32:35are good that in fact a good deal of
3:32:37money changed hands. In a 21st century
3:32:39version of the old reviled practice of
3:32:42Piola, record companies pay Apple hefty
3:32:44sums to get these songs and albums
3:32:46featured on the homepage. Just as
3:32:48publishers, incidentally, pay bookstores
3:32:50to feature their new books on those
3:32:52tables you see when you enter the
3:32:53bookstore. Regardless, the lists on
3:32:56these start pages lead us to believe
3:32:58that an expert or a team of experts has
3:33:00waited through the seemingly infinite
3:33:02number of choices and made a
3:33:04discriminating decision on our behalf.
3:33:06The second thing that's going on here is
3:33:09the classic blockbuster effect.
3:33:11Essentially, a two-tier system is being
3:33:13created. One that puts a small number of
3:33:15brands, in this case, brands being
3:33:17musical artists, on the path to success
3:33:19while setting up the majority of others
3:33:21for failure. Think about it. Due to the
3:33:24sheer exposure and the fact the
3:33:26customers believe these are the songs
3:33:28that have been preapproved as the best,
3:33:30don't many, if not all, of the albums
3:33:32and artists featured on the start page
3:33:34end up making the top songs list? They
3:33:37do. I've seen it happen time and again.
3:33:39And once a song or album makes the
3:33:41bestselling list, that's yet another
3:33:43stamp of approval and our impressionable
3:33:45minds kick into high gear again. What do
3:33:48other people know that I don't know? I'm
3:33:50missing out. These kinds of stamps of
3:33:53approval can even influence our choice
3:33:55of alcoholic beverage. When the beverage
3:33:58testing institute dubbed Grey Goose the
3:34:00best tasting vodka in the world, Sydney
3:34:02Frank, the marketing genius behind the
3:34:04brand, not only promptly created giant
3:34:06ads boasting this new best tasting in
3:34:08the world status, he indoctrinated both
3:34:11hundreds of distributors and somewhere
3:34:12in the neighborhood of 20,000 bartenders
3:34:15with that very information. so that
3:34:16anytime a customer came into a bar or
3:34:19liquor store and asked what the best
3:34:20tasting vodka was, they would be told it
3:34:23was Grey Goose. 22. The result. By 2004,
3:34:27the company had sold 1.5 million cases,
3:34:30and Sydney Frank had sold the company to
3:34:32Bikardi for a cool $2 billion.
3:34:35Whether it's the world's best tasting
3:34:37vodka, the bestselling novel of the
3:34:39week, or the highest grossing movie of
3:34:41the year, you better believe that
3:34:43companies are very deliberately using
3:34:45best seller lists to persuade us to buy
3:34:47what everyone else likes. Amazon, the
3:34:50online book seller and increasingly the
3:34:52online seller of just about everything,
3:34:54takes this an ingenious step further by
3:34:56actually emailing customers to let them
3:34:58know that their fellow purchasers of a
3:35:00certain item have also purchased some
3:35:02new item and thus that they might like
3:35:03that item, too. This is a case not only
3:35:06of baldly manufacturing peer pressure,
3:35:09but also of data mining, a topic we'll
3:35:11be looking at in a later chapter. An
3:35:14intriguing study published in the
3:35:16journal Science shows just how well this
3:35:18can work. The researchers invited 27
3:35:21teenagers to visit a website where they
3:35:23could sample and download songs for
3:35:25free. Some of the teens were told what
3:35:28songs previous visitors had downloaded,
3:35:30whereas others weren't. Indeed, those
3:35:32told what songs their peers had chosen
3:35:34tended to download those very songs. But
3:35:37part two of the study was even more
3:35:39telling. This time, the teens were
3:35:42divided into eight groups and told only
3:35:44what had been downloaded by people from
3:35:46their own group. The researchers found
3:35:48that not only did the teens tend to
3:35:50choose the songs that had been
3:35:52previously downloaded by members of
3:35:54their groups, but the songs that became
3:35:56hits varied across all the groups. The
3:35:58implications were clear. Whether or not
3:36:00a song became a hit was determined
3:36:02solely by whether it was perceived as
3:36:04already being popular. 23. This is what
3:36:07I mean about the two-tier system.
3:36:09Whatever gains an early advantage in
3:36:11popularity will win. This may not seem
3:36:13so bad at first, but look at it this
3:36:16way. If we're duped into buying
3:36:17something just because it's popular,
3:36:19even if it isn't, think about all the
3:36:21great books or songs or CDS we might be
3:36:24missing simply because they weren't on
3:36:25that top 10 list. But this still doesn't
3:36:28explain precisely why our buying
3:36:30decisions are so unduly influenced by a
3:36:33brand's supposed popularity. So, the
3:36:35authors of the study decided to use
3:36:37infuri to see what was really going on
3:36:39in these impressionable teenagers brains
3:36:42when they succumbed to peer pressure.
3:36:44They had 12 to 17 year olds rate
3:36:4615-second clips of songs downloaded from
3:36:49MySpace. Then they revealed to some the
3:36:52song's overall popularity. The results
3:36:54showed that when the participants own
3:36:56ratings of the music matched up with
3:36:58what they had been told about the song,
3:37:00eg. If they liked a popular song, there
3:37:02tended to be activity in the codate
3:37:04nucleus, an area of the brain connected
3:37:07to rewards. When there was a mismatch,
3:37:09however, eg. The teen liked the song but
3:37:12discovered it was unpopular areas
3:37:14associated with anxiety lit up. The
3:37:16researchers concluded that this mismatch
3:37:18anxiety motivates people to switch their
3:37:21choices in the direction of the
3:37:22consensus suggesting that this is a
3:37:24major force behind conformity observed
3:37:26in music tastes in teenagers. 24.
3:37:30Early popularity is so closely tied to a
3:37:33brand or products ultimate success that
3:37:35even Hollywood is leveraging the
3:37:37predictive power of the teeming hordes.
3:37:40According to new scientist, one of the
3:37:42most widespread new techniques for
3:37:43predicting the box office performance of
3:37:45a film is by using something called
3:37:48artificial markets. On one dump, the
3:37:50Hollywood stock exchange movie fans can
3:37:52buy and sell virtual shares in
3:37:54celebrities and in forthcoming or
3:37:56recently released films. This virtual
3:37:58market, which operates with a virtual
3:38:00currency called Hollywood dollars, uses
3:38:02these predictions to create a stock
3:38:04rating reflecting the aggregate view of
3:38:06each film's popularity or likely
3:38:08popularity. Obviously, people only buy
3:38:10virtual shares and things they expect to
3:38:12be hits. This is currently the gold
3:38:15standard in the industry for predicting
3:38:17likely box office receipts, says
3:38:19Bernardo Huberman at HP Laboratories in
3:38:21PaloAlto, 25. And amazingly, the method
3:38:24has been so accurate that it's now even
3:38:26being used to predict the outcomes of
3:38:28political campaigns.
3:38:30Of course, we aren't always consciously
3:38:33aware that it's perceived popularity
3:38:35that's driving our preferences.
3:38:37Recently, I asked a focus group of 10
3:38:39female Louis Vuitton fans. Why do you
3:38:41love the brand so much? Each one spoke
3:38:44of the quality of the zipper, the
3:38:46leather, and finally the brand's
3:38:48timelessness. I was skeptical. So, we
3:38:51took these same 10 women and scanned
3:38:53their brains using free. In each case,
3:38:55when the women were shown pictures of
3:38:57Louis Vuitton products, the Broadman
3:38:59Area 10, the region of the brain that's
3:39:01activated when respondents are observing
3:39:04something they perceive as cool, lit up.
3:39:06The women had rationalized their
3:39:08purchases by telling themselves that
3:39:10they liked the brand for its good
3:39:11quality, but their brains knew that they
3:39:14really chose it for its coolness. The
3:39:16fact that even our brains can't seem to
3:39:18bear for us to be left out seems to
3:39:20suggest that whether it's the hit song,
3:39:22be it gift, or the inesigner handbag, in
3:39:25the end, what we buy really has little
3:39:27to do with what we want and more to do
3:39:29with what we think we should want. 26.
3:39:32Even marketers themselves fall for this.
3:39:35For instance, every advertising agency
3:39:37planner, a term used in most European ad
3:39:40agencies for the person who conducts
3:39:42consumer research of my acquaintance
3:39:43owns a fancy Moleskine leather notebook.
3:39:46They don't give these out in
3:39:47orientation. It's simply become an
3:39:49unspoken rule that every ad agency
3:39:51planner has to own and use one. If you
3:39:54don't, it implies you're on the outside,
3:39:56not a member of the in crowd. These
3:39:59marketers make their living dreaming up
3:40:01ways to prey on consumers fear of being
3:40:03left out. But subconsciously, they or
3:40:05may I say we are just as vulnerable to
3:40:08pure pressure as the rest of us. I've
3:40:11just seen a face. In an earlier chapter,
3:40:14I wrote about how in our society, cell
3:40:16phones and smartphones have fed a fear
3:40:18of being alone or of being perceived as
3:40:20alone. how paradoxically our ability to
3:40:23be constantly connected with others has
3:40:25ignited the fear we have of being
3:40:27unpopular and even unloved. The internet
3:40:30and in particular social networking
3:40:32sites have also revealed the extent to
3:40:34which many of us fear that our opinion
3:40:36and very existence might not matter.
3:40:39Just as the ability to be connected all
3:40:41the time gives rise to the fear that we
3:40:43are actually alone, the ability to
3:40:45comment, pontificate, and broadcast
3:40:47ourselves all the time gives rise to the
3:40:50fear that no one actually cares what we
3:40:52have to say. I believe it's this
3:40:54insecurity, this feeling of being left
3:40:56out that's contributed to one of the
3:40:58most contagious social phenomena of our
3:41:00times, Facebook. First, a few facts and
3:41:04figures about Facebook. As of 2011,
3:41:07Facebook has close to 700 million active
3:41:09users, which translates into 22% of
3:41:12everyone on the internet, and it's still
3:41:14growing by 5% a month. 27. According to
3:41:18Time, if the website were granted
3:41:19terapirma, it would be the world's third
3:41:22largest country by population, 2/3
3:41:24bigger than the US. 2850% of those users
3:41:27log on to Facebook at least once a day
3:41:29while more than 35 million users update
3:41:32their statuses daily creating a total of
3:41:34over 60 million daily status updates. 29
3:41:38But the question is how did Facebook
3:41:41become the global phenomenon it is
3:41:43today? How did it rise above all other
3:41:45social networking sites out there? And
3:41:47believe me, there are plenty to become
3:41:49the one online universe we simply had to
3:41:52be a part of. quite simply because it's
3:41:54where everyone is. It's where
3:41:56invitations are sent, party pictures
3:41:58posted, messages exchanged.
3:42:01Increasingly, it's also where we conduct
3:42:03our social lives. Who wouldn't feel left
3:42:05out of a world where more than 25
3:42:08billion pieces of information are shared
3:42:10a month and where photos are added at a
3:42:12speed of nearly 1 billion unique images
3:42:14a week. 30. To not be on Facebook would
3:42:17guarantee complete social isolation. It
3:42:20would be like moving to a hut in the
3:42:22Shetland Islands. Most people are more
3:42:25or less aware of this, but what is less
3:42:27known is the extent to which companies
3:42:29are leveraging the persuasive power of
3:42:32connections on Facebook to cleverly
3:42:34advertise and market their products.
3:42:36Take for example the feature on Facebook
3:42:39known as the like button, formerly known
3:42:41as the become a fan button. Originally,
3:42:44people used this to like their friend
3:42:45status updates. It was a way to indicate
3:42:47our approval of the fact that say Jenny
3:42:50had just eaten a ham and cheese sandwich
3:42:52or Billy had had a great time in Aruba.
3:42:55But increasingly the site has been
3:42:56encouraging users to like their favorite
3:42:58bands, books, movies, brands, and
3:43:01products so successfully that the site
3:43:03processes a staggering 100 million
3:43:06clicks of the like button daily. 31. Do
3:43:08you happen to enjoy the TV show Friday
3:43:11Night Lights? If you go to that show's
3:43:13Facebook page, it will tell you how many
3:43:15friends of yours also like the show.
3:43:18Wait, Erica likes Friday Night Lights,
3:43:20too. You think Erica is pretty cool and
3:43:23have now received what marketers call
3:43:25social proof that it's okay to like the
3:43:26show, giving you a mandate to recommend
3:43:28the show to your best friends. So,
3:43:30before you know it, you click the like
3:43:32button, which has conveniently popped
3:43:34right up on the bottom of the page, too.
3:43:37This will then show up in the news feed
3:43:38for all your friends to see and they in
3:43:40turn may well reach for the like button
3:43:42and so on and so forth until any
3:43:44Facebook user who comes across a mention
3:43:46of the show will spy a little message
3:43:48popping up saying Bob and Fred and
3:43:50Martin and 712,563
3:43:53Facebook users like Friday Night Lights.
3:43:56This is pure pressure advertising at its
3:43:58best and it works. According to Cheryl
3:44:01Sanberg, Facebook's chief operating
3:44:03officer, marketers have known this for a
3:44:05really long time. I'm much more likely
3:44:08to do or buy something that's
3:44:09recommended by a friend, she's been
3:44:11quoted as saying. 32.
3:44:15Facebook isn't the only social media
3:44:17site out there that's making gorilla
3:44:18marketers and advertisers out of us
3:44:20either. Take Foursquare, the popular
3:44:23location-based social networking game we
3:44:25talked about earlier. Thanks to portable
3:44:27GPS apps, it knows where you are at any
3:44:30given time. So, all you have to do is
3:44:31tap the Foursquare app on your iPhone or
3:44:33Blackberry and it will automatically
3:44:35show you a list of nearby restaurants,
3:44:37bars, stores, and shops. But this is
3:44:40more than just a realtime location
3:44:42tracking version of Zaget. The point of
3:44:44the game is to check into as many of
3:44:46these establishments as you can,
3:44:48whereupon Foursquare will automatically
3:44:50broadcast your whereabouts to other
3:44:52Foursquare users, and you can also elect
3:44:54to have your Twitter or Facebook feeds
3:44:56immediately updated when you check into
3:44:58a restaurant, bar, cafe, or store, which
3:45:00most users do. You earn points for each
3:45:03place you check in, and the user who
3:45:05visits an establishment most is dubbed
3:45:07its mayor. Not only is this game
3:45:10surprisingly addictive, as we discussed
3:45:12in chapter 3, and not only does it get
3:45:14you to regularly spend money at
3:45:16establishments you might not have
3:45:18otherwise frequented, but because it
3:45:19broadcasts your location to all your
3:45:21fellow Fourquare players, Facebook
3:45:23friends, and Twitter followers, it
3:45:25provides a boatload of free advertising
3:45:27for every establishment you set foot in.
3:45:30As Twitter founder Evan Williams has
3:45:32said, "Many of the great businesses of
3:45:34the next decade will be about making
3:45:36information about our consumer behaviors
3:45:38more visible." 33.
3:45:41Marketers and Mean Girls. It's well
3:45:44known that our culture glorifies the
3:45:46teenage years. Just look at how many
3:45:48contemporary movies and TV shows revolve
3:45:50around high school. But rosy
3:45:52retrospection aside, who over the age of
3:45:5530 would want to relive that torment of
3:45:57uncertainty, self-consciousness, and
3:45:59peer pressure? While it's clear by now
3:46:01that peer pressure exists well beyond
3:46:03the high school cafeteria, it's also
3:46:05true that there is no demographic more
3:46:07susceptible to peer pressure than teens
3:46:09and tween. And it's worth noting here
3:46:11that adolescents today spend five times
3:46:13more money than their parents did at the
3:46:15same age. Why? largely because teenagers
3:46:19don't know who they truly are yet, so
3:46:21they sport the brands they do as a
3:46:23backup form of ID. In 2010, a
3:46:25longitudinal study by the National
3:46:27Institute of Mental Health found that
3:46:29our brains don't become fully mature
3:46:31until age 25 and sometimes not until
3:46:33later, indicating that in our teen
3:46:35years, our cognitive abilities and thus
3:46:38our sense of self are still miles from
3:46:40their final development. Studies have
3:46:42shown that when twins ask for a pair of
3:46:44Hollister jeans or the latest Hotwe game
3:46:47for Christmas, they're asking for more
3:46:48than the latest hitless product. What
3:46:51they're really asking for is a dose of
3:46:52self-esteem. Deborah Rotor John at the
3:46:55University of Minnesota recruited 250
3:46:58kids ages 8 through 18 and asked them to
3:47:01select among 100 words and images and
3:47:03create a collage answering the question,
3:47:05"What makes me happy?"
3:47:07When she looked at the results, she
3:47:09found that the children with higher
3:47:10self-esteem chose words that represented
3:47:12non-material activities and achievements
3:47:15like getting good grades or
3:47:16skateboarding with friends, whereas the
3:47:18children with lower levels of
3:47:19self-esteem chose possessions like new
3:47:21clothes or an iPod. 34.
3:47:24Thanks to the deliberate marketing
3:47:26strategies by purveyors of everything
3:47:28from cigarettes. Look at those smiling,
3:47:30laughing white-tooth smokers surrounded
3:47:32by friends and having a grand old time
3:47:35to razors. If you shave with a Venus
3:47:37razor, the ads suggest you too can end
3:47:40up with a hot hunky boyfriend. These
3:47:42days, many children are socialized to
3:47:44believe they can buy themselves into
3:47:45popularity and acceptance. Approximately
3:47:4860% of the 135 teenagers we pulled in
3:47:51our national cyst study for this book
3:47:53believed that wearing or owning the
3:47:55right brand of clothes, gadgets, or cars
3:47:57could help them buy happiness. Moreover,
3:48:00compared to adults, teens were more
3:48:02likely to buy famous brands, more likely
3:48:04to believe that having the right
3:48:06clothes, gadgets, and cars could help
3:48:08them become more popular, and more
3:48:09likely to display expensive items such
3:48:11as makeup and perfume conspicuously in
3:48:14their bedrooms and bathrooms. While
3:48:16teens believed that their favorite
3:48:17brands made them feel cool, confident,
3:48:20friendly, self-expressive, creative, and
3:48:22passionate, they couldn't have cared
3:48:23less about whether a brand actually did.
3:48:26The adults said their favorite brands
3:48:27made them feel more reliable, practical,
3:48:30effective, and yes, nostalgic. According
3:48:33to a study in the Journal of Consumer
3:48:35Research, starting at 11 or 12, children
3:48:38begin to understand so much about the
3:48:40complex meanings of products and brands.
3:48:42And that is the exact time when their
3:48:44self-esteem drops. They're thinking, "I
3:48:47don't think I'm so popular. I don't
3:48:49think kids like me. How do I solve
3:48:52that?" Well, I know that popular kids
3:48:54wear Gap clothes and Nike shoes. So, if
3:48:57I wear those, then I'll be popular. 35
3:49:00in short. the less confidence or
3:49:02self-esteem they had, the more they seem
3:49:04to be dependent on brands. One might
3:49:07even conclude from this that the larger
3:49:08the logo we wear, the less self-esteem
3:49:11we have. In a way, it makes sense. It's
3:49:14easier, after all, to fit in with your
3:49:16peer group by buying the same brand of
3:49:18sneakers than it is to transform your
3:49:20personality. According to Amanda Grum, a
3:49:23psychologist who specializes in play and
3:49:25parenting, peer pressure is most
3:49:27effective in children aged 5 to 12, as
3:49:29they are starting to develop their own
3:49:31identity. Belonging is a powerful urge
3:49:33for young children, especially before
3:49:35their sense of self is fully developed.
3:49:37By aligning themselves with an external
3:49:39force, they are able to use the
3:49:41attributes of that object or group to
3:49:43help define themselves. 36.
3:49:46According to a poll of 112,000 teenagers
3:49:49in 30 countries, just under half of all
3:49:52teenagers factor in the brand when
3:49:54making purchase decisions with Nike,
3:49:56Lost, Adidas, Sony, and Apple being the
3:49:58most popular among the boys and Zara,
3:50:00H&M, and Roxy among the girls. What's
3:50:03more, just under half of all the teens
3:50:06said if there was no visible branding,
3:50:08they wouldn't buy an item of clothing at
3:50:10all. 37.
3:50:12In a focus group I recently conducted in
3:50:14conjunction with the Murray Hill Center
3:50:16with female teens and tween, I found
3:50:19that the more popular a brand, the more
3:50:21aware these young women are of its high
3:50:23cost. Hollister and Abberrombi weren't
3:50:25just cool girl brands by virtue of how
3:50:28they looked. They were cool girl brands
3:50:30because they cost more than other
3:50:31brands. Clearly, companies know that
3:50:34teens and often adults are willing to
3:50:36pay more for brands they deem cool or
3:50:37popular, which is why Apple can get away
3:50:39with charging $229 for the iPhone 4 and
3:50:43Abberrombi can charge $40 for a tank
3:50:45top. The widespread belief that
3:50:48expensive high-end brands will bring
3:50:50popularity, acceptance, or status goes a
3:50:52long way toward explaining the universe
3:50:54of knockoff clothing sold on the streets
3:50:56of many cities. Ironically, while we may
3:50:59often buy those fake coaches, Versace,
3:51:01Pradas, and Ray-B bands to feel better
3:51:03about ourselves, recent research shows
3:51:05they may in fact have the opposite
3:51:07effect. Three psychologists, Francesca
3:51:10Gino of the University of North Carolina
3:51:12at Chapel Hill, Michael Norton of
3:51:14Harvard Business School, and Dan Ariel
3:51:16of Duke University gave a large sampling
3:51:18of women what appeared to be Khloe
3:51:20sunglasses. Then told half the women
3:51:22they were fake and the other half they
3:51:24were real. Then they had the women carry
3:51:26out complex math puzzles, grade
3:51:28themselves on the honor system, and take
3:51:30money for each correct answer. Well, it
3:51:33turns out the women wearing the fake
3:51:34Chloe glasses. In reality, of course,
3:51:37they were all fake cheated a whole lot
3:51:39more. A whopping 70% inflated their
3:51:41performance and in effect stole cash
3:51:43from the coffer. 38. The authors
3:51:45concluded that wearing counterfeit
3:51:47glasses not only fails to bolster our
3:51:49ego and self-image the way we hope, it
3:51:52actually undermines our internal sense
3:51:54of authenticity. Faking it makes us feel
3:51:56like phonies and cheaters on the inside.
3:51:5939. I guess it's true what adman David
3:52:02Olgvie once said. A fake Rolex will fool
3:52:04everyone but you. Lacost is another
3:52:07high-end brand that has been extremely
3:52:09successful in using peer pressure to
3:52:11draw teenagers and college-aged kids to
3:52:13its products. Three decades ago, that
3:52:16little crocodile was one of the hottest
3:52:18logos in Europe and the United States.
3:52:21Everyone wanted to wear it. Then Bangkok
3:52:24manufactured fakes began swamping the
3:52:26market and the brand's reputation went
3:52:28down the drain. Lacost came close to
3:52:30filing for bankruptcy. So to resurrect
3:52:32its image, it gave out free shirts to
3:52:35cool looking people at colleges and
3:52:36universities as well as famous tennis
3:52:39players and pay for product placements
3:52:41on MTV. And suddenly the brand was back
3:52:43in action. Today, go figure, Lacost is
3:52:47as popular as it was 30 years ago. As
3:52:50many people know, few brands have
3:52:52shrewdly amassed a more cult-like,
3:52:53almost religious following than Apple.
3:52:55And in fact, in an experiment I
3:52:57conducted for my last book, when I
3:52:59studied the brains of Apple fanatics
3:53:01using Infree, I found that their brain
3:53:03activity was similar to that of those
3:53:05devoted to Christianity, and peer
3:53:07pressure has been central to many of its
3:53:09strategies. One such strategy is early
3:53:12recruitment, or in other words, very
3:53:14deliberately marketing to kids aged 13
3:53:16to 17. This campaign has been so
3:53:19effective that today a staggering 46% of
3:53:22Americans in that age range own an iPod.
3:53:24The products teens talk to one another
3:53:26about most is the iPod. And one survey
3:53:29found that 82% of high school students
3:53:31who own a portable music player own an
3:53:33iPod. 40. Once these kids get to
3:53:37college, Apple even starts recruiting
3:53:39officially, going so far as to hire kids
3:53:41to become Apple campus reps and turning
3:53:43entire sections of college bookstores
3:53:45into mini Apple emporiums. This is a
3:53:48great opportunity to represent Apple and
3:53:50to have some fun, says the online
3:53:52recruiting ad. The job description
3:53:54includes hosting workshops, growing
3:53:56events, and building relationships with
3:53:58students, faculty, and parents. And to
3:54:01top it off, you'll collaborate with the
3:54:02Apple team to run marketing programs on
3:54:05campus. From sales promotions to
3:54:06increasing awareness of Apple products,
3:54:08it takes a leader, someone who can
3:54:10inspire peers and work with campus
3:54:12organizations. 41. This is a clever
3:54:15touch who doesn't want to think of him
3:54:17or herself as a leader, a trends setter,
3:54:19a person who inspires peers. I might add
3:54:22here that if you are a frequent movie
3:54:23goer, you would probably assume everyone
3:54:25on Earth uses an Apple, a triumph of
3:54:28product placement and pure pressure
3:54:30allinone. In 2009, nearly one in two
3:54:33popular Hollywood movies, roughly 46%
3:54:36featured Apple or its products. Though
3:54:38it's generally agreed that no money
3:54:40changed hands, Apple couldn't have
3:54:42bought better advertising or brand
3:54:44exposure. Kids and teens want what the
3:54:47popular kids have, plain and simple. A
3:54:50colleague once told me an intriguing
3:54:52story about a computer game that was
3:54:53released in California not too long ago.
3:54:56Instead of advertising the product in a
3:54:58traditional way, the game savvy
3:55:00developer simply identified the hundred
3:55:02most popular kids in a high school in
3:55:04Southern California, gave them free
3:55:06versions of the game, then sat back to
3:55:08watch it catch on like wildfire. There's
3:55:11an actual biological reason for why kids
3:55:13are so drawn to the classmates they deem
3:55:16more popular. Years ago, the BBC carried
3:55:19out a fascinating study. It showed kids
3:55:21a stack of photos of other kids who were
3:55:23either laughing or smiling and asked
3:55:26them to pick out the kids they would
3:55:27most like to be around. Every single
3:55:30person picked the laughing kids. On the
3:55:32face of it, this seems obvious. Who
3:55:35wouldn't want to be around someone who's
3:55:37laughing and appears to be having a good
3:55:39time? But there's another reason behind
3:55:41it. Laughing actually makes us feel good
3:55:44on a physiological level. When we laugh,
3:55:47we're flooding our brains, organs, and
3:55:49tissues with oxygen, which is one of the
3:55:51primary catalysts for biological energy
3:55:53in the human body. 42. So, the popular
3:55:56kids at school didn't just get that way
3:55:58because of their personalities. They got
3:56:01that way because it physically feels
3:56:02good to be around them. That said, as
3:56:05powerful as peer pressure is in
3:56:07persuading teens to buy, when a brand
3:56:09becomes too popular, too widespread, it
3:56:11can backfire. From studies I've
3:56:13conducted over the years, it's become
3:56:15clear that young people will always deny
3:56:18being a part of any new trend. What's
3:56:20more, I found that once an older
3:56:22generation catches on to a new brand or
3:56:24trend, it becomes unhip and fast. It's
3:56:27what I call the generation lap problem
3:56:29because it's what happens when the
3:56:31younger kids jump ship in an attempt to
3:56:33create the generation lap, meaning a
3:56:35psychological distance between them and
3:56:37older generations. The generation lap
3:56:40though is in itself a form of peer
3:56:42pressure, a reverse peer pressure if you
3:56:44will. Take what happened with the Levis
3:56:47brand. In the 80s, Levis's were the
3:56:49jeans to have. Anyone who was anyone
3:56:52wore Levis's, but by 2001, the brand had
3:56:55taken a major hit. Its revenue was
3:56:58slashed in half and market share had
3:57:00dropped to 12.1% from 18.7%
3:57:04in 1986.
3:57:06Three Levis was suddenly the brand that
3:57:08no one cool would be caught dead in.
3:57:10Why? It's a right of passage for every
3:57:13child to pass through a rebellious
3:57:15phase. That said, a study has shown that
3:57:18men and women both recognize that they
3:57:20are similar to their parents or accept
3:57:22the strength of their parents' influence
3:57:23by the time they turn 35. Many
3:57:26companies, knowing this, often market
3:57:28their brands and products to seem bad or
3:57:30subversive, which is what Levis's did
3:57:33only a little too well. Levis's was the
3:57:36brand of rebellion for the baby boomer
3:57:38generation. That rebel without a cause,
3:57:41James Dean, wore them. In the 60s, they
3:57:44were practically the uniform of hippies
3:57:46and protesters. In the 70s, they were
3:57:49among the first brands to introduce bell
3:57:51bottoms. But once the boomers grew up
3:57:54and started having kids of their own,
3:57:56the generation lap set in. No rebellious
3:57:59youth wants to be seen wearing the same
3:58:00jeans as his dad. How can you distance
3:58:03yourself from your parents' generation
3:58:05if your parents are into the same trend?
3:58:08So, the kids started wearing other
3:58:10jeans, ones different enough to
3:58:12distinguish them from their parents.
3:58:15Now, you know what skinny jeans are all
3:58:16about. This style is adult proof. Let's
3:58:19face it, the trendiest adult on earth
3:58:21knows he can't fit his 40s legs into
3:58:24those pipe cleaner holes. This is
3:58:27exactly why I recommend that companies
3:58:29create more and more brand disapproved
3:58:31concepts. ideas or products or gadgets
3:58:34deliberately built to court parental
3:58:35disapproval. A concept so outrageous, so
3:58:38provocative, so different, so anything
3:58:41that adults will react against it. This
3:58:43is harder to do than you might imagine.
3:58:46Yet, my research has shown that once
3:58:48such a concept has been identified,
3:58:50there's almost a 90% chance that it will
3:58:52turn out to be a success among the
3:58:54younger set. Peer pressure may sometimes
3:58:57work in backward ways, but the
3:58:59psychology behind it, the desire for
3:59:01acceptance remains the same. I've seen
3:59:03again and again that there's a certain
3:59:05type of consumer who will run away from
3:59:07what's popular, even among the people in
3:59:09their own generation. If their peers
3:59:12start to like indie bands, they'll turn
3:59:14up their noses. If their friends are
3:59:16decked out in Abbercrombie and Fitch,
3:59:18they'll head for the local Goodwill or
3:59:20Salvation Army. If they go to a school
3:59:23that champions the football team,
3:59:24they'll spend their Saturdays playing
3:59:26the xylophone or maybe just sit in their
3:59:29rooms scowlling and smoking. They
3:59:31presume that anything that's popular,
3:59:32that's universally adored, or that
3:59:34involves long lines snaking around a
3:59:36block is probably substandard. Populists
3:59:39swill. To them, it's cool to be uncool.
3:59:42But this isn't really as
3:59:43counterintuitive as it seems because
3:59:46these people tend to flock together with
3:59:48people who feel exactly the same way.
3:59:51So, when one of them bashes the band
3:59:53Arcade Fire for being sellouts or
3:59:55declares that Converse sneakers are for
3:59:57posers, it's likely because he's
3:59:59observed those around him doing the
4:00:01same. In the end, nonconformity is a
4:00:03form of conformity as well. Peering
4:00:06overseas. In all my years in the
4:00:09marketing world, I've consistently found
4:00:11one fact to be true. Nowhere in the
4:00:13world are people more easily brandwashed
4:00:15than in Asia. In Asian countries, it's
4:00:18perfectly normal for a man to own half a
4:00:20dozen expensive Swiss watches or for a
4:00:23woman to carefully put aside a month's
4:00:25salary for a pair of Prada shoes. In
4:00:27Asia, more so than even in the United
4:00:29States, a person is what he or she
4:00:31wears. But the really interesting thing
4:00:33about this is how socially contagious
4:00:36brand preference is over there. Most
4:00:38Asian women who carry a Louis Vuitton
4:00:40bag don't do so because they're enamored
4:00:42of the brand. As one expert explained,
4:00:45the ability or need to fit in is a
4:00:47strong driver. Asians are a collectivist
4:00:50society and group identity is important.
4:00:53So in Japan, if one office lady carries
4:00:55a Louis Vuitton bag, then it means that
4:00:57to fit in, the rest would do the same.
4:01:0044.
4:01:01Louis Vuitton has very cleverly
4:01:03capitalized on the herd mentality of
4:01:05Asian culture by playing on a dream that
4:01:07is common to 78% of Japanese women.
4:01:10Getting married in Paris. How? by
4:01:13playing up its Frenchness in its
4:01:14marketing, advertising, and stores.
4:01:17First off, in Japan, even more than
4:01:19elsewhere, the store design is made to
4:01:21look French inspired with its glamorous
4:01:23old-fashioned Parisian street scenes and
4:01:25paintings of iconic French landmarks
4:01:26like the Eiffel Tower or the Arct
4:01:28Triumph. Store managers in Japan are
4:01:31often French-born with accents that
4:01:33typically manage to outdo even Maurice
4:01:35chioalieres and the brand suitcases or
4:01:37trunks are embossed with French name
4:01:39tags and placed conspicuously in the
4:01:41foyers of the company's flagship stores.
4:01:43The stores even serve French-made Muay
4:01:45and Chanden Champagne to their best
4:01:46customers. The photos in the Louis
4:01:48Vuitton cataloges are also set against
4:01:51Parisian backdrops. And even in Japan,
4:01:53the models are never ever Japanese.
4:01:56They're either ambiguously ethnic or
4:01:58stylishly French-l lookinging. And no
4:02:00matter what country you're surfing the
4:02:01web in, when you go to the Louis Vuitton
4:02:03website, you'll immediately be asked if
4:02:05you want to read the site in French.
4:02:07Even though globally French consumers
4:02:09are responsible for only a minuscule
4:02:11percentage of Vuitton sales, fact is the
4:02:13French elite largely a stew the brand.
4:02:16And finally, even though Louis Vuitton
4:02:18in fact manufactures a number of its
4:02:20products in India, it continues to
4:02:22manufacture the luggage it sends to the
4:02:24Japanese market in France just to keep
4:02:26up that French image. Based on what I've
4:02:29seen in my travels, it's also fair to
4:02:31say that in places where money is
4:02:32relatively new, like China and Russia,
4:02:35you'll find the greatest obsession with
4:02:36brands. I believe that this too comes
4:02:39back to insecurity and the desire to fit
4:02:42in. For a long time, both China and the
4:02:44Soviet Union felt like the underdogs of
4:02:46the global economy. Many of their
4:02:48residents have felt as though the rest
4:02:50of the world doesn't yet accept or
4:02:52respect them. So, they tend to
4:02:54overcompensate for this national lack of
4:02:56self-esteem by buying brands. The
4:02:58louder, bolder, and more in-your-face
4:03:01expensive, the better. I won't ever
4:03:03forget a story a Russian man once told
4:03:06at a conference. He was recalling the
4:03:08first time he received special
4:03:10permission to travel from his home state
4:03:12to America. At the Dublin airport, where
4:03:15he was changing planes, he dashed into a
4:03:17small kiosk and using the only money he
4:03:19had on him, bought a can of cope. But
4:03:21the snap top broke off and he couldn't
4:03:24open the can. When he tried punching a
4:03:26hole in the top and the whole thing
4:03:28exploded, he didn't care. He didn't care
4:03:31about actually drinking the beverage.
4:03:34The point was he bought an original can
4:03:36of Coca-Cola and for him that Coke
4:03:38symbolized nothing less than America
4:03:41skull Nastrovia
4:03:43to leave you with one final story of how
4:03:45marketers engineer viral trends. Let's
4:03:48take a trip to Russia where last year
4:03:49Greg Tucker and Chris Lucerst of the
4:03:51UK's marketing clinic and I were
4:03:53summoned to develop a marketleading
4:03:55brand of what else? Vodka. I remember
4:03:58the first time I set eyes on the vodka
4:04:01section of a Russian supermarket. There
4:04:03weren't tens or even hundreds, but
4:04:05thousands of varieties of vodka. And
4:04:07this wasn't a monstrous supertore,
4:04:09either. Later, I learned that Russia
4:04:11boasts roughly 3,000 different vodka
4:04:13brands and 5,000 different vodka
4:04:16flavors. Gregs and my challenge was to
4:04:18create brand number 3001 and somehow
4:04:21turn it into the market leader. I had
4:04:24another mission to transform the Russian
4:04:27population's drinking habits. I'm sure
4:04:29you're familiar with the place's
4:04:31reputation. It's mostly true. And the
4:04:34amount of drinking that goes on there
4:04:36has caused major societal damage, which
4:04:38the Russian government has been
4:04:40struggling to combat for many years.
4:04:42Now, you might wonder, and rightly so,
4:04:45why a vodka company would want to figure
4:04:47out a way to get Russian citizens to
4:04:49drink less. Good question. The company's
4:04:52reasons were twofold. The first was that
4:04:55conacs are making significant inroads in
4:04:58Russia and becoming serious competitors
4:05:00to the long-standing Russian vodka
4:05:02industry. The second is a twist on the
4:05:04generation lap problem. The rampant
4:05:06drinking among the older generation of
4:05:08Russians is turning off the younger
4:05:10generation who look at their sou parents
4:05:13and think, "Dude, I don't want to end up
4:05:15like that." So, I was tasked to travel
4:05:18around the country and find out why
4:05:20Russians drink as much as they did and
4:05:22whether there was anything I could do
4:05:24about it. And paradoxically, at the same
4:05:27time, could I help create a successful
4:05:29new vodka brand? To me, these missions
4:05:31seemed incompatible, if not impossible.
4:05:34That is until one night when I
4:05:36discovered something about why Russians
4:05:38drink as much as they do. Not completely
4:05:41unlike the viral drinking game icing we
4:05:44talked about earlier in the chapter. It
4:05:46all comes down to a socially contagious
4:05:48ritual. Only this one is a century old.
4:05:50The skull ritual begins with pouring
4:05:52vodka into a large, typically 50ml
4:05:55glass. Then all at once, everyone downs
4:05:58the stuff and cries out Nastrovia. No
4:06:01sipping here either. You have to drink
4:06:03it down straight. This is one of
4:06:05Russia's oldest and most widespread
4:06:07customs, and it's a major part of every
4:06:09occasion or celebration, from birthdays
4:06:11to dinner parties to funerals. Not doing
4:06:14it, in fact, is considered bad luck. But
4:06:17once I began talking to hundreds of
4:06:19Russians in cities and villages across
4:06:21the country, I discovered something
4:06:23surprising. Most Russians hate the taste
4:06:26of vodka and hate the accompanying
4:06:28ritual. They even have to scarf down
4:06:30food afterward to get rid of the burning
4:06:32taste in their throats. In other words,
4:06:35they don't do it because they enjoy it.
4:06:37They do it because it's simply what
4:06:38everyone else does. It generates a sense
4:06:41of belonging and camaraderie. Plus,
4:06:44there were no alternative rituals, which
4:06:46is when I thought, huh, by introducing a
4:06:50new drinking ritual, one that people
4:06:51actually enjoyed, maybe I could not only
4:06:53gain awareness for a new brand, but also
4:06:56show the Russians a new and healthier
4:06:58way to drink vodka. Now, the thing about
4:07:00the skull ritual is that it requires
4:07:02that everyone drink at exactly the same
4:07:04speed, fast, which was actually bad for
4:07:07the vodka company because a person who
4:07:08drinks too much too fast will also be on
4:07:10the floor that much more quickly, thus
4:07:12reducing overall vodka intake. This
4:07:15countrywide ritual was like a fraternity
4:07:17during hazing week. It was creating pure
4:07:20pressure to binge drink. By altering the
4:07:22ritual, my hope was that we could change
4:07:25at least the speed of drinking. This
4:07:28turned out to be just what many Russians
4:07:30had been waiting for, but no one had
4:07:31ever dared to say aloud. In the rough
4:07:34and tumble Russian culture, sipping a
4:07:36drink slowly is generally perceived as
4:07:38weak, over delicate, and defeat. No
4:07:41red-blooded Russian man would ever dare
4:07:43take the risk. The key, therefore, would
4:07:46be to introduce a whole new masculine
4:07:48way of drinking vodka, this time slowly
4:07:50and out of a small glass that would
4:07:52still be perceived as Russian. So, I
4:07:54borrowed from a country that many
4:07:56Russians respect and admire, Finland. By
4:07:59setting up hundreds of testing groups
4:08:01and analyzing consumers taste pallets
4:08:03across Russia, we crafted a vodka
4:08:05product that lacked the harsh burn
4:08:06everyone loathed. And by combining this
4:08:08new taste with a newfound ritual of
4:08:10drinking out of a smaller glass, and I'm
4:08:12afraid I'm contractually bound to
4:08:13secrecy, so I can't divulge anything
4:08:15more, a new vodka brand hit the market.
4:08:18Time will tell whether the brand will
4:08:20take off and whether we actually managed
4:08:22to create a healthier kind of peer
4:08:24pressure. Chapter six. An American woman
4:08:28I know who spent her childhood years in
4:08:30Paris is obsessed with the taste of Mars
4:08:33bars. Not American Mars bars, just
4:08:36French Mars bars. She will raise her
4:08:38right hand and swear that the US version
4:08:41cannot compare with the taste of the
4:08:42Mars bars she snacked on growing up. She
4:08:45can't explain why. When pressed, she'll
4:08:48say only that the chocolate tastes
4:08:50sweeter and the caramel tastes creamier.
4:08:52When friends visit France, she begs them
4:08:55to bring her back supplies. I have to
4:08:58admit, I feel as fondly about my
4:09:00memories of the holidays I spent growing
4:09:02up in Denmark, though I haven't lived
4:09:04there for years. The snow coming down
4:09:06outside, the smells drifting out of the
4:09:08kitchen, the family members gathered
4:09:10around the tree. the simplicity of a
4:09:12time that looking back seems so far
4:09:15superior to the stride and commercial
4:09:17machinery that defines the holidays
4:09:19today. Though I've had fantastic
4:09:21holidays in recent years, in my mind,
4:09:23none compared to the ones I had when I
4:09:26was a child. While we're on the topic of
4:09:28the past, wasn't the music you grew up
4:09:30listening to and the TV shows you liked
4:09:33to watch way back when all frankly
4:09:34better than the new fangled bands and
4:09:36songs and shows that are on TV and the
4:09:38radio today? Or have you noticed that
4:09:4199% of the time we derive the most
4:09:44pleasure from our first experience of
4:09:46something? That the original version of
4:09:48a song or movie is the best. That the
4:09:51house we grew up in is better and more
4:09:53attractive than any future home. That a
4:09:55story is more enjoyable and more
4:09:57believable the first time we hear it
4:09:58than the second or third time. In fact,
4:10:01I once conducted a study to investigate
4:10:03that last one. and indeed found that 72%
4:10:06of people believed that the first source
4:10:08of a story was more authentic than
4:10:10subsequent retellings.
4:10:12Sometimes the first experiences were
4:10:14objectively better, though not as a
4:10:16rule. But objectively better or not,
4:10:19they always seem better in hindsight.
4:10:21That's because as humans and consumers,
4:10:23we've been fooled into thinking the past
4:10:25was perfect and by our own brains. Two,
4:10:28the culprit, a simple and very powerful
4:10:31psychological persuader known as
4:10:32nostalgia. one that marketers know all
4:10:35too well. Case in point, the 2009 Super
4:10:38Bowl, an event that's almost become
4:10:40better known for its high-priced
4:10:41commercials than for the game itself.
4:10:43Some of us can't remember who played,
4:10:45others don't care, but almost all of us
4:10:47can remember which commercial we liked
4:10:49best. During this particular Super Bowl,
4:10:52151.6 6 million people won the largest
4:10:55TV audience ever. Sat back and watched
4:10:57ad starring Don Rickles for the flower
4:10:59company Teleora Vagod and Betty White
4:11:02for Snickers Chocolate Bars, Stevie
4:11:03Wonder for Volkswagen, and an antique
4:11:06sock monkey for a new model of Kia.
4:11:08What's more, the soundtrack accompanying
4:11:10the commercials that span the roughly
4:11:12three-hour show featured songs by 70s
4:11:14funk stylists Cool and the Gang for the
4:11:16Honda Accord crossover, the classic rock
4:11:18band Cheat Trick for Audi, the British
4:11:20symphonic rocker's electric light
4:11:22orchestra, whose global fame peaked in
4:11:24the midseies for select 55 beer and 70s
4:11:27singer songwriter Bill Withers for
4:11:28Electronic Arts Dante's Inferno video
4:11:31game. During the halftime show, the 80s
4:11:33sensation Bruce Springsteen in the East
4:11:35Street Band came out and performed 10th
4:11:37Avenue Freeze Out, Born to Run, Working
4:11:39on a Dream, and Glory Days. What decade
4:11:42were we in anyway? What was going on
4:11:45here? Nostalgic for nostalgia. The word
4:11:49nostalgia comes from the Greek compounds
4:11:51nost meaning to come home and algos or
4:11:54pain. It was coined in 1688 by a Swiss
4:11:57physician, Johannes Hoer, in reference
4:11:59to a bizarre malady affecting Swiss
4:12:01nationals stationed overseas,
4:12:03homesickness, basically that Dr. Hoffer
4:12:05believed could ultimately lead to
4:12:07widespread desertions and even death. In
4:12:09our modern parliament, however, it's
4:12:11generally used to refer to, as Webers
4:12:14puts it, a wistful or excessive
4:12:15sentimental yearning or return to some
4:12:18past period. In a 2006 study carried out
4:12:21at the University of Southampton in the
4:12:23UK, 79% of the 172 students pled claimed
4:12:27they experience nostalgic thoughts at
4:12:29least once a week, while 16% reported
4:12:32having such fond moments daily. Turns
4:12:35out there's a reason we as humans are
4:12:37prone to these thoughts. Nostalgia is
4:12:39good for us. According to Scientific
4:12:41American, rather than being a waste of
4:12:43time or an unhealthful indulgence,
4:12:45basking in memories elevates mood,
4:12:47increases self-esteem, and strengthens
4:12:49relationships. In short, nostalgia is a
4:12:52source of psychological well-being. Two,
4:12:55what's more, when the same researchers
4:12:56asked those subjects to assess their
4:12:58social competence in three areas, their
4:13:00capacity to build relationships, their
4:13:02ability to be candid with others about
4:13:04their feelings, and whether or not they
4:13:06could offer their friends emotional
4:13:08support. They found that the
4:13:09participants most likely to engage in
4:13:11nostalgic thinking did better in all
4:13:13three measures of social skills than
4:13:15those in the control group. Free
4:13:16concluding that nostalgic thinking
4:13:18breeds happier moods. Four, another
4:13:21reason we have a predilction for
4:13:23nostalgia is that our brains are wired
4:13:25to recall our past experiences as having
4:13:28been far better and more pleasurable
4:13:30than we experienced them to be in the
4:13:32moment. A phenomenon that goes by the
4:13:34names Rossy remembering or rosy
4:13:36retrospection. As Brian Urbick, the CEO
4:13:39of the UK's Consumer Knowledge Center,
4:13:41theorizes, Rosie retrospection may be an
4:13:43adaptive mechanism designed to erase and
4:13:45protect us from painful memories.
4:13:47Evidence suggests it may even have
4:13:49evolved to help ensure the continuation
4:13:51of the human race. After all, if women
4:13:53accurately remembered the pain of giving
4:13:55birth, chances are that few of them
4:13:57would voluntarily go through the
4:13:59experience again. Though surprisingly
4:14:01little research has been done on why
4:14:03this nearly universal psychological
4:14:05phenomenon exists, countless studies
4:14:07have shown that we indeed have a strong
4:14:09tendency to assess past incidents or
4:14:12events more favorably after the fact
4:14:14than we did while those same events were
4:14:16taking place. Interestingly, our brains
4:14:19are also prone to a phenomenon known as
4:14:21rosy prospection whereby our
4:14:23anticipation of certain events is more
4:14:25positive than our actual experience of
4:14:27the event. In one such study,
4:14:29psychologist Terrence Mitchell and a
4:14:31team of colleagues had students who were
4:14:33about to embark on one of three
4:14:34vacations. A two-week tour of Europe,
4:14:37Thanksgiving weekend with their
4:14:38families, or a 3-week bicycle tour
4:14:40across California rate their
4:14:42anticipation of the trip, their level of
4:14:44enjoyment during the trip, and their
4:14:46memory of the trip after it took place.
4:14:48In all three cases, both the students
4:14:51anticipation and memories were more
4:14:53favorable than their feelings during the
4:14:55trip itself. As one study brief points
4:14:57out, as memory takes over, the
4:14:59unpleasantness fades and the good parts
4:15:01remain, perhaps even get amplified
4:15:03beyond reality. Five other studies show
4:15:07that we're so determined to remember the
4:15:09past favorably that on occasion we
4:15:11remember pleasant incidents that never
4:15:13took place. In one, individuals
4:15:16remembered seeing Bugs Bunny during a
4:15:18visit to Walt Disney World. an
4:15:20impossibility since Bugs Bunny is a
4:15:22Warner Brothers creation, not a Disney
4:15:25character. The experiment concluded that
4:15:27even knowing a memory is not real does
4:15:30not make it any less meaningful or
4:15:32enjoyable and that the memory of an
4:15:34event is more important than the actual
4:15:36experience. Six, the point is we tend to
4:15:40live in the past and to some extent the
4:15:42future and our brains like it that way.
4:15:45This is part of the reason why, in my
4:15:47experience, no one believes that on the
4:15:50inside they're truly their chronological
4:15:52age. In fact, I have a theory that most
4:15:54people have a psychological age that
4:15:56remains fairly stable and consistent
4:15:58throughout their adult life, no matter
4:16:00how many candles burn on their birthday
4:16:02cake. I once asked a top banking CEO who
4:16:05was around 50 what his inner age was.
4:16:0819, he said at once. ask the same
4:16:11question of a room full of people. And I
4:16:13guarantee not one person will answer
4:16:15their actual age. It's almost as if
4:16:17we're two people, the one inside us and
4:16:19the older one others see. After all, who
4:16:22hasn't felt incredulous at hitting each
4:16:24milestone birthday, whether it's 20, 40,
4:16:27or 60. Naturally, no one likes the
4:16:30thought of getting old. But I believe
4:16:32this phenomenon is rooted in something
4:16:34more than just a fear of aging. I
4:16:36believe it has to do with our rosy
4:16:38remembering of what our life was like
4:16:40when we actually were that inner age. At
4:16:43this point, you might be thinking,
4:16:45"Okay, this rings true, but what does it
4:16:47have to do with how companies trick us
4:16:49into buying things?" Well, a lot
4:16:52actually. Companies and marketers know
4:16:54full well that our perceived age is a
4:16:56huge factor in our shopping decisions
4:16:58and buying habits. Why does a 50year-old
4:17:01woman buy hair dye or wrinkle cream? Why
4:17:04does a 40-year-old man buy Ray-B bands
4:17:06or a Ferrari convertible, otherwise
4:17:08known as a midlife crisis mobile? Not
4:17:11just to look or seem younger, though
4:17:13that's part of it, but to bridge the gap
4:17:14between how old they are and how old
4:17:16they feel inside. It's the very same
4:17:19human tendency that drives grown men and
4:17:21women to buy all those things they loved
4:17:23or remember loving when they were
4:17:24younger, like tight jeans, fast cars,
4:17:26Converse Allstar sneakers, Pink Floyd
4:17:29CDS, and so on. all the kinds of stuff
4:17:31that will make us feel younger again, or
4:17:33rather make us feel the age we actually
4:17:36believe we are on the inside. Clever
4:17:39companies know that the older we get,
4:17:41the more intense our longings for the
4:17:43past become. They also know that our
4:17:45preferences for music, movies, trends,
4:17:47and products we enjoyed in our carefree
4:17:49childhoods, adulences, and early 20s
4:17:51remain with us our whole lives. In a
4:17:541,998
4:17:56New Yorker article, neuroscientist and
4:17:58writer Robert Seapolski pondered his
4:18:00disintegrating interest in new things,
4:18:02food, experiences, and especially music.
4:18:05Why, Seapolski wondered, did he keep
4:18:07playing Bob Marley's greatest hits over
4:18:09and over while his 20some lab colleagues
4:18:11were boopping around listening to every
4:18:13hot new or old but trendy thing from
4:18:15Sigur to Sonic Youth to the Black Eyed
4:18:17Peas. In an attempt to understand why he
4:18:20was musically stuck in the 70s, Sapolski
4:18:23set out to study the windows in which we
4:18:25form our cultural tastes and in which we
4:18:28are amanable to new experiences. Was
4:18:30there, he wondered, an age at which
4:18:32these windows of openness slammed shut?
4:18:35Seven. Indeed, Seapolski concluded,
4:18:37there was. He and his research
4:18:39assistants called radio stations that
4:18:41specialize in the music of various
4:18:43periods and asked the same two questions
4:18:46of each station manager. when was most
4:18:48of the music that you play first
4:18:49introduced and what is the average age
4:18:52of your listeners? Based on their
4:18:54responses, Seapolski found that most of
4:18:56us end up playing and loving the music
4:18:58we're exposed to when we're around 20
4:19:00years old or younger for the rest of our
4:19:03lives, and that if a person is over the
4:19:05age of 35 when a new pop music style
4:19:07makes its mark, there's a greater than
4:19:0995% chance he or she will never listen
4:19:12to it. After conducting similar
4:19:14inquiries about food and fashion, he
4:19:16concluded that our window of openness
4:19:18for new experiences like getting our
4:19:20tongue pierced slams shut at age 23 and
4:19:22our openness to trying out new foods,
4:19:25say sweets or calves, livers, pretty
4:19:27much closes for good at 39. 8. In my
4:19:31career, I found time and again that
4:19:33there is often a specific moment or time
4:19:35in our lives when we form such powerful
4:19:37memories involving a brand that we
4:19:38decide subconsciously to consume the
4:19:41product for life. When I began working
4:19:43for Pepsi and Coca-Cola, I remember
4:19:45speaking with a 55-year-old woman who
4:19:48was a lifelong fan of Coke. Why? When
4:19:51she was 6 years old, her parents allowed
4:19:53her to walk alone to a local candy store
4:19:55where the owner served real Cokes by
4:19:57mixing together soda and syrup and
4:19:59pouring the concoction into an iced
4:20:01glass bottle. It was cold, frothy, and
4:20:04delicious, the highlight of her day. She
4:20:07would then trapes back to her
4:20:08neighborhood where she would play on the
4:20:10street with the other kids until it got
4:20:12dark. It was what I call an oasis memory
4:20:15when everything seems all right with the
4:20:17world, safe, contented, fun, protected,
4:20:20shimmering. Today, this woman's life is
4:20:23difficult. She works two demanding jobs
4:20:25and juggles several children, one
4:20:27severely handicapped. But when I stood
4:20:30before her and watched her take a sip of
4:20:32her coke, I swear the look in her eyes
4:20:34changed. The taste had taken her back to
4:20:37that moment, that neighborhood, that
4:20:38oasis. Such is the power of nostalgia.
4:20:43Golden oldies. Nostalgia marketing is a
4:20:46perennial, and I should add, wildly
4:20:48successful strategy by which advertisers
4:20:50resurrect the sites, sounds, and feel of
4:20:52a previous decade to sell us a brand or
4:20:55product of today. Sometimes it's by
4:20:57reviving a commercial or a style of
4:20:59packaging or even an icon or
4:21:01spokesperson like in those Super Bowl
4:21:03commercials that those of us over 30 or
4:21:0540 are guaranteed to recall fondly from
4:21:07our own childhoods. Other times it's
4:21:09done more subtly by implicitly evoking
4:21:12the feel or texture of a simpler time.
4:21:14And sometimes it's done by reviving an
4:21:17old brand itself. Recent research from
4:21:20the University of Arkansas shows that
4:21:22the older a brand is, the more favorably
4:21:24it will be perceived, regardless of how
4:21:27well it works. One reason is that when
4:21:29we see a nostalgic product from the
4:21:31past, whether it's a brand of breakfast
4:21:33cereal or a make of sneakers, we are
4:21:35reexperiencing the world as we first
4:21:37encountered it when we were young, that
4:21:39time when everything, thanks to our
4:21:41brains, Rosie remembering, was safer,
4:21:43simpler, better. Few people know this,
4:21:46but one of the main goals of any brand
4:21:48or ad campaign is to own a moment. What
4:21:51do I mean by owning a moment? Well, if
4:21:54you're in your late 40s or early 50s, no
4:21:56doubt you remember Kodak inatic cameras,
4:21:59peaking in popularity between 1963 and
4:22:021970, Kodak inatic cameras were
4:22:05inexpensive point andoot apparatuses
4:22:07that created a phrase that became so
4:22:09ubiquitous as to secure a place in our
4:22:11cultural mythology, the Kodak moment. A
4:22:14Kodak moment, as many know, is an
4:22:16instant in time that captures a
4:22:18one-of-a-kind emotional experience that
4:22:20second before your son blows out the
4:22:22candles on his first birthday cake. The
4:22:24instant your daughter reaches out her
4:22:26hand to accept her high school diploma,
4:22:28and so forth. Though Kodak no longer
4:22:30manufactures inatics, the expression
4:22:33refuses to die. And for marketers, the
4:22:36Kodak moment is pure gold. Owning an
4:22:39instant in time is a product's
4:22:41equivalent of a land crib, meaning that
4:22:43it keeps other brands out and in their
4:22:45place. No trespassing. This moment is
4:22:48mine. Nesquick, whose slogan is, "They
4:22:50only grow up once," has grabbed the
4:22:52moment you pack a milk box in your
4:22:54child's lunch on his first day of
4:22:56kindergarten and realize he is morphing
4:22:58from toddler to boy before your eyes.
4:23:00The Jenny Craig way control program has
4:23:02co-opted the seat belt moment. the
4:23:04instant when a woman secures her belt
4:23:06across her lap only to find it no longer
4:23:09reaches the clasp. What these slogans
4:23:12ingeniously do, of course, is subtly
4:23:14link their products not just to those
4:23:16fleeting moments, but to our emotions
4:23:18surrounding those moments. So that when
4:23:21little Billy's middle school graduation
4:23:23makes us feel wistful, where did the
4:23:25time go? We reach for Nesquick. And when
4:23:27we feel insecure and embarrassed because
4:23:29our jeans feel tighter than usual, many
4:23:32of us automatically think, "Time to call
4:23:34Jenny Craig." It's all subconscious, of
4:23:36course, but that's part of the reason
4:23:38it's so powerful. The really ambitious
4:23:41marketers and companies even try to lay
4:23:43claim to not just a moment, but an
4:23:45entire era. Amazingly, McDonald's has
4:23:48successfully managed to lay claim to the
4:23:50last 30 years with slogans like, "It's a
4:23:52good time for the great taste of
4:23:54McDonald's or it's Mac time." Because
4:23:56together we've shared 30 years of good
4:23:58times and great taste. Nine. The result.
4:24:01Three entire decades worth of emotions
4:24:03and associations linked in our minds to
4:24:05their burgers and fries. It's worth
4:24:08noting that illusions to time persuade
4:24:10us to buy in other ways as well. Did you
4:24:13know that just mentioning time in an
4:24:15advertising campaign makes us more
4:24:17likely to buy a product? It's because as
4:24:19soon as we're reminded of how fleeting
4:24:21time is, we think, "I'd better have and
4:24:23enjoy this before it's too late." And
4:24:26did you also know that when we're primed
4:24:27to think about time, the chances we'll
4:24:30feel a personal connection to a product
4:24:32increases exponentially? 10. For
4:24:34example, if a suitcase manufacturer or
4:24:37coffee company announces it's time for a
4:24:39new set of rolling wheels or it's
4:24:40espresso time, we're more likely to
4:24:42respond positively to these ads than
4:24:44not. Why? Because time quite simply is
4:24:48one thing we all wish we had more of yet
4:24:50rarely give ourselves permission to
4:24:52savor. Our tendency to romanticize bygon
4:24:55eras helps explain why nostalgia
4:24:57marketing is especially potent during
4:24:59uncertain economic times. When the stock
4:25:01market is down, personal debt is up,
4:25:04climate change is in the news, and job
4:25:06security is a thing of the past. Anxious
4:25:08consumers seek nothing more than the
4:25:10retail equivalent of comfort food. the
4:25:12sounds, the smells, the appearance, and
4:25:14hence the memories and familiar fonts of
4:25:16the bestloved brands from our
4:25:18childhoods. In other words, an era
4:25:20before we were plagued with these
4:25:22grown-up worries. In the face of
4:25:24insecurity, or uncertainty about the
4:25:26future, we want nothing more than to
4:25:29revert to a stable time. And what time
4:25:31could seem more stable, simple, and
4:25:33quaint than the past, even though it was
4:25:35in reality crazy and turbulent, and
4:25:38we're just not remembering it
4:25:39accurately? Plus, oddly enough,
4:25:41recalling the past not only provides us
4:25:43a source of comfort and security, it
4:25:46even makes us feel more hopeful and
4:25:47optimistic about the future, more
4:25:49equipped to deal with the challenges
4:25:51that lie ahead. This is why during hard
4:25:54times, we eat more retro foods like
4:25:56macaroni and cheese and mashed potatoes,
4:25:58and flock toward classic, ever iconic
4:26:00brands that have been around forever,
4:26:02like Hershey's, May Tag, Hines,
4:26:04Helman's, or Hunter Boot. a brand of
4:26:06shoe that's been around for 150 years
4:26:08and is carried in high-end retailers
4:26:10like Berdorf Goodman and Bloomingdales.
4:26:1311. This is also why nostalgia marketing
4:26:16booms during the turbulent years of
4:26:18World War II and has resurged at certain
4:26:21points throughout just about every
4:26:22decade since. It tends to conform to a
4:26:25particular pattern, too. Generally,
4:26:28marketers and advertisers home in on
4:26:30cultural trends that are most dissimilar
4:26:32and therefore most romanticized to the
4:26:35ones of the current age. For example,
4:26:37during the economic and political
4:26:39turbulence of the 1970s came a nostalgic
4:26:42fad for products that recalled the state
4:26:44conservative 1950s. During the
4:26:46button-down Reagan era 1980s, marketers
4:26:49paid tribute to the freewheeling 1960s.
4:26:52And in the tumultuous first decade of
4:26:54the 21st century, which saw 9/11s, two
4:26:57wars in the Middle East, and the worst
4:26:58economic downturn since the Great
4:27:00Depression, marketers were hearkening
4:27:02back to the trends and styles of the
4:27:04flush and relatively peaceful 80s. Does
4:27:07anyone recall the 1,986
4:27:10commercial featuring Marvin Gay cruning
4:27:12his 1,967
4:27:14tune, I heard it through the grapevine
4:27:16to a bunch of raisins? What about
4:27:18Wendy's dusting off its 1,984
4:27:22Where's the beef TV commercial in 2010
4:27:24or CocaCola reviving its famous 1,971
4:27:28I'd like to teach the world to sing ad
4:27:30for its 35th anniversary. The company
4:27:32even went so far as to hire a detective
4:27:35agency to hunt down the men and women
4:27:37who'd first sung the song decades
4:27:38earlier. Here, one can't help but note
4:27:41the popularity of oldies television
4:27:43channels like TV Land, Nick at Night,
4:27:45and American movie classics. And what
4:27:48about the recent cultural phenomenon,
4:27:50the AMC series Mad Men, which so
4:27:52impeccably captures the aura essence and
4:27:54glamour of Madison Avenue in the early
4:27:561960s? And it's not just the show, which
4:28:00by the way has been deliberately
4:28:02advertised to play into this sepia toned
4:28:04nostalgic sentiment we're obsessed with.
4:28:07We're also preoccupied with and willing
4:28:09to spend money to enjoy its trends and
4:28:11fashions in our own lives. All kinds of
4:28:13nostalgic items from tunic dresses and
4:28:15skinny ties to martinis and
4:28:17old-fashionates.
4:28:19Today, countless companies and brands
4:28:21from Coke to McDonald's to General Mills
4:28:23to Target to Unilver are turning huge
4:28:25profits by deliberately playing into our
4:28:27human fancy and fantasy that the past
4:28:29was better, simpler, quainter, more
4:28:31authentic, more secure than our lives
4:28:33are now. There's even a mall in Shanghai
4:28:35devoted exclusively to nostalgic
4:28:37products known as Zong Wua Lao of
4:28:38Shangqing, which translates to
4:28:40time-honored Chinese brand shopping
4:28:41mall. 12. However, the risk of this
4:28:44approach for marketers and advertisers
4:28:46is that if they play up the past too
4:28:48much, we might begin to see the product
4:28:50or brand as dusty, outdated, or out of
4:28:52style. Which is why a lot of brands and
4:28:55companies like the ones you're about to
4:28:57read about have developed some
4:28:58incredibly inventive, not to mention
4:29:00psychologically sophisticated strategies
4:29:03for towing this delicate line. feasting
4:29:06on the past. As I enter the Time Warner
4:29:09Center in New York's Columbus Circle, a
4:29:11Midtown mall largely populated by
4:29:13high-end retailers, and descend the
4:29:14escalator to Whole Foods, which we
4:29:16visited in chapter 3, it doesn't escape
4:29:18my attention that the music playing
4:29:20faintly overhead is a dance hit that
4:29:21weaves in a sample of ABBA's 1,979
4:29:25Gimme. Gimme Gimme: A Man After
4:29:27Midnight, providing quite a shot of
4:29:29nostalgia and familiarity for shoppers
4:29:31over 35. Talk about having it both ways.
4:29:34Here at Whole Foods, we see the latest
4:29:37agricultural and dietary fads of the
4:29:3921st century. From grass-fed beef to
4:29:41gluten-free cookies to pesticide-free
4:29:43produced to cask ale microbus, united
4:29:46with the carefree tunes from an era
4:29:48before any of these things even existed.
4:29:50Oh, and it's no coincidence that this
4:29:52particular song is playing either. In a
4:29:55later chapter, we'll be exploring the
4:29:57world of data mining, at which time
4:29:59you'll discover that there is no such
4:30:01thing as a melody playing randomly
4:30:03overhead while you shop. The connections
4:30:05between the gleaming auditoriumsized
4:30:08state-of-the-art Whole Foods and
4:30:09nostalgia marketing may not seem
4:30:11apparent at first. After all, isn't
4:30:14Whole Foods about as modern as you can
4:30:16get? The past was a much quaint, far
4:30:19less complicated place than labyrinthine
4:30:21Whole Foods, right? For most of us, the
4:30:23good old days were a time before chain
4:30:25stores, anxieties about industrialized
4:30:27food, or even the term organic ever
4:30:29existed. An era when produce was fresh
4:30:31and no frrills, and there weren't 10
4:30:33different brands of everything from
4:30:35garbanzo beans to graham crackers.
4:30:37Perhaps we remember a time when grocery
4:30:40shopping meant stopping with our parents
4:30:41at a roadside fruit and vegetable stand,
4:30:44where we sniffed and unpeled ears of
4:30:46corn harvested just that morning, filled
4:30:48a basket with apples picked from a
4:30:50nearby orchard, or grabbed a bunch of
4:30:52flowers whose prices were handcribbled
4:30:54on a small slate board. Or was that in a
4:30:56movie we once saw? Doesn't matter. I
4:30:59once screened photographs with consumers
4:31:02in five different countries, asking them
4:31:04to rank each photo in order of which
4:31:06most evoked a sense of freshness. The
4:31:08unanimous winner was a photograph of a
4:31:1020-something farm boy wearing a cowboy
4:31:13hat and holding a wooden box laden with
4:31:15fresh vegetables. When I asked the
4:31:17respondents how many of them had seen
4:31:19this image in real life, not the farm
4:31:22boy in question, but any farmer, only
4:31:24one person out of 400 raised his or her
4:31:26hand. The point is whether or not we've
4:31:29actually set foot on an oldtime farm
4:31:31stand in our lives, emotionally we
4:31:33associate things like old wooden boxes,
4:31:35flowers, and handcrolled signs with
4:31:37authenticity, history, and a better,
4:31:39simpler time, as well as with freshness,
4:31:41as we saw in chapter 2. In other words,
4:31:43everything that the modern looking Whole
4:31:45Foods is not. Or is it? It might not be
4:31:48obvious at first, but the ingenious
4:31:50marketers who designed Whole Foods did
4:31:52so very carefully to trigger these very
4:31:54associations of a simpler era.
4:31:57For example, about a dozen feet into the
4:31:59store sit a dozen stacked cardboard
4:32:01boxes with anywhere from 8 to 10 fresh
4:32:03cantaloupes packed inside each one.
4:32:06These boxes could have been unpacked
4:32:07easily, of course, by any one of Whole
4:32:09Foods unionized employees, but they're
4:32:12left that way on purpose. Why? For that
4:32:15rustic ash touch. In other words, it's a
4:32:18symbolic to reinforce the idea of
4:32:20oldtime simplicity, as if our mythical
4:32:22farmer ran out of cantaloupe crates and
4:32:24had to make do with used cartons. But
4:32:27wait, something about these boxes looks
4:32:29off. Let's move in and take a closer
4:32:32look. Funny, upon close inspection, this
4:32:35stack of crates looks like one giant
4:32:36cardboard box. It can't be, can it? It
4:32:40is. In fact, it's one humongous
4:32:42cardboard box with fissurers cut
4:32:44carefully down the side that faces
4:32:46consumers, most likely by some
4:32:47industrial machinery at a factory in
4:32:49China to make it appear as though this
4:32:51one giant cardboard box is made up of
4:32:54multiple stacked boxes. It's ingenious
4:32:56in its ability to evoke the image of
4:32:58Grapes of Wrath era laborers piling box
4:33:01after box of fresh fruit into the store.
4:33:03But like a lot of what goes on at Whole
4:33:05Foods, this image in false. In the
4:33:08industry, these cardboard boxes are
4:33:10known as dummies, and for good reason.
4:33:14We've been punked by nostalgia again.
4:33:16Whole Foods ongoing salute to the
4:33:18roadside stand of bygone days continues
4:33:21with a display of apples perched at top
4:33:22a wooden crate. The crate is
4:33:24deliberately distressed looking and
4:33:26grainy gray, suggesting that the apples
4:33:28on display were shipped to this store in
4:33:30a dirty flatbed, as they might have been
4:33:32in the 1940s. The Apples of Wrath. This
4:33:36crate is another symbolic as are the two
4:33:38bottles of organic apple juice perched
4:33:41behind the apples like ma and paw apple
4:33:43overseeing a litter of baby granny
4:33:45smiths. Only a person with 6' long arms
4:33:48could ever hope to actually reach these
4:33:50bottles. But that's not the point.
4:33:53Organic apple juice steers our brains to
4:33:55the old-fashioned notion of homemade
4:33:57cider. Yet another marketing trick
4:33:59designed to recall a time when life was
4:34:01simpler and better and more delicious.
4:34:04Yet, there's an interesting paradox at
4:34:06play here. The past is perfect and so is
4:34:09its produce, right? Well, not exactly.
4:34:12Because what I found in all my years of
4:34:14studying consumers and their responses
4:34:17to branding is that one essential
4:34:19component of the nostalgia factor is
4:34:21authenticity. And nothing authentic is
4:34:23truly perfect. Is it a bruise on the
4:34:26apple? A chip in the china? A scratch in
4:34:29the veneer on an old armwire? Just
4:34:32enough imperfection to create that
4:34:34authentic, slightly used feel can go a
4:34:36long way in evoking memories of that
4:34:38battered old toy we dug out from the
4:34:40attic or the scuffed bracelet we
4:34:42inherited from our grandmother. Have you
4:34:45noticed the market for pre-washed
4:34:46t-shirts? Rationally, we tell ourselves
4:34:49that we buy them because they don't
4:34:51shrink in the washer or dryer. But
4:34:53emotionally, it has more to do with
4:34:55their authentic tattered look. Goodwill
4:34:57and the Salvation Army are among the
4:34:59most popular destinations nowadays among
4:35:01teenage girls for whom it's become cool
4:35:04to doubt the authenticity of such
4:35:05manipulated clothing emporiums as
4:35:07Abberrombi and Fitch, Hollister, and
4:35:09American Apparel. I recently visited a
4:35:12Trader Joe's where they were having a
4:35:14sale on the luxury chocolate Gerard
4:35:16Deli. But the usual fancy wrappers and
4:35:19glitz boxes were nowhere in sight.
4:35:22Instead, they were selling bulk Gardelli
4:35:24chocolate chunks packed in large brown
4:35:26paper bags branded with old-fashioned
4:35:28handwriting. Inside were bits of
4:35:30chocolate cut into uneven pieces as
4:35:32though a chocolate maker at a mom and
4:35:34pop candy shop had chopped them by hand.
4:35:36There was no doubt that this looked as
4:35:38authentic as could be until I happened
4:35:40to buy two bags and coincidentally
4:35:42discovered that the pieces were
4:35:44identical. The broken chunks were not
4:35:46hand cut at all. They were molded by a
4:35:49machine to look like randomly broken
4:35:51pieces. Most consumers are drawn to
4:35:54small imperfections and companies know
4:35:56it. It's an aesthetic the Japanese term
4:35:58wabishabi which can be translated as the
4:36:01art of finding beauty in nature. whether
4:36:04it's a brown spot on a banana or a knot
4:36:06in the bark of a tree. To illustrate, I
4:36:09have a friend whose father was the
4:36:10Australian ambassador to Japan. One day,
4:36:13she told me her father was seated in his
4:36:16garden in the middle of Tokyo sipping
4:36:18tea. 50 ft away from him, a gardener was
4:36:21going around picking up fallen leaves.
4:36:23It took him two full hours to complete
4:36:25the job. Then when there was not a
4:36:28single leaf remaining on the ground, the
4:36:30gardener disappeared for 20 minutes,
4:36:32came back and started carefully and
4:36:34tenderly placing leaves randomly onto
4:36:36the lawn. One here, two over there, and
4:36:39so on. Why? Because the leafless lawn
4:36:42looked unnatural. It looked too perfect.
4:36:46Perfection makes us as consumers leery.
4:36:49As everyone knows, nothing is truly
4:36:51perfect ever. And so when it appears to
4:36:53be, we subconsciously seek out the flaw.
4:36:55the inauthenticity. We glimpse a
4:36:58perfectly shaped hamburger in the
4:37:00supermarket, and it suddenly reminds us
4:37:02that we're eating mass-roduced beef from
4:37:04an industrial slaughterhouse. We see a
4:37:07wallet at Old Navy lined with impeccably
4:37:09stitched and identically dyed pairs of
4:37:11jeans, and we can all but picture them
4:37:13rolling off the assembly line in a
4:37:15Chinese sweat shop. We're sick and tired
4:37:17of picture perfect babies and flawless
4:37:20models. Why do we love YouTube videos so
4:37:23much? because they're imperfect,
4:37:25amateurish, and the people in them
4:37:27remind us of us. Recently, there's been
4:37:29a trend of using real people in
4:37:31mainstream movies and TV shows, and it's
4:37:34one I predict will get bigger and
4:37:36bigger. According to a 2010 article in
4:37:38the New York Times, television
4:37:40executives at Fox Broadcasting, for
4:37:42example, say they have begun recruiting
4:37:44more natural-looking actors from
4:37:46Australia and Britain because the amply
4:37:48endowed, freakishly young-looking crowd
4:37:50that shows up for auditions in Los
4:37:51Angeles suffers from too much sameness.
4:37:5413. But what is authentic anyway?
4:37:58Websters defines it as worthy of
4:38:00acceptance and belief. But when it comes
4:38:02to the shady corners of the marketing
4:38:04and advertising world, that can mean a
4:38:07lot of different things. Is canned
4:38:09laughter authentic? Is the Paris Hotel
4:38:11in Las Vegas authentic? Is the sweater
4:38:14from H&M or the skirt from Zara that
4:38:17looks just like the one we saw on the
4:38:18runways during fashion week, but at
4:38:20quadruple the price authentic? I would
4:38:23answer technically yes, as in all cases,
4:38:26each one is true to what it intends to
4:38:28be. But at the same time, one could also
4:38:30argue these are mere imitations, clever
4:38:33PS to trick our brains into thinking
4:38:35we're getting the real thing. These
4:38:37kinds of strategies are old hat for
4:38:39marketers and advertisers. But I've
4:38:41recently begun to notice an interesting
4:38:44shift. These days, many marketers are
4:38:46introducing tiny, subtle imperfections
4:38:48into their products in an attempt to
4:38:50create the impression of authenticity or
4:38:52what I call inauthentic authenticity.
4:38:55This is why in places like Whole Foods,
4:38:58we're seeing more and more Brussels
4:38:59sprouts and tomatoes still tethered to
4:39:01their stocks. Many with dirt still
4:39:03clinging to the roots and leaves still
4:39:05hanging from the stocks. We're seeing
4:39:07more handwritten signs that mimic the
4:39:09messy scroll of a roadside fruit and
4:39:11vegetable stand, more dusty wooden
4:39:13crates, more rustic cardboard boxes,
4:39:15more packages that look as though they
4:39:17were wrapped casually, messily by loving
4:39:19human hands, when in fact a machine
4:39:21packaged these containers, in some cases
4:39:23with the sticker deliberately attached
4:39:25crookedly in an overseas factory. And
4:39:27all in the service of pushing our
4:39:29nostalgia buttons, evoking a rosy
4:39:31remembrance of a simpler time that may
4:39:33or may not have ever existed. But the
4:39:36tricks Whole Foods plays aren't the only
4:39:39ones companies have in their nostalgia
4:39:41playbooks. So, let's focus now on
4:39:43another variant of nostalgia marketing,
4:39:45the old-fashioned kind. Haven't I seen
4:39:48you somewhere before? One of the
4:39:51classic, literally, and most effective
4:39:53ways companies create the nostalgia
4:39:55factor is by dusting off and
4:39:56re-releasing commercials, slogans, or ad
4:39:59campaigns from the past. Few have pulled
4:40:01this off better than Hines did in 2009
4:40:04when it revived its famous 1970s
4:40:06tagline, "Beans means Hines." 14.
4:40:09Hines's new, or rather old,
4:40:11advertisement features loving mothers
4:40:12feeding their kids plates heaped with
4:40:14Hines beans to the backdrop of catchy
4:40:16slogans like, "Sometimes when I'm
4:40:17feeling sad, my mom will read the signs.
4:40:20She knows the thing to cheer me up, and
4:40:22she knows that beans means Hines." This
4:40:24ad was so memorable, it was voted the
4:40:27most popular slogan by the advertising
4:40:29hall of fame nearly three decades after
4:40:31its original launch. The British company
4:40:34Hov has adapted an identical approach.
4:40:37In one advertisement, consumers see a
4:40:39retake of Ridley Scott's original 1,973
4:40:43at showing a boy on a bike riding
4:40:45through dodgy eras in British history
4:40:47from the Blitz to the minor strikes. The
4:40:50implicit message. No matter what we've
4:40:52been through, Hovus has always been
4:40:54there for us. 15. It worked in 1973 and
4:40:57worked again in 2009. So well that it
4:41:00boosted sales 11%. 16. Even banks and
4:41:05tire makers have gotten into the slogan
4:41:07repurposing act. Cityroup has recently
4:41:09brought back its original 1,978
4:41:12tagline, "The city never sleeps," in an
4:41:15attempt to seem safer and more
4:41:16trustworthy by hearkening back to a time
4:41:18before just about everybody hated and
4:41:20distrusted Banks. And Michelin is
4:41:23bringing back its celebrated icon, the
4:41:25Michelin man, created way back in 1898,
4:41:28though in its latest incarnation, bowing
4:41:30to contemporary health concerns, he
4:41:32slims down. 17. All State Insurance's
4:41:35new TV ads feature a spokesperson
4:41:36strolling through a montage of Great
4:41:38Depression era photographs while in
4:41:40toning. 1931 was not exactly a great
4:41:43year to start a business. But that's
4:41:44when all state opened its doors. And
4:41:47through the 12 recessions since, they've
4:41:49noticed that after the fears subside, a
4:41:51funny thing happens. People start
4:41:53enjoying the small things in life. It's
4:41:56back to basics. And the basics are good.
4:41:59Protect them. Put them in good hands.
4:42:0218. I began working for Pepsi around the
4:42:05time the company launched its retro
4:42:07inpired real sugar versions of two of
4:42:09its most beloved drinks, which it
4:42:11decided to nostalgically dub Mountain
4:42:13Dew Throwback and Pepsi Throwback, using
4:42:16all natural sweeteners popular during
4:42:18the 1960s and 70s. The throwback
4:42:20campaign even included a Facebook app
4:42:22designed to make a Facebook users photo
4:42:25retro or pose him or her behind a retro
4:42:27looking template. Well, the viral buzz
4:42:29was absolutely staggering, garnering
4:42:31over 2 million website mentions, 24,000
4:42:34blog posts, hundreds of YouTube videos
4:42:36combined with a whirlwind of Facebook
4:42:38and Twitter activity. 19. On the luxury
4:42:42side, Louis Vuitton recently rolled out
4:42:44nostalgic ads featuring Shan Connory and
4:42:47Katherine Denuf, symbols of the
4:42:48lacquered glamour of old Hollywood.
4:42:50Another Vuitton ad recalls a bygone era
4:42:53by featuring astronauts Buzz Aldrin,
4:42:55Sally Ride, and Jim Lavvel, each
4:42:56representing a past generation of space
4:42:58explorers. They're perched in a
4:43:00secondhand Western pickup truck, gazing
4:43:03up at the night sky. But they might as
4:43:04well be glancing back, aruck at history
4:43:07itself. When you think about it, this
4:43:10strategy is really quite brilliant. By
4:43:12re-releasing ads and commercials from
4:43:14our youth, or in the case of Michelin,
4:43:16our grandparents' youth, companies are
4:43:18not only triggering our nostalgia for
4:43:20that time, they're creating an
4:43:21association in our brains between our
4:43:23rosy memories of the era and their
4:43:25product. It doesn't matter if we never
4:43:28once ate Hines beans or banked at City
4:43:30Bank in our lives. Those old ads still
4:43:33trigger memories of all the other things
4:43:35we lovingly remember from that time
4:43:37while at the same time costing the
4:43:39company next to nothing. In Boon Beach,
4:43:42Florida, a town populated mostly by
4:43:44retirees, a new free publication
4:43:46entitled Nostalgic America attempts to
4:43:49hook senior citizens by pairing local
4:43:51ads with iconic images from yester year.
4:43:54For example, a photograph of the Beatles
4:43:561,964
4:43:58at Sullivan show appearance accompanies
4:43:59an ad for a long-term care facility, and
4:44:02a photo of Jean Kelly crewing singing in
4:44:04the rain is pictured alongside a
4:44:06business selling final expense
4:44:07insurance. 21. about the 1,951
4:44:11ad for the debut of the TV classic I
4:44:14Love Lucy, situated next to a reverse
4:44:16mortgage pitch. Still, few crafty
4:44:18advertising campaigns aimed at seniors
4:44:21can compare with the Social Security
4:44:22Administration tapping musician Chubby
4:44:24Checker to promote its program in ads
4:44:26that feature a black and white video of
4:44:28Checker doing the twist with dancers
4:44:30dressed in 1960s attire. As Mr. checker
4:44:33comes into color. He says a new twist in
4:44:36the law makes it easier than ever to
4:44:37save on your Medicare prescription drug
4:44:39plans. 21. It might not surprise you to
4:44:43learn that your everyday supermarket,
4:44:45not just those high-end mega stores like
4:44:47Whole Foods, is lousy with examples of
4:44:50nostalgia marketing. Let's look at
4:44:52cereals. Note that the iconic Tony the
4:44:55Tiger who has been around since 1952 on
4:44:58the box of frosted flakes is appealing
4:45:00to the child buried inside the adult who
4:45:02dreamed of growing up to be strong and
4:45:04powerful. Similarly, the Australian
4:45:07brand Neutrorain most commonly consumed
4:45:09by males between the ages of 40 and 50
4:45:11is aggressively marketed to the little
4:45:13boy who wants to someday grow up to
4:45:15become an Iron Man hunk. The brand is
4:45:17the official sponsor of the 2011 Iron
4:45:19Man series, and if you go to the
4:45:21website, you'll be assaulted by photos
4:45:23of youthful, ripped athletes. I would
4:45:26also argue that cereal in and of itself
4:45:28is a nostalgia product. Go to any
4:45:31college or university cafeteria, and
4:45:33you'll find a surprising number of
4:45:34homesick students shoveling the stuff
4:45:36into their mouths. Why? Sure, they might
4:45:40like the taste, but it's also a lifeline
4:45:42to their parents, to comfort, and to the
4:45:44familiarity of childhood. Cheerios,
4:45:46tricks, and cocoa puffs have all
4:45:48undergone a 180 degree retro repackaging
4:45:51and are sold nowadays in vintage boxes.
4:45:54And if you really want to step into a
4:45:55time machine, watch one of those new
4:45:57black and white Rice Krispies
4:45:59commercials in which mom, dad, grandma,
4:46:01and their precious band of little ones
4:46:03mix up some Rice Krispies treat
4:46:05memories. The retro food marketing trend
4:46:08doesn't stop with cereal. In 2009,
4:46:11Nabiscoco brought out vintage renditions
4:46:13of Ritz crackers and Oreo cookies. While
4:46:15Hawaiian Punch has brought back its
4:46:17classic tagline, how about a nice
4:46:19Hawaiian Punch? And Jify Pop Popcorn
4:46:22tells consumers, "Some things are even
4:46:24better than you remember." And a few
4:46:26years ago, Annheiser Bush rolled out a
4:46:28reproduction of its first ever Budweiser
4:46:30can from 1,936,
4:46:33complete with a three-step illustration
4:46:35showing consumers how to drink the
4:46:36thing. Back in those days, beer in a can
4:46:39was unheard of. Speaking of dated
4:46:41beverages, could that possibly be Tab on
4:46:43the soda shelf? Tab, the favorite soft
4:46:46drink of countless female dieters from
4:46:48the 1970s is still around. You bet. And
4:46:52its original lettering in an oversized
4:46:54jutting font has even been retained.
4:46:56It's straight out of that girl or the
4:46:58Partridge family. Past the soda aisle,
4:47:01we make our way toward a vast selection
4:47:03of chocolates. Whitman's samplers.
4:47:06Funny, the box looks like a patchwork
4:47:08quilt, just like the one grandma used to
4:47:11have. Werether's caramels. Anyone
4:47:14remember the TV ads where Robert
4:47:16Rockwell played the kindly grandfather
4:47:18lovingly offering a caramel to his
4:47:20sweet, innocent looking grandson? Talk
4:47:22about nostalgia. And in 2007, the frozen
4:47:26food brand Swanson, rebranding itself as
4:47:28Swanson Classics, relaunched a line of
4:47:30original TV dinners, which included such
4:47:321950s staples as chicken pot pie,
4:47:35salsberry steak with corn and mashed
4:47:36potatoes and meatloaf, all served in
4:47:38that iconic segmented styrofoam tray of
4:47:41our youth. Of course, marketers know
4:47:43that we as consumers are hungry for any
4:47:46relic of our past. And not just when it
4:47:48comes to food. When we buy a Monopoly or
4:47:51part cheesey set or a Rubik's cube, for
4:47:53example, we aren't just buying a toy or
4:47:55a game. We're purchasing a trip back to
4:47:57our childhood. This is why Target has
4:48:00reintroduced what the chain calls
4:48:01selected retro toys, including sock
4:48:04monkeys and gumball machines. We're even
4:48:06more likely to buy a game that a brand
4:48:09rolled out last week, but that looks
4:48:11like a relic of our youth. Take the
4:48:13popular Hasbro game taboo. It was
4:48:16introduced in the late '9s, but includes
4:48:17an old school hourglass instead of a
4:48:20timer, which always makes me think of
4:48:21The Wizard of Oz, another childhood
4:48:23classic, and has a very simple, retro
4:48:26look. Nostalgia is also one reason why
4:48:28Best Buy, the giant electronics
4:48:30retailer, has recently devoted shelf
4:48:32space in 100 stores around the United
4:48:34States to LP Records. Yes, you read that
4:48:37right, Elps. Those bizarre black
4:48:39spinning things that make a crackling
4:48:40sound when the needle reaches the end.
4:48:43Despite the fact that most CD stores
4:48:45have closed to make way for the MP3
4:48:47generation, vinyl is making a serious
4:48:49comeback. Go on eBay and you'll find
4:48:51people auctioning off thousands of old
4:48:53records, sometimes for hundreds of
4:48:55dollars or more. Facebook groups and fan
4:48:58sites for lovers of vinyl, and Best Buy
4:49:00has deemed its vinyl experiment an
4:49:02unqualified success. Some brands and
4:49:05products are even going so far as to
4:49:08make up a past they don't have. How old
4:49:10do you think Bailey's the Irish whiskey
4:49:12and creambased lur is? 100
4:49:16150. After all, it terms itself the
4:49:19original and comes in an authentic
4:49:21looking bottle designed to denote the
4:49:23good old days. But in reality, Bailey's
4:49:26Irish cream will turn a mere 37 this
4:49:28year. And those brands unwilling to
4:49:30invent a history can buy one. In an
4:49:32auction held last year in New York,
4:49:34defunct names like Lucky Whip, Handy
4:49:36Wrap, Plastic Wrap, and Snowcrop Orange
4:49:38Juice, and even such oldtime media names
4:49:40as Collier's Magazine and Saturday
4:49:42Review came up for sale. 22. The winners
4:49:45not only bought a trusted, time-tested
4:49:47brand name, they purchased the memories
4:49:49of an entire generation. Even places
4:49:52designed to recall the texture of a
4:49:54bygone era can be extraordinarily
4:49:56seductive. Think about your favorite
4:49:59restaurant or watering hole. Does it
4:50:01have the thick oak bar and wood paneling
4:50:04of a 20s saloon? The chrome booths,
4:50:07fluorescent lighting, and tabletop
4:50:08jukebox of a 50s diner. The dark
4:50:11mahogany and leather of an old 18th
4:50:14century steakhouse. Does it actually
4:50:16date back to the era it's meant to
4:50:18recreate? Probably not. More likely,
4:50:22some smart marketer knew that making it
4:50:24look and feel old-fashioned would help
4:50:26lure in crowds and dollars. As a recent
4:50:29New York Times article reported, this
4:50:31has become a trend in New York's Hip
4:50:33West Village neighborhood, where a pride
4:50:34of reincarnated restaurants, each taking
4:50:37a different area of history for
4:50:39inspiration, have turned the
4:50:40neighborhood into a theme park of the
4:50:42past. As the article goes on to note,
4:50:45designers say it is important to give a
4:50:47room a detailed storyline that harks
4:50:49back to a more intimate way of life. 23.
4:50:53The future of the past. Happiness is not
4:50:56something you experience, it's something
4:50:58you remember. 24 Oscar Levant was once
4:51:01quoted as saying, "All these brands and
4:51:04companies I've talked about know that
4:51:05for most of us, the past is always
4:51:07better than the present. Quite simply,
4:51:09it is how our brains are hardwired. When
4:51:12you think about it, it's one of the
4:51:14nicer tricks our brains play on us as it
4:51:16protects us from painful memories and
4:51:18instills in us an optimism that things
4:51:20will be good again. But the danger of
4:51:23course is that it also makes us
4:51:24unwitting suckers for anything from
4:51:26bruised apples to sock monkeys to
4:51:28classic motorcycles that reminds us of
4:51:31being young. And scarier still,
4:51:33sometimes all it takes is a subtle
4:51:34subconscious cue like a few bars of a
4:51:36song or some old-fashioned lettering or
4:51:38a picture of a dead movie star to
4:51:40unleash that sly seductress nostalgia in
4:51:42us. As America's roughly 78 million baby
4:51:46boomers reach their 60s, there is no
4:51:48doubt in my mind that nostalgia will
4:51:50most likely play an even more integral
4:51:53role in marketing than it does today. At
4:51:55a time when technology is advancing at
4:51:57an everinccreasing pace, legendary
4:51:59brands and institutions from Woolworths
4:52:01to Tower Records are toppling left and
4:52:03right, and nothing feels durable or
4:52:05lasting. We as consumers are clinging
4:52:07even more protectively to those brands
4:52:09that not only have endured from our
4:52:11childhoods, but reawaken us and allow us
4:52:13to relive the memories from that
4:52:15simpler, more stable time. Speaking of
4:52:18which, remember the woman I spoke about
4:52:20earlier in this chapter who swears that
4:52:22the Mars bars from France taste better
4:52:24than the same Mars bars manufactured in
4:52:27the United States. I believe her. Bear
4:52:30with me for a moment and you'll see why.
4:52:33For the past few decades, I would say
4:52:36nine out of 10 new French parents have
4:52:38given their babies Evian water. For
4:52:40French parents, it's become a minor
4:52:42superstition of sorts. Unless they give
4:52:44little France water a bottle or cup of
4:52:46Evian, the child won't turn out to be a
4:52:49successful adult. Many young French
4:52:51families keep two separate bottles of
4:52:53water at home, Evian for their babies
4:52:55and another brand of bottled water for
4:52:57themselves. In the introduction to this
4:53:00book, I spoke about the influence
4:53:02parents have over their children's
4:53:03choice of brands and how whether it's
4:53:05the ketchup or mustard in the fridge or
4:53:07the scent of shaving cream or perfume
4:53:09our parents used, we carry throughout
4:53:11our adult lives of fondness for those
4:53:14products we grew up with. As it turns
4:53:16out, it's not just our personal past
4:53:18that can affect our brand preferences
4:53:20for years to come. We also have an
4:53:23abnormal attachment to past tastes and
4:53:25flavors of our history and culture. A
4:53:28few years back, Danon, one of the
4:53:30world's largest food and beverage
4:53:32companies and the manufacturer of Evian
4:53:34water, decided that since it was so
4:53:36successful in France, why not try to
4:53:38penetrate China, which with its more
4:53:40than 1 billion potential Evian drinkers
4:53:42was a potentially lucrative market.
4:53:45Normally, Danon taps its Evian water in
4:53:47the French Alps before shipping it to
4:53:49retailers and customers across the
4:53:51globe. But given that water is quite
4:53:53heavy, the costs of shipping all the way
4:53:56to China proved to be so financially
4:53:58challenging that Danon made a fateful
4:54:00executive decision. The company
4:54:02executives summoned French water quality
4:54:04experts to inspect hundreds of local
4:54:06Chinese wells in an attempt to find one
4:54:09that met the quality of the French Evian
4:54:11water. Millions of dollars in expenses
4:54:14later, they uncovered the perfect well,
4:54:16or so they thought, and began pumping
4:54:18and manufacturing the Chinese variant of
4:54:20Evian water. It was a flop and across
4:54:23the board disaster. When you think about
4:54:26it, it's not hard to see why French
4:54:28consumers would turn their noses up at
4:54:30the stuff. After all, for many
4:54:32Westerners, China conotes pollution and
4:54:34industrial waste. Not exactly qualities
4:54:37we'd want in our drinking water,
4:54:39especially if we were used to getting it
4:54:40from the verdant, picturesque natural
4:54:42wonder in our backyard. But as it turned
4:54:45out, Chinese consumers wouldn't touch it
4:54:47either. What was going on? As everyone
4:54:50knows, the taste of water is
4:54:52frustratingly difficult to put into
4:54:54words. Water tastes like everything. It
4:54:57tastes like nothing. It tastes like air.
4:54:59It tastes like glass. It tastes like a
4:55:02cold night. So, an Evian research group
4:55:04tasked with figuring out why the Chinese
4:55:06hated the water so much decided not to
4:55:09bother asking them what they thought of
4:55:10the taste of the water. Instead, they
4:55:12asked them questions about their
4:55:14childhoods. Among them were, "Where did
4:55:16you play when you were young? What was
4:55:18the first drink you recall drinking as a
4:55:21child? And which drink did your parents
4:55:23forbid you to drink, but you drank
4:55:26anyway? The results explained
4:55:28everything. Just two decades earlier,
4:55:31metropolitan cities like Beijing,
4:55:33Shanghai, and Guangjo had been farmland
4:55:35complete with crops, cows, and farming
4:55:37traditions. Roughly 60% of the Chinese
4:55:40labor force worked in agriculture. By
4:55:431,990,
4:55:44this number had fallen to 30%. In the
4:55:47mid 1990s, it dropped further once the
4:55:50Chinese industrial revolution
4:55:52reorganized certain cities into economic
4:55:54redevelopment zones and the government
4:55:56bulldozed farmland in preparation for
4:55:58building factories.
4:56:00Remember that most of the time we as
4:56:02consumers are seeking to activate and
4:56:04recreate taste memories from long ago,
4:56:06though we're not always conscious of it.
4:56:08This was what was going on with Evian
4:56:11water in China. Chinese consumers
4:56:13weren't used to the bustling urban China
4:56:15of today. Most of them had grown up in
4:56:18agrarian surroundings that were more
4:56:20like the French Alps than modern-day
4:56:22Shenzhen, and had grown accustomed, like
4:56:24the French, to the faintest, subtlest
4:56:26taste of green vegetation in their
4:56:28drinking water, even the bottled stuff.
4:56:30Farmland can turn into factories, but
4:56:32memories are forever green. So, when
4:56:34Evian rolled out the new China sourced
4:56:36water, Chinese consumers felt deprived
4:56:39of the taste of their childhoods, which
4:56:41is where Evian's experts had gone wrong.
4:56:44They thought they were marketing to the
4:56:46China of today, not the China of yestery
4:56:48year. Based on the answers to the survey
4:56:51questions, Evian had no choice but to
4:56:53hunt down wells in China that after
4:56:55filtration still boasted a faint,
4:56:57grassy, moldy note. This wise shift in
4:57:00strategy not only altered how Danon and
4:57:02Evian decided to operate their future
4:57:04international businesses, but today has
4:57:06made Danon the third largest player in
4:57:08the Chinese water market. which is a
4:57:11long way of saying that I'll bet my
4:57:13American friend is right about those
4:57:15French Mars bars. To her, at least they
4:57:18do taste better than the American ones.
4:57:20Oh, this same friend recently joined
4:57:23Facebook. She's reffriended several of
4:57:25her old classmates from her old French
4:57:27lys talk about reliving old times and
4:57:30they all agree with her about the Mars
4:57:31bars, the probable cause, French cows,
4:57:34French milk, French grass growing on
4:57:36French soil, and maybe, okay, just
4:57:39maybe, nostalgia.
4:57:41Chapter 7. According to nationwide
4:57:44polls, a faraway royal family's
4:57:46popularity ratings were tanking. The
4:57:48public was questioning, as they tended
4:57:50to do every few years, whether the royal
4:57:53family was really worth it. All that tax
4:57:55money spent maintaining palaces, paying
4:57:58guards, keeping up regal appearances,
4:58:00and for what? What exactly do the royals
4:58:02do to earn their keep? The royal family
4:58:05was facing a PR crisis, and their
4:58:07advisers were desperate, which is when
4:58:09my telephone rang. Would I be available
4:58:12to help strengthen the royal family's
4:58:14image to advise it on how it might
4:58:17restore its high national ratings? In
4:58:19other words, could I help reinvent and
4:58:22reinvigorate the royal family's brand?
4:58:25After a few conversations, I found
4:58:27myself in the employee of one of the
4:58:29more recognized families in the entire
4:58:31world. There's something about royalty
4:58:33that ignites most people's imaginations
4:58:35and aspirations. After all, who wouldn't
4:58:38want to be a member of royalty and live
4:58:40a life of swank balls, elegant clothing,
4:58:42sumptuous food, shimmering diamonds, and
4:58:45attentive weight staff? Royalty plays a
4:58:47part in every fairy tale and fantasy
4:58:49most children and plenty of adults to
4:58:52ever read or see in the movies. As
4:58:54Martantos Aranda, a design manager at
4:58:56LEGO's concept lab in Barcelona, Spain,
4:58:59notes, according to the company's
4:59:01studies, young girls are hardwired to
4:59:03grow up wanting to be princesses. They
4:59:05even want to sleep with their princess
4:59:07costumes. She told me, "Even the richest
4:59:10and most powerful people on earth, from
4:59:12billionaire CEOs to Hollywood mega
4:59:14stars, turn into flustered, tongueti
4:59:16children when they come in contact with
4:59:18royalty. And even the richest, most
4:59:20successful CEOs in the world, including
4:59:22Bill Gates, pony up enormous sums to
4:59:24dine with the UK's royal family. It's
4:59:26because in our culture, royalty is the
4:59:28highest class there is. It's the
4:59:30ultimate celebrity, the pinnacle of
4:59:32fame, status, and envy. What most people
4:59:35don't know, however, is that this image
4:59:37doesn't come easy. That behind the
4:59:39scenes, a royal family is actually a
4:59:41high-end brand like any other one that
4:59:43is carefully, deliberately, and
4:59:45consistently cultivated and maintained.
4:59:48So much so that royal families across
4:59:50Europe actually meet on a regular basis
4:59:52to compare notes and exchange
4:59:54experiences and craft long-term
4:59:56strategies. As someone in the know once
4:59:58said to me, the difference between a
5:00:00royal family and a brand is that a brand
5:00:02is focused on the next 6 months, while a
5:00:05royal family typically has a marketing
5:00:07plan for the next 75 years. Among other
5:00:10things, keeping up a royal image
5:00:12involves maintaining the delicate
5:00:14balance between fantasy and reality,
5:00:16distance and familiarity. It's important
5:00:18for the royals to stay relevant, but
5:00:21when they become too real or overly
5:00:23familiar, they lose their magic. In
5:00:252003, for example, when a reporter for
5:00:28the UK's Daily Mirror working undercover
5:00:30as a palace footman at Buckingham Palace
5:00:32snapped a photo of a Tupperware
5:00:34container adorning the royal breakfast
5:00:36table, the public was horrified. One,
5:00:38they didn't want members of royalty
5:00:40using Tupperware. They wanted them to be
5:00:43eating from gilded bowls using spoons of
5:00:46antique silver. But at the same time, if
5:00:48royals behave too loftily or
5:00:50high-handedly, they risk that the
5:00:52public, who generally foots their bill,
5:00:54may perceive them as hotty, remote, and
5:00:56out of touch. In the industry, we call
5:00:59this the pixie dust phenomenon. And it
5:01:01springs from the idea that every time
5:01:03celebrities and what they stand for
5:01:05interact with the public, they either
5:01:06gain or lose some of their magic, their
5:01:08pixie dust. When they become too
5:01:11familiar or reachable, the pixie dust
5:01:13dissipates. I've spent my fair share of
5:01:16time around celebrities. And it's true
5:01:18that the more time you spend with them,
5:01:19the more normal they become. Their
5:01:22mystery, magic, and authority vanish. A
5:01:24brand withdrawal occurs. Maintaining
5:01:26just the right amount of pixie dust is a
5:01:28fine balance that celebrity brands have
5:01:30to juggle every day. Which is why when
5:01:32celebrities meet with their real fans,
5:01:35managers, and publicists typically limit
5:01:37these encounters to a halfhour maximum.
5:01:40And not many people know this, but the
5:01:42reason many royals wear those long
5:01:44gloves isn't just for elegance. It's to
5:01:46create an intentional psychological
5:01:48distance from members of the public.
5:01:50From a historical standpoint, royal
5:01:53families really are the world's first
5:01:55ever celebrities. Since practically the
5:01:57beginning of civilization, they've been
5:01:59the public face of their countries. They
5:02:02symbolize a nation's values and
5:02:03traditions by commemorating
5:02:05anniversaries, birthdays, deaths, and
5:02:08even the passage of a new year. They
5:02:09unite a country's citizenry. They're
5:02:12living, breathing tourist bureaus, and
5:02:14as a result, they bring in enormous
5:02:16amounts of capital, business, and
5:02:17industry. In short, their brands and
5:02:20lucrative ones, too. In the case of the
5:02:23British royal family, the link between
5:02:25the British crown and corporate brand
5:02:26management is not as obtuse as might
5:02:28first appear, says one study, which
5:02:31points out that many of the royal
5:02:32family's members refer to the monarchy
5:02:34as the firm, and goes on to quote a
5:02:36prominent British historian as saying,
5:02:38"In the age of democracy, the crown has
5:02:40to be like any other brand. It has to
5:02:43win the respect of the people." Two, the
5:02:47present-day English House of Windsor can
5:02:49even be said to have invented the
5:02:51concept of merchandising royalty. In
5:02:54order to control the queen's image and
5:02:56ensure she appeared exactly as we
5:02:57recognize her from stamps, coins,
5:03:00currency, and posters, the British royal
5:03:02family rolled out an image control
5:03:04system. Then, as now, whenever the
5:03:06public interacts with the queen at
5:03:08dinners or receptions, the royal
5:03:10photographer is the only person
5:03:12permitted to take her photograph. Well,
5:03:14naturally, everyone and her mother wants
5:03:16to have their photo taken with the
5:03:18queen. So, the royal photographer will
5:03:20sell these photos to you for a hefty
5:03:22price online. You can also buy your
5:03:24picture of yourself standing beside the
5:03:26queen. But back to my royal family and
5:03:29its brand, which two years ago was in
5:03:31trouble and needed a shot of pixie dust.
5:03:34I started off with a campaign that
5:03:35appealed to that country's, sorry, I
5:03:38can't say which one, sense of national
5:03:39responsibility, reminding the public
5:03:41that every great monarchy needs to trust
5:03:44and believe in its royal family. Study
5:03:46after study shows that if a citizenry
5:03:48believes in something, the national
5:03:50death rate goes down, and people
5:03:51generally are happier, live longer, and
5:03:53use fewer social services. All
5:03:55information I took pains to make very
5:03:57public. I also felt we had to remind the
5:04:00country's citizens that the royal family
5:04:02was the pinnacle of citizenship,
5:04:04responsibility and public service. Royal
5:04:06dinners and champagne brunches would no
5:04:08longer do the trick. Accordingly, we
5:04:11arranged for members of the family to
5:04:13carry out a new set of duties for
5:04:14assorted handpicked high-profile
5:04:16charities. Next, I hired an archavist to
5:04:19plum the history books to uncover
5:04:21forgotten rituals we could resurrect. My
5:04:24research over the years has shown that
5:04:26consumers forge greater emotional
5:04:28attachments and are therefore more loyal
5:04:30to brands that have rituals surrounding
5:04:32them and that creating a sense of
5:04:34mystery around a brand or product is
5:04:36another highly effective branding
5:04:38strategy. Lucky for me, royal families
5:04:41have many centuries old rituals,
5:04:43stories, mythologies, symbols, and
5:04:45ceremonies unknown to the general
5:04:47public. Many of these rituals are in
5:04:50fact designed to protect the royal
5:04:51family from embarrassing moments and in
5:04:54general to control the public like the
5:04:56unspoken rule that commoners should
5:04:58never address members of the royal
5:04:59family unless the royal addresses them
5:05:01first and that commoners must use the
5:05:03right titles both of which serve as
5:05:05reminders that commoners are subordinate
5:05:07to the glittering iborn royals standing
5:05:09before them. The royal family I work for
5:05:12actually offers training sessions for
5:05:14its younger members in which, among
5:05:16other things, they're taught the proper
5:05:18way to shake hands with commoners. In my
5:05:21time working for the royal family, I've
5:05:23learned about many secret rituals and
5:05:25traditions that I'm not permitted to
5:05:27divulge. But I can tell you this much.
5:05:29Every single royal family in the world
5:05:31knows that the best and quickest way to
5:05:33boost its popularity ratings is to host
5:05:36a royal wedding. Think of the publicity
5:05:38storm surrounding Prince William's
5:05:40wedding to Kate Middleton and you'll
5:05:42know what I mean. A close second, the
5:05:45arrival of a royal baby. Make that lots
5:05:48and lots of royal babies. You want a
5:05:51royal home run? Have twins. This was a
5:05:54feat the Danish royal family managed to
5:05:56carry off in 2011 for the first time in
5:05:59modern history, boosting its countrywide
5:06:01popularity ratings by several percentage
5:06:04points. Remember, the more little
5:06:06princes and princesses that pop forth,
5:06:08the greater likelihood of future
5:06:10weddings and future births and thus
5:06:12continued popularity. Now you know what
5:06:14I mean when I say that royal families
5:06:16have a marketing plan that extends for
5:06:18decades. At this point, you might be
5:06:21thinking, "Okay, well, this is
5:06:23interesting, but what does it have to do
5:06:25with us?" After all, the United States
5:06:28doesn't even have a royal family. Well,
5:06:31while that's true technically, we do
5:06:32have our own variation on royalty. There
5:06:35are Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Julia
5:06:37Roberts, Reese Witherspoon, George
5:06:39Clooney, Tom Cruz, Katie Holmes, Will
5:06:41Smith, Justin Timberlake, Kim
5:06:43Kardashian, Ryan Serest, Barack and
5:06:45Michelle Obama, and so many more the
5:06:47head reels. In our culture, celebrities
5:06:49are the kings and queens. And you'd
5:06:52better believe that our marketers and
5:06:54advertisers are just as shrewd at using
5:06:56their fame to brandwash us as the royal
5:06:58family's advisers are at selling their
5:07:00royal brand to their constituencies.
5:07:03Cinderella really did eat our daughters.
5:07:06At this point, you might be wondering,
5:07:08can a famous face really have that much
5:07:10of an impact on how we spend our money?
5:07:13Surely we're not that naive, are we? The
5:07:16answer is yes, we are. What's more, the
5:07:19lure of celebrity begins earlier in life
5:07:21than you'd think. By the time most young
5:07:23boys reached the ripe old age of three
5:07:25or four, they've already begun to
5:07:27worship superheroes like Batman,
5:07:29Superman, Spider-Man, X-Men, or whoever
5:07:31the marketers at Marvel or Pixar have
5:07:33decided the popular new hero duour
5:07:35should be. By the time they're seven or
5:07:37eight, many have transferred this giddy
5:07:39adoration onto flesh and blood heroes,
5:07:41usually athletes like David Beckham,
5:07:43Dale Nhard, Derek Jeder, and Payton
5:07:46Manning. Companies of course know this
5:07:48which is why there are so many celebrity
5:07:50spokespeople for products marketed to
5:07:52young boys. When Lego signed an
5:07:54endorsement deal with Ferrari when race
5:07:56car driver Michael Schumacher was still
5:07:58driving the license became huge in
5:08:00Germany recalls Mads nipper executive
5:08:03vice president of market and products
5:08:05for Lego and Lego was able to ride that
5:08:08wave. In short may have been a strong
5:08:11brand but celebrity was even stronger.
5:08:14Why superheroes and sports stars?
5:08:17Remember in chapter 2 when I talked
5:08:19about how fear-based marketing plays on
5:08:21our insecurities about becoming some
5:08:22feared future self? Well, marketing
5:08:25strategies centered on celebrity do the
5:08:27exact opposite. They appeal to fantasies
5:08:29about our idealized future selves.
5:08:32Thanks to the psychological studies they
5:08:34conduct and the consultants they hire, I
5:08:36know because I'm one of them, marketers
5:08:38are keenly aware that the vast majority
5:08:40of young boys dream of growing up to
5:08:42become strong and powerful. And in turn,
5:08:44they will be drawn to heroes with
5:08:46special powers, supernatural, athletic,
5:08:48or otherwise. Case in point, I know one
5:08:51American man whose mother gave him a jet
5:08:53black Batman suit, plus accessories,
5:08:55when he was 5 years old. He's well into
5:08:58middle age now, but he still remembers
5:09:00how powerful he felt with his chintzy
5:09:02little bat boomerang cinched to his
5:09:04waist. He wasn't just dressed as Batman,
5:09:07he recalled 45 years later he was
5:09:09Batman. As for girls, in general, young
5:09:13girls are seduced less by powerful
5:09:15figures. Their ideal future selves are
5:09:18graceful, feminine, and stunningly
5:09:20beautiful. Hence, the princess fantasy
5:09:22that is so pervasive in our culture. In
5:09:24her recent book, Cinderella Ate My
5:09:26Daughter, journalist Peggy Orinstein
5:09:28looks at why the princess has become
5:09:30synonymous with the feminine ideal.
5:09:32Among other things, she cites the
5:09:34princess industrial complex and all the
5:09:36ways in which companies and marketers
5:09:38are pedalling the princess fantasy to
5:09:40our young daughters and making boatloads
5:09:42of money in the process. As Orinstein
5:09:45points out, with more than 26,000 Disney
5:09:48Princess items on the market, Princess
5:09:50is not only the fastest growing brand
5:09:52the company has ever created, it's the
5:09:54largest franchise on the planet for
5:09:56girls ages 2 to six. Three. Marta Tantos
5:10:00Aranda explains that little girls start
5:10:02out wanting to be princesses, but later
5:10:04on their role model isn't just Hannah
5:10:06Montana or a young gymnast they've seen
5:10:08on TV, but very often an older,
5:10:10typically gorgeous teenage girl with
5:10:12long blonde hair. So, if the Disney
5:10:14princess is the idealized image of
5:10:16girlhood, the brand that best represents
5:10:18teens and tween's idealized, if
5:10:20completely unrealistic, image of
5:10:22womanhood is none other than Barbie, who
5:10:24will turn 53 this year. To be sure, this
5:10:27blonde bombshell has had her critics.
5:10:29But whether you approve of her and her
5:10:31unnatural proportions or not, you can't
5:10:33deny her celebrity or her profitability.
5:10:35Mattel estimates that two Barbie dolls
5:10:37are sold somewhere in the world every
5:10:39second of every day with total sales
5:10:41around 1.5 billion annually. Four, which
5:10:44represents 1/5if of Mattel's yearly
5:10:46revenue. When you think about it, it
5:10:48really isn't altogether shocking that
5:10:50Barbie has endured as one of the most
5:10:52famous cultural icons and one of the
5:10:55most famous brands of the past half
5:10:57century. After all, she was designed and
5:11:00marketed to represent exactly what every
5:11:02girl, no matter what decade she's born
5:11:03in, wants to be. Beautiful, glamorous,
5:11:06popular, and adore. This is also the
5:11:09appeal of a much newer pop culture idol,
5:11:11Miley Cyrus. In case you don't have a
5:11:14predine daughter at home, this famous
5:11:15young lady is the star of Hannah
5:11:17Montana, a wildly popular TV show about
5:11:19a teenager named Miley Stewart, who's an
5:11:22ordinary school girl by day, but by
5:11:23night, disguised in a blonde wig, is a
5:11:26hugely successful pop star known as
5:11:28Hannah Montana. Just as sports stars do
5:11:30for boys, Hannah Montana appeals to
5:11:32tween and teen girls fantasies about
5:11:34their ideal selves. Cyrus is
5:11:35unself-conscious, fun, wild, and bold.
5:11:38Everything an insecure teenage girl
5:11:39would like her future self to be. Plus,
5:11:41name me one kid who hasn't lip cinched
5:11:43with a fake microphone before a bedroom
5:11:45mirror. If these are the heroes we have
5:11:48as children, what happens when we grow
5:11:50up? Clearly, our obsession with fame and
5:11:53celebrity doesn't end in childhood.
5:11:55Well, in the same way that most young
5:11:57boys want to grow up to be superheroes,
5:11:59and most young girls want to be
5:12:00princesses, though granted, there are
5:12:02exceptions, the ideal future self for
5:12:04most adults, male or female, is more or
5:12:07less universal, rich, attractive, and
5:12:09famous. I've been asked more than once
5:12:12to brand a celebrity. The most recent
5:12:14being a well-known television star. In
5:12:17general, I use the same playbook I use
5:12:19with royalty with a few crucial
5:12:21differences. Unlike royal families,
5:12:23celebrities lack bloodlines, history,
5:12:25timeworn rituals, or pageantry, other
5:12:28than strolling the red carpet at one of
5:12:29the year's countless awards ceremonies.
5:12:32And unlike royal families, traditional
5:12:34celebrities have attained fame through
5:12:35talent. Though, this is becoming less
5:12:37and less the case. And if you don't
5:12:39believe me, watch a season or two of
5:12:40Dancing with the Stars. Whether that
5:12:42talent is acting, singing, dancing, or
5:12:44athleticism, although sheer good looks
5:12:46don't hurt either. Yes, our celebrities
5:12:49are like disposable royals, and that
5:12:50they are wealthy, powerful, and
5:12:52surrounded by a squadron of agents,
5:12:54managers, publicists, and bodyguards.
5:12:57But the most important thing they have
5:12:59in common is our envy. We want to be
5:13:02them. Barring that, we want to be like
5:13:04them. So, I suppose it's no surprise
5:13:07that advertisers and marketers pay
5:13:09celebrities of all stripes, from actors
5:13:11to athletes to reality TV stars enormous
5:13:14sums of money to sell us everything from
5:13:16clothing to cars to breakfast cereal to
5:13:18sports drinks. Most people are aware
5:13:21that celebrity marketing exists after
5:13:23all. It's hard to miss. But what many
5:13:26are unaware of is how well it's working.
5:13:28According to an online survey sent to
5:13:3011,000 adults and teens across the
5:13:33country, the large majority of us
5:13:34believe that the celebrities who appear
5:13:36in advertising or endorsements do not,
5:13:38repeat, do not affect our purchasing
5:13:40decisions. In fact, more than 80% of
5:13:43respondents claimed they would buy the
5:13:45products they like, regardless of
5:13:47whether or not there was a celebrity
5:13:49endorsement. Well, guess what? I believe
5:13:52them. At least I believe they don't
5:13:55think they're being seduced or persuaded
5:13:57by celebrity advertising. But that's
5:13:59exactly the point. As the chief industry
5:14:02analyst of NPD Insights, Marshall Cohen,
5:14:05points out, sometimes it is an unseen
5:14:07influence that triggers the consumer's
5:14:09attention or encourages a product
5:14:10purchase. A celebrity associated product
5:14:13can be a very powerful subliminal
5:14:15purchase influence. In some cases, it
5:14:18may even be the reason a consumer
5:14:20recognizes a brand or product just based
5:14:22on the mere fact a celebrity is
5:14:24associated with it. Five, studies have
5:14:28also shown that when celebrities appear
5:14:29in advertisements or endorse products,
5:14:32not only do we perceive the brand
5:14:34message as more authentic, but it also
5:14:36enhances our recognition and recall of
5:14:38the product in question. So when we see
5:14:41that product, whether it's Sarah Jessica
5:14:43Parker's perfume, the Triscuits with
5:14:45Rachel Ray on the box, or the Nike
5:14:47sneaker endorsed by Raphael Nadal, we
5:14:49reach instinctively and often quite
5:14:51unconsciously for that product over the
5:14:53non-ceelebrity branded variety. There's
5:14:56even evidence to suggest that the
5:14:58persuasive power of celebrity is
5:15:00biologically based. One Dutch study
5:15:02found that seeing a celebrity endorse a
5:15:05product, in this case a pair of shoes,
5:15:07actually alters a woman's brain
5:15:09activity. In this fascinating study,
5:15:11researchers scanned 24 women's brains as
5:15:14they viewed 40 color photos of both
5:15:16famous and non-famous women all wearing
5:15:18the same footwear. Results showed that
5:15:20when the women looked at the celebrity
5:15:22photos, there was heightened activity in
5:15:24a part of the brain associated with the
5:15:26feeling of affection, the medial orbital
5:15:28frontal cortex, activity that was absent
5:15:31when the women looked at the photos of
5:15:33the non-ceelebrities. Six. Another
5:15:35recent UK study which found that even
5:15:37average oml looking celebrity models and
5:15:40ads produce a more intense emotional
5:15:41response in us than breathtakingly
5:15:43gorgeous non-ceelebrity endorsers
5:15:45concluded that not only is fame even
5:15:47more powerful than beauty in persuading
5:15:49us to buy something, but there may
5:15:51actually be a dedicated area of the
5:15:52human brain that's become hardwired to
5:15:55respond positively to celebrity endorsed
5:15:57products. Seven. Given that humans
5:16:00appear to have a practically innate
5:16:02attraction to fame, it also helps that
5:16:04talk of celebrities like the weather or
5:16:06sports establishes common conversational
5:16:08ground among relative strangers and
5:16:10helps us feel a sense of belonging. I
5:16:13suppose it's no surprise that over the
5:16:14past decade, the number of famous people
5:16:16in the press has tripled. You read that
5:16:19right, tripled. Thanks to reality TV and
5:16:22the internet, both of which have
5:16:24provided all kinds of new, if somewhat
5:16:26ridiculous, avenues for celebrity, the
5:16:28boundaries of what it means to be
5:16:30famous, have expanded beyond our wildest
5:16:32imaginations. Celebrities aren't just
5:16:35athletes and movie stars anymore. Today
5:16:37they include YouTube sensations like
5:16:39Chris Crocker, the Britney Spears
5:16:40superfan, MySpace phenomena, Think Tilla
5:16:43Tequila, celebrity bloggers like Perez
5:16:45Hilton, and of course, reality
5:16:46television personalities, too many to
5:16:48name, many of whom have inexplicably
5:16:50managed to parlay their 15 minutes of
5:16:52fame into an hour at least. Accordingly,
5:16:55the percentage of ads worldwide using
5:16:57celebrities has doubled to roughly 17%
5:17:00in the past decade. Aid and let's not
5:17:02forget celebrities who are famous just
5:17:04for serving celebrities. All the
5:17:06doctors, dentists, plastic surgeons,
5:17:08real estate agents, chefs, bloggers,
5:17:10fashion designers, cosmeticians,
5:17:12hairdressers, party planners,
5:17:13choreographers, and florists to the
5:17:15stars. As Hamish Pringle writes in
5:17:17celebrity sales, the proportion of UK
5:17:20ads featuring a celebrity is now 1 in5,
5:17:22an increase of nearly 100% in a single
5:17:25decade. In the United States, this
5:17:28figure stands at 1 in4 nine. It's not
5:17:32just actors, rock stars, and basketball
5:17:34players like it used to be in the old
5:17:36days of celebrity marketing. Today's
5:17:39product sponsors and spokespeople
5:17:40include talk show hosts Kelly Reapa for
5:17:43Electrolux, TV chefs Gordon Ramsay for
5:17:45Gordon's Jin, former boxers George
5:17:47Foreman Hawking his best-selling grill,
5:17:49politicians Bob Dole for Viagra,
5:17:51business mogul Twitter co-founder Bis
5:17:53Stone for Staly Vodka, celebrity spawn
5:17:55Billy Joel and Christy Brinkley's
5:17:57daughter Alexa Ray Joel for Prell and
5:17:59Home Reckers Golfer Tiger Woods s
5:18:01alleged mistresses for the auction site
5:18:02bidder.com.
5:18:04As you're about to read, companies and
5:18:06marketers not only recognize that the
5:18:08boundaries of fame are expanding, they
5:18:11are coming up with all kinds of sneaky
5:18:12and underhanded new ways of exploiting
5:18:14our obsession with this new breed of
5:18:16celebrity to the fullest. That's what
5:18:19makes celebrities such a powerful hidden
5:18:21persuader. I want to be like Mike. Just
5:18:25so we're all on the same page, let's
5:18:27define a celebrity as a symbol or an
5:18:29icon who possesses and represents a
5:18:31variety of desirable attributes to which
5:18:34many of us aspire. It could be beauty,
5:18:36charm, sex appeal, glamour, coolness,
5:18:38suveness, outrageousness, musicianship,
5:18:41or athleticism, you name it. When I talk
5:18:43about celebritydriven marketing or
5:18:45advertising, I'm not talking about
5:18:47celebrities simply lending their names
5:18:49to a brand or slapping their faces on an
5:18:51ad or package. Of course, these tactics
5:18:54do work, but it goes deeper than that.
5:18:57I'm talking about a more subtle
5:18:58psychological maneuver whereby we as
5:19:00consumers are duped into believing that
5:19:02a celebrity has almost alchemically
5:19:04transposed his or her attributes onto a
5:19:06food, a drink, an automobile, a perfume,
5:19:09a face cream, a luggage brand, a credit
5:19:11card, and so forth in a process so
5:19:13seamless that we're subconsciously
5:19:15persuaded that by purchasing said
5:19:17product, we are essentially purchasing a
5:19:19piece of the celebrity. To many of us,
5:19:22celebrities are living the dream. Each
5:19:24time we pick up a gossip magazine or
5:19:26watch an awards show, we're instantly
5:19:28seduced by the red carpets, $10,000
5:19:30dresses, attractive spouses, perfect
5:19:32complexions, Fifth Avenue pen houses,
5:19:35and beachfront Malibu estates. During
5:19:37insecure economic times, celebrities
5:19:39lives appear especially idyllic,
5:19:41seemingly untouched by the everyday
5:19:43troubles and responsibilities that mark
5:19:45most of our days. Interestingly, Peggy
5:19:47Ornstein writes that the princess craze
5:19:49escalated during the recent recession.
5:19:51I'll bet Julia Roberts doesn't have to
5:19:54take out a second mortgage. We think
5:19:56sourly. Why can't my life be that easy?
5:19:59Well, by Julia's brand of lipstick, or
5:20:02perhaps a handbag, advertisers imply,
5:20:04and it can be. If this sounds overly
5:20:07simplistic or as though perhaps I'm not
5:20:09giving consumers enough credit, think
5:20:11again. An interesting study carried out
5:20:14by researchers at Duke University's
5:20:16Fukua School of Business and Canada's
5:20:18University of Waterlue found that even
5:20:19fleeting exposure to an established
5:20:21brand like Apple or Coke can actually
5:20:23cause us to take on the behaviors
5:20:25championed or represented by those
5:20:27brands. 10. For example, just being
5:20:30exposed to an Apple logo, a brand widely
5:20:32associated with creativity, made people
5:20:35think more imaginatively. So, since
5:20:37celebrities are fabulous, can't exposure
5:20:40to their brands cause some of that same
5:20:41fabulousness to rub off on us, too.
5:20:44There's no question that slathering on a
5:20:46movie star endorsed face cream, perfume,
5:20:49or eyeshadow makes us feel that much
5:20:51closer to our favorite celebrity, and
5:20:53everything about that celebrity we envy.
5:20:56We carry him or her with us all day, and
5:20:58in turn, we adopt his or her values and
5:21:01attributes to his or her swagger,
5:21:03attitude, talent, individuality,
5:21:05coolness, or allure. In short, in
5:21:07effect, we become that celebrity in the
5:21:09deeper recesses of our brains at least.
5:21:12We're the same Dolce and Gabana makeup
5:21:15Scarlett Johansson wears, and you can
5:21:17become as sultry and beautiful as
5:21:19Scarlet is. Buy a house that bears
5:21:21Fergie's providence, however tenuous,
5:21:23eg, she lived two blocks over once, and
5:21:26you can look out onto views Fergie's
5:21:27eyes once scanned. Spritz on Jennifer
5:21:30Lopez's or Halib Berry's perfume, and
5:21:32you can smell as irresistible as they
5:21:34do, and so on. This may sound a little
5:21:37extreme, maybe even hard to believe, but
5:21:40in fact, it's a common psychological
5:21:41phenomenon known as transference, a term
5:21:44that refers to our tendency to
5:21:45subconsciously transplant our feelings
5:21:47about some person or thing onto another.
5:21:50Ever try the South Beach diet? Named for
5:21:53a glamorous art deco Miami neighborhood
5:21:55and created by Dr. for Arthur Agston, a
5:21:58Miami cardiologist. It's an eating plan
5:22:00designed to help you lose weight by
5:22:02eliminating cravings for sugar and
5:22:04refined starches. Anyway, you probably
5:22:06would never have heard of the book,
5:22:08which was published in 2003 by Rodell
5:22:11Press if something incredible hadn't
5:22:13happened. When former President Bill
5:22:15Clinton, renowned for his love of fast
5:22:17food, announced in late 2004 he was
5:22:20waiting to undergo heart bypass surgery,
5:22:22he made reference in interviews to
5:22:24losing weight on the South Beach Diet.
5:22:2611. And not only that, he told the
5:22:28press, but Hillary Clinton was on it,
5:22:31too. Suddenly, sales of the book went
5:22:33through the roof. And today, the South
5:22:35Beach Diet is not only one of the best
5:22:37known diets in the United States,
5:22:39perhaps second only to Atkins, the book
5:22:41has sold more than 5 million copies. 12.
5:22:45This seemingly mundane episode
5:22:47highlights exactly why Celebrity is such
5:22:49a powerful persuader. By buying the
5:22:51South Beach Diet, consumers were able to
5:22:54share the eating habits of one of the
5:22:56most famous and powerful political
5:22:58couples in American history. As an added
5:23:00bonus, they could even shed excess
5:23:02pounds of their own along the way.
5:23:05Whatever your politics, whatever your
5:23:07values, I'm betting that the Clintons
5:23:09embody some attribute to which you
5:23:11aspire. Power, brains, charisma, charm,
5:23:16determination. Plus, studies have found
5:23:19food to be a powerful emotional
5:23:21connector. So, if we sample, say, a
5:23:23recipe for chickenpa that Bill Clinton
5:23:26favors, it literally makes us feel
5:23:28closer to the former president. Just as
5:23:30when we wear Michael Jordan sneakers and
5:23:32feel the same bounce to our step, we
5:23:34imagine we can play just like him. Or
5:23:36when we wear Kate Moss's Calvin Klein
5:23:38underwear and feel how it must feel
5:23:40against her hips, we imagine ourselves
5:23:42as sultry and seductive as she is. Or
5:23:45when eating Campbell's chunky soup, we
5:23:47can feel as mighty as Philadelphia
5:23:48Eagles quarterback Donovan McNab and
5:23:50picture the fans cheering for us as we
5:23:52stride onto an imaginary field.
5:23:55Rationally, we know this is foolish and
5:23:57delusional. But emotionally, that's
5:24:00another matter. A star is born. To
5:24:04better understand just how companies
5:24:06prey on this fundamental aspect of our
5:24:08psychology, let's look at Vitamin Water,
5:24:10a brand now owned by Coke that would be
5:24:13nothing without celebrities. A few years
5:24:15back, the marketers of Vitamin Water
5:24:18came up with a very clever plan. Why not
5:24:20give celebrities shares in the company
5:24:22in return for endorsing the brand? This
5:24:25shrewd arrangement accomplished two
5:24:27things. First, it got Vitamin Water and
5:24:30all-star team of celebrity endorsers,
5:24:32including rapper 50 Cent, who's made a
5:24:34fortune from the shares he owns in the
5:24:36company, fairly cheaply. Second, and
5:24:39perhaps more important, now that these
5:24:41celebrities had some stake in the
5:24:43company, it gave them the motivation to
5:24:45position themselves on camera whenever
5:24:47possible, sipping the sugary drink. Most
5:24:49recently, Ellen Degenerous conducted a
5:24:52live commercial for non-caloric Vitamin
5:24:54Water Zero, right in the middle of her
5:24:56popular TV talk show. After taking a few
5:24:58sips, Ellen, or rather a very athletic
5:25:01standin, did back flips across the stage
5:25:03to show how much energy the stuff gave
5:25:05her. Quite an endorsement indeed.
5:25:08Marketers are very aware that when
5:25:10celebrities are photographed or caught
5:25:12on video with a product, sales go
5:25:14through the roof, particularly when the
5:25:16photo is a candid a shot of said
5:25:18celebrity using or enjoying the product
5:25:20while simply going about his or her
5:25:22normal routine. Take for example what
5:25:25happened in 2007 when former Spice Girl
5:25:27and Soccer wife Victoria Beckham was
5:25:29caught on camera buying the then unknown
5:25:31cookbook Skinny in an LA boutique.
5:25:34Though it had been a best seller in the
5:25:36UK, you could barely give it away in the
5:25:39United States. That is until Beckham
5:25:41came along. As soon as that photo hit
5:25:43the Entertainment Mags, online sales
5:25:45shot up by 37,000, inaugurating the
5:25:48book's 84 weeks on the New York Times
5:25:50best seller list, 13. But of course,
5:25:54these photos aren't nearly as candid as
5:25:56they seem. Knowing full well what a gold
5:25:58mine such a photo can be, marketers and
5:26:01advertisers have been even more
5:26:03persistent and clever in their attempts
5:26:05to catch celebrities on camera using
5:26:07their product or brand. Vitamin Water
5:26:09did this quite successfully during
5:26:11fashion week 2009 when the company
5:26:14placed free bottles on the seats closest
5:26:16to the runway. The seats typically
5:26:17occupied only by a minus list
5:26:19celebrities, ensuring that legions of A
5:26:21minus List attendees from Sarah Jessica
5:26:24Parker to Tyra Banks to Heidi Clum would
5:26:26be seen drinking or at least holding a
5:26:28bottle of the drink for a couple of
5:26:30seconds before taking their seats.
5:26:32Apparently, celebrities don't even have
5:26:35to be human to be effective persuaders.
5:26:38In South America, one of the sponsors of
5:26:40a TV reality show called Lrangea VIP is
5:26:43a dog food brand known as Master Dog. In
5:26:46order to shine through the clutter of
5:26:4730-second ads, as you may remember from
5:26:50my last book, the more a brand is
5:26:52integrated into the content of a TV
5:26:54show, the more likely consumers are to
5:26:56remember it. Master Dog insisted the
5:26:58show it was sponsoring at another
5:26:59recurring contestant, a golden retriever
5:27:02known as what else? Master. The K9
5:27:05contestant was so popular and talked
5:27:07about, Master became a celebrity
5:27:09virtually overnight. Of course, dog food
5:27:12sales skyrocketed. 14. Interestingly,
5:27:16the power of celebrity even has a
5:27:18trickle down effect to celebrities
5:27:20children. Several years ago, Fox News
5:27:22reported that Angelina Jolie and Brad
5:27:24Pitt's children are the world's most
5:27:26imitated little nippers. From baby
5:27:28carriers to hairstyles to t-shirts to
5:27:30international adoption, the article
5:27:31stated, "People are literally copying
5:27:33the ways of Jolie's adopted Cambodian
5:27:35son Maddox and his wideeyed Ethiopian
5:27:38sister, Zahara." 15. Case in point, when
5:27:40Maddox was photographed wearing a
5:27:42t-shirt reading, "Human cannonball shirt
5:27:44maker in Tinky's sales shot up 16."
5:27:47Apparently, according to a company
5:27:49spokesperson, the company's online store
5:27:51has a how did you hear about us section
5:27:54and most of the people who bothered to
5:27:56write and wrote saw it on Maddox. We
5:27:59seem to quite literally want everything
5:28:00Jolie and Pit have. As Cheryl Carter
5:28:02shots, director of Americans for African
5:28:05Adoption, told People magazine, her
5:28:07organization began to be flooded with
5:28:08calls and emails from people wanting
5:28:10information after People magazine ran a
5:28:13story about Jolie's adoption of her
5:28:14Ethiopian daughter. 17. From the Baby
5:28:17Jorn original, the brand of stroller
5:28:19favored by the rich and famous to Mark
5:28:21Jacob's diaper bags to even designer
5:28:23diapers. Yes, the designer Cynthia
5:28:25Rolley has joined forces with Pampers to
5:28:27create 11 different styles and patterns
5:28:30available at Target. 18. If we associate
5:28:32something with a celebrity, we just have
5:28:34to have it for our child. And what about
5:28:37this? Celebrities even influenced the
5:28:40names we choose to give our children. In
5:28:432009, according to the Social Security
5:28:45Administration, the names growing
5:28:47fastest in popularity were Malia, the
5:28:49name of President Obama's older daughter
5:28:51for girls, and Cullen, the surname of
5:28:53the heartthrob vampire protagonist in
5:28:55Stephanie Meyers Twilight series of mega
5:28:57best-selling books and blockbuster
5:28:59movies for boys. Sharing the number one
5:29:01spot were names of two other Twilight
5:29:03characters, Jacob and Bella. Okay, to be
5:29:06fair, Jacob and Isabella have been
5:29:08popular names for more than a decade,
5:29:10but it's no coincidence they rose to the
5:29:12top the year Twilight Mania reached its
5:29:14peak. 19. Also on the rise in 2009 were
5:29:17such famous names as Khloe as in
5:29:19Kardashian, Scarlet as in Johansson,
5:29:21Violet the name Ben Affleck and Jennifer
5:29:23Garner gave to their daughter and
5:29:24Valentina as in Salma Hake's daughter
5:29:26for girls and for boys, Jet the name of
5:29:28John Travolta's late son Romeo, David
5:29:31Beckham and Posh Spice's newborn baby,
5:29:33and Maddox see above. Among the names
5:29:35disappearing from the top 100 list as
5:29:37the careers of their namesakes either
5:29:39imploded or faded away were Lindsay as
5:29:42in Lohan and Tory as in spelling. Making
5:29:45us feel like celebrities or royalty or
5:29:47some unholy combination of the two has
5:29:49long been a marketing strategy of choice
5:29:51within the travel, hospitality, banking,
5:29:53and gaming industries. These companies
5:29:56know full well that none of us likes to
5:29:58think of ourselves as mere ordinary
5:30:00citizens. That's why for over 30 years,
5:30:03American Express has trotted out its
5:30:05celebrity members, including Robert
5:30:06Dairo, Jerry Seinfeld, Quincy Jones, and
5:30:09most recently, Tina Fay, to lure
5:30:11customers into its exclusive club, which
5:30:13of course isn't exclusive at all. Anyone
5:30:16willing to pay the exorbitant annual fee
5:30:18can join. Chapter 8. Way way high up in
5:30:22the hills of the Himalayas in northern
5:30:23Nepal, beyond the moon, beyond the
5:30:25stars, its stems grazing the heavens,
5:30:27there grows a small magical berry known
5:30:29as the goji. Best of luck trying to
5:30:32track down the meaning of this word in
5:30:34any language. Though one unconfirmed
5:30:36source once told me goji means simply
5:30:39happy. Whether or not that's the real
5:30:41meaning, today, the goji berry or wolf
5:30:43berry, which resembles a shriveled red
5:30:45raisin, has been squashed, pulverized,
5:30:47crushed, and strained into a juice that
5:30:49resembles sewer water and is sold in
5:30:51health food and organic markets for
5:30:53anywhere from $30 to $50 for a 32oz
5:30:57bottle. Chinese medicine has used
5:30:59lysmium barbaram and elchini, the
5:31:02scientific, if slightly less marketable
5:31:04names for the goji berry for centuries
5:31:06to help protect the liver, improve
5:31:08eyesight, and boost immune function and
5:31:10circulation. Today, many makers of these
5:31:12juices, which include Pepsico, makers of
5:31:14Soap Life Water Goji Melon, Coca-Cola
5:31:17Honest Te's Honest Superfruit Punch with
5:31:18Yumarie and Goji Berry, Schwep's Snapple
5:31:21Goji Punch and Heiser Bush 180 Red with
5:31:23Goji, Dr. Pepper, Goji Fruit Punch,
5:31:25Skinny Water, Campbell, whose VAV
5:31:27fusions include Goji Raspberry as well
5:31:29as passion fruit tangerine and Free Life
5:31:31International, which today carries the
5:31:33tagline the Himalayan Goji company and
5:31:35which makes up 90% of the global goji
5:31:37business across 26 countries with annual
5:31:40sales estimated to be in the range of
5:31:42$250 million to $500 million. One assert
5:31:46that daily consumption of goji juice may
5:31:48help cure almost every human ailment in
5:31:50existence. From depression to anxiety to
5:31:53sexual impetence to lower back pain to
5:31:55circulatory problems to blood sugar
5:31:56imbalance to autoimmune deficiencies to
5:31:59liver failure to macular degeneration to
5:32:01some forms of cancer. Some suppliers
5:32:02distributing goji juice go so far as to
5:32:05claim that a man named Lee Ching Yuan
5:32:07ate goji berries every day and lived to
5:32:09be 252 years old. two. Yet, as the back
5:32:12of one bottle admits somewhat
5:32:14sheepishly, these statements have not
5:32:16been evaluated by the Food and Drug
5:32:18Administration, "This product is not
5:32:20intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or
5:32:23prevent any disease." So, does this
5:32:26pricey little fruit actually have any
5:32:28real proven health benefits, or is it
5:32:30all just one big sham? One published
5:32:33study suggests cautiously that the goji
5:32:35berry certainly deserves further
5:32:37investigation. Three. Another study
5:32:39found that hairless mice who'd been
5:32:40given goji juice and then zapped with s
5:32:42of ir radiation showed fewer incidents
5:32:44of sunburns, suggesting that consumption
5:32:46of this juice could provide additional
5:32:48photo protection for susceptible humans.
5:32:51For in another strange sounding 2004
5:32:53study carried out by the college of
5:32:55public health at China's Wuhan
5:32:57University, diabetic bunnies were found
5:32:59to have an increase in HDL or good
5:33:01cholesterol and a reduction in their
5:33:03blood glucose level 5 after consuming
5:33:05goji. Well, that's fantastic for
5:33:08diabetic rabbits and sunbathing rodents,
5:33:11but what about the rest of us? Though
5:33:13there may be a great deal of quicksotic
5:33:15charm surrounding the folklore, legend,
5:33:17and provenence of the exotic goji berry,
5:33:20there's just not much concrete
5:33:21scientific proof it actually does
5:33:23anything except perhaps cost a lot of
5:33:26money. Yet, we keep buying it by the
5:33:28case load. In 2009, Goji products were a
5:33:31$145 million industry, reaching well
5:33:34beyond the juice market to include nine
5:33:36product categories, including tea,
5:33:37celestial seasonings, goji berry,
5:33:39pomegranate, green tea, cereal, me, and
5:33:41goji custom artisal cereal and candy.
5:33:43Bostas' dark chocolate goji bar. Six.
5:33:46But if goji berries haven't been proven
5:33:48to have any real medicinal properties,
5:33:50that raises an obvious question. How
5:33:53exactly are we being brainwashed to buy
5:33:55the stuff in such quantities? Turns out
5:33:57the real magic of the goji berry has
5:34:00less to do with our hearts or our
5:34:02circulatory systems or our blood glucose
5:34:04and more to do with our brains. As I
5:34:07wrote about in my last book, Theology,
5:34:09our brains are prone to forming mental
5:34:11shortcuts or bookmarks known as somatic
5:34:13markers that link cues from our physical
5:34:15world to specific emotional states or
5:34:17properties. Well, I've seen over and
5:34:20over in my work that shrewd companies
5:34:22are able to actually plant these somatic
5:34:24markers in our minds by creating
5:34:26associations between some positive
5:34:28emotion and their product. It seems
5:34:30that's exactly what's going on when it
5:34:32comes to the goji berry. Now, bear with
5:34:35me for a minute. The goji berry is found
5:34:38in China and Malaysia, but is most often
5:34:40linked with the Himalayas, former home
5:34:42to the Dalai Lama. And when we think of
5:34:45that part of the world, what comes to
5:34:47mind? Could it be Buddhism and
5:34:49everything Buddhism symbolizes? Purity,
5:34:52simplicity, compassion, wisdom,
5:34:54selflessness, and ultimately
5:34:55enlightenment. Marketers of these
5:34:57products know this, which is why they
5:34:59have very cleverly prodded our brains to
5:35:01associate their products with these
5:35:03spiritual properties. How? For one
5:35:06thing, by taking great care to emphasize
5:35:08the berry's far eastern provenence in
5:35:10their packaging and advertising.
5:35:13Look, for example, at a bottle of Free
5:35:15Life's Dr. Earl Mindle's authentic
5:35:17Himalayan goji juice, available in
5:35:19Amazon's health and beauty section,
5:35:21among other places. Its stylish,
5:35:23expensive looking bottle picture snow
5:35:25dusted Mount Everest descending
5:35:27majestically into the clouds, seemingly
5:35:29uncontaminated by humanity. In the
5:35:32foreground, like a small miracle, there
5:35:34dangles a cluster of blood red goji
5:35:36berries affixed to a gently bent leafy
5:35:38stock. The price of four one liter
5:35:41bottles $186.11.
5:35:45Or take goji gold 100% pure organic
5:35:48juice created by dynamic health
5:35:50laboratories which comes wrapped in
5:35:52similar packaging picturing distant
5:35:53vaguely Himalayan mountains seemingly
5:35:55reaching into the heavens and therefore
5:35:57unsullied by man. The company Ste maker
5:36:00of organic green teas and energy drinks
5:36:03too markets its products using images
5:36:05meant to imply a far eastern origin. If
5:36:08you go to its website, you'll be greeted
5:36:10by yet another Himalayan scene, dark
5:36:12mountains covered with snow, clear
5:36:14babbling brooks, untraveled pathways, a
5:36:16far-off red pigota, and even
5:36:18computerenerated hummingbirds swooping
5:36:20in to feed on the nectar of virgin
5:36:21flowers. Not to mention the words wisdom
5:36:24can be obtained within. While these
5:36:26brands would have you believe that the
5:36:28contents of their bottles are grown,
5:36:30handh harvested, and shipped from the
5:36:31pristine mountain tops of Tibet or
5:36:33Nepal, that couldn't be further from the
5:36:35truth. Free Life products are
5:36:36mass-roduced and bottled in a giant
5:36:38factory in Phoenix, Arizona. Dynamic
5:36:41Health Laboratories is based in Georgia,
5:36:43and STEA's operations are headquartered
5:36:45in New Town, Pennsylvania. I've long
5:36:48considered the strongest brands on
5:36:49Earth, from Apple to Harley-Davidson, to
5:36:52be intriguingly akin to the world's
5:36:53religions in that they tend to inspire
5:36:55in us a strong ritualistic almost
5:36:57evangelistic faith. In this chapter
5:37:00though, we'll be talking about a
5:37:02different way faith works as a hidden
5:37:04persuader. We'll be talking about how
5:37:06marketers, advertisers, and purveyors of
5:37:08everything from food and beverages to
5:37:10clothing to cosmetics and more have
5:37:12embarked on an almost religious and
5:37:14highly profitable quest of their own to
5:37:16ignite desire for their brands and
5:37:18products by imbooing them with such
5:37:20intangible yet emotionally powerful
5:37:22spiritual qualities such as health,
5:37:24hope, happiness, faith, clarity, good
5:37:26luck, and even the betterment of the
5:37:28human soul. Diner Lee, professor of
5:37:31behavioral economics at Duke University
5:37:33and author of the best-selling book
5:37:35Predictably Irrational, notes that what
5:37:37we buy is often not only something but
5:37:39also an idea embodied by that thing.
5:37:42Seven, whether that embodied idea is
5:37:44health, happiness, enlightenment, or
5:37:46social responsibility, it's this very
5:37:48universal psychological tendency that
5:37:50makes the hidden persuaders we'll read
5:37:51about throughout this chapter so
5:37:53incredibly powerful. It was a very good
5:37:56year. As anyone who has visited a health
5:37:59food store in the past few years is well
5:38:01aware, goji isn't the only miracle berry
5:38:03in town. Takeawai, the fastest growing
5:38:07product in the herbal subcategory with
5:38:092009 sales just under $300 million. It's
5:38:12the biggest selling botanical product
5:38:14today. At the acai berry is a miniature
5:38:17grape-like fruit that grows profusely in
5:38:19the rainforest of Brazil and is
5:38:21available today in the form of various
5:38:22tablets, juices, smoothies, yogurts, and
5:38:25instant drink powders. There's even a
5:38:27goji asai drink I saw once in a health
5:38:29food store, which is like the marketing
5:38:31version of a double bill concert
5:38:32featuring the Rolling Stones and you
5:38:34too. Again, the ads and the packages
5:38:36deliberately play up the berry's exotic
5:38:38provenence. The box of good earth's
5:38:40rainforest red tea with acai and
5:38:42tropical fruits, of course, pictures a
5:38:44savannah on which a mother lion sits
5:38:46nursing her cub, whereas rainforest
5:38:48therapies asai powder fresh from the
5:38:50Brazilian Amazon shows simple wooden
5:38:52bats overflowing with the life-giving
5:38:54fruit. At first glance, this seems
5:38:56perfectly harmless. We can't imagine
5:38:58we'd be so gullible as to be duped into
5:39:01thinking a berry has magical properties
5:39:03just because there's a picture of a
5:39:05rainforest on the box. But that's
5:39:07exactly the point. The reason these
5:39:09subtle, seemingly innocuous images are
5:39:12so insidiously persuasive, is because
5:39:13they operate deep within our
5:39:15subconscious. What's happening here,
5:39:17though we're barely aware of it, is that
5:39:19when we read the words rainforest or
5:39:21Brazilian Amazon, the somatic markers in
5:39:24our brains perk up and begin connecting
5:39:26various dots, peacefulness, serenity,
5:39:30nature, purity, and soon our brains
5:39:33begin to ascribe all sorts of spiritual
5:39:35and medicinal qualities to the product,
5:39:38which of course is exactly what the
5:39:40marketers want. If this sounds a bit
5:39:42far-fetched, remember that our brains
5:39:44are hardwired to connect these dots and
5:39:46to make associations that sometimes
5:39:48aren't even there. Countless studies
5:39:51have shown that thanks to this pattern
5:39:52recognition skill humans are born with,
5:39:54we often see connections that don't
5:39:56exist. Remember the Today Show
5:39:59experiment I described earlier? The one
5:40:01where I fooled crowds of New Yorkers
5:40:03into assuming that Christa, one of the
5:40:05shows off air producers, was a
5:40:07celebrity. It was because their brains
5:40:10had simply put together various dots,
5:40:12the dark glasses, the hair, the
5:40:15entourage, the paparazzi, the tiny dog.
5:40:19From these assorted cues, many concluded
5:40:21they'd not only seen Christa before, but
5:40:23had attended her concerts, loved her
5:40:25music, and so on. In a sense, this is
5:40:28exactly what is going on with Asai and
5:40:30all the other products marketers would
5:40:32have us believe possess miraculous,
5:40:34restorative, even spiritual properties.
5:40:37External cues trigger associations so
5:40:39powerful that the thought of questioning
5:40:41or second-guessing them doesn't even
5:40:43occur to us. However, companies and
5:40:46retailers that sell Asai products don't
5:40:48stop there. Not by a long shot. They
5:40:51aren't content just sitting back and
5:40:52hoping that we'll associate good health
5:40:54and spiritual well-being with their
5:40:56products. Instead, they come out and
5:40:58make all kinds of high falitine.
5:41:00Preposterously unsubstantiated claims
5:41:02that acai juice increases energy, helps
5:41:04you lose weight, improves digestion and
5:41:06sexual performance, detoxifies the body,
5:41:08relieves insomnia, reduces cholesterol,
5:41:10rejuvenates your complexion, and helps
5:41:12with heart disease and diabetes, and
5:41:14more. Yet, profoundly little evidence
5:41:16that acai berry juice improves human
5:41:19health actually exists. Like most
5:41:21berries, asai has good nutritional
5:41:23qualities. But there is not a drop of
5:41:25research that supports marketing claims
5:41:27that it prevents weight gain and facial
5:41:28wrinkles, says Johnny Bowden, a
5:41:30certified nutrition specialist and
5:41:32author of several health books. Nine.
5:41:34The expensive acai berry is the triumph
5:41:37of marketing over science. That's the
5:41:38bottom line. Bowden says the berry isn't
5:41:42useless, but it's not anything that
5:41:44people are claiming it is. 10. I really
5:41:47have to tip my hat to whoever's out
5:41:49there marketing acai and all these other
5:41:51super fruits. Sure, there are vitamins
5:41:54and omega-3s in the acai berry, just as
5:41:56there are in all the other marketkedly
5:41:58less expensive fruits like bananas,
5:42:00grapes, and cranberries. And yes, one
5:42:03study by the University of Florida did
5:42:05suggest that an acai berry extract may
5:42:07indeed the growth of leukemia
5:42:09cells in a petri dish, not in actual
5:42:12humans. That is 11. According to Asai
5:42:14drink manufacturers, if you drink 4
5:42:16ounces of acai berry juice daily, it's
5:42:19the equivalent of scarfing down more
5:42:20than two dozen fruits a day. Well, that
5:42:22may be true only because it's highly
5:42:24concentrated. But according to the FDA,
5:42:26we actually need only about two cups of
5:42:28fruit a day. As you may have surmised by
5:42:31now, acai juice isn't cheap. A week's
5:42:34supply will cost you roughly $40, which
5:42:37if you do the math, comes to nearly
5:42:39$2,000 a year. And Asai has even
5:42:42migrated over to the skin care category.
5:42:44For approximately $40, we can now buy
5:42:46Asai hydrating facial cream and
5:42:48anti-rinkle hydration cream infused with
5:42:50acai in the ladder rosewood or copiba.
5:42:53It would seem that the harder it is to
5:42:55pronounce, the more it costs. Some
5:42:57online sellers of acai berry go even
5:43:00further over the line in their sneaky
5:43:02efforts to sell us the stuff. Some use a
5:43:04tactic called network marketing. A
5:43:06clever technique that also incorporates
5:43:08a healthy dose of peer pressure. What
5:43:11this means is that one day your friendly
5:43:13neighbor Meen will knock on the door
5:43:15claiming that the acai juice she is
5:43:17holding, and by holding I mean selling,
5:43:19has cured her of all that ailed her from
5:43:21hangovers to varicose veins. A number
5:43:23have gone so far as to offer consumers a
5:43:26free trial, which seems fairly harmless.
5:43:28That is until the trial ends and the
5:43:30consumer discovers that the company has
5:43:32coverly signed her up to automatically
5:43:34keep receiving shipments to the tune of
5:43:36$80 a month. Some have had to cancel
5:43:38their credit cards just to break free
5:43:40from the scheme. According to Arlene
5:43:42Winrob in her book selling the fountain
5:43:44of youth, how the anti-aging industry
5:43:46made a disease out of getting old and
5:43:48made billions. The practice was so
5:43:50widespread writes that the consumer's
5:43:52site complaints board collected more
5:43:54than 17,000 posts from furious buyers of
5:43:57acai 12 sneakier still. According to
5:44:00CNN, many online asai vendors like FWM
5:44:03Laboratories of Fort Lauderdale and
5:44:05Hollywood, Florida, Advanced Wellness
5:44:07Research of Miami Beach, Florida, and
5:44:09others stand accused of using fake diet
5:44:11blogs to steer consumers to sites
5:44:13plugging these free trials. While we're
5:44:16on the topic of magical fruits, what
5:44:18about pomegranate? That one really does
5:44:20have actual health benefits, doesn't it?
5:44:23Well, like the goji, the pomegranate has
5:44:26been used for centuries in traditional
5:44:28medicine across the world to treat
5:44:30everything from mouth ulcers to dry
5:44:31coughs to diarrhea to conjunctivitis to
5:44:34tuberculosis. I might add that artwork
5:44:36from the earliest days of Islam,
5:44:38Judaism, and Christianity shows
5:44:40pomegranates symbolizing both unity and
5:44:43eternal life. More recently,
5:44:45pomegranates have been shown to reduce
5:44:46UV induced skin damage 13 and exert
5:44:49favorable effects on lipid profiles,
5:44:51whatever that means. 14. What you have
5:44:54to keep in mind about these claims
5:44:56though is who is funding these studies,
5:44:57companies like Palm Wonderful, maker of
5:44:59those wonderfully weird shaped bottles
5:45:01of pomegranate juice. Incidentally, in
5:45:04case you were wondering why those
5:45:05bottles are shaped that way, they were
5:45:07deliberately designed not only to
5:45:09resemble one pomegranate on top of
5:45:11another, but also to evoke associations
5:45:13of the ideal female form, a little
5:45:15fuller on the top and bottom with a
5:45:16cinched waist. Similarly, the heart in
5:45:19place of the O in the brand logo is
5:45:21meant to evoke associations of
5:45:23cardiovascular health. In any case, it
5:45:26turns out that if you fund enough
5:45:27scientific studies, and the owners of
5:45:29Palm have not only funded over 55 of
5:45:32them, but they've also donated over $34
5:45:34million in research support to
5:45:36scientists and universities all over the
5:45:38world. You can find something redeeming
5:45:40in just about any product under the sun.
5:45:43Sure, pomegranates have a handful of
5:45:45health benefits, but again, so do
5:45:47fruits, vegetables, fish, oatmeal, olive
5:45:49oil, a healthy lifestyle, exercise, and
5:45:52weight control. Did I forget to mention
5:45:54that pomegranate juice also contains
5:45:56valuable antioxidants? If you're not
5:45:59sure exactly what antioxidants are or
5:46:01what they do other than bellow at us
5:46:03from the shelves of the supermarket and
5:46:05health food store, you aren't alone. For
5:46:08the record, antioxidants neutralize and
5:46:10stamp out the errant unstable molecules
5:46:12known as free radicals that damage our
5:46:14body cells. Our bodies produce free
5:46:16radicals naturally, as do pollution, the
5:46:18environment, too much sunlight, and an
5:46:20unhealthy lifestyle. But just so you
5:46:22know, you don't need to pay $2 an ounce
5:46:25for some weird purple juice to stamp out
5:46:27these free radicals. Nor do you have to
5:46:29travel to Nepal or the rainforest.
5:46:31Antioxidants occur naturally in fresh
5:46:33fruits and vegetables. According to Dr.
5:46:36David Gems of University College London.
5:46:39It is not the antioxidant content of
5:46:41your food that is critical. It is that
5:46:43you don't eat too much food. Get plenty
5:46:45of exercise. Get a dog and take it for a
5:46:48walk. 15. But that doesn't stop Pong
5:46:52Wonderful from claiming on its website
5:46:54to be the antioxidant superpower and far
5:46:56and away the top performer in terms of
5:46:58antioxidant potency defined as the in
5:47:01vitro ability to scavenge free radical
5:47:03molecules. Nor does it stop the company
5:47:05from marketing a line of tees, bars,
5:47:08pills, and supplements containing the
5:47:10super antioxidant extract it calls Ponx,
5:47:12the X, of course, meant to imply a
5:47:15medical prescription, despite the fact
5:47:17that the products have never been
5:47:18medically or clinically tested. So
5:47:20specious are the brand's health claims.
5:47:22In fact, that in 2010, Palm Wonderful
5:47:25received a warning letter from the FDA
5:47:27stating that the therapeutic claims on
5:47:29your website established that the
5:47:30product is a drug because it is intended
5:47:32for use in the Cure, Mitigation,
5:47:34Treatment, or Prevention of Disease 16.
5:47:36And that the marketing of Palm Wonderful
5:47:38using these claims was in violation of
5:47:40the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic
5:47:42Act. 17. Similarly, in 2009, regulators
5:47:46accused Kelloggs of deceiving consumers
5:47:48with claims that their frosted mini
5:47:50wheat cereal improved children's
5:47:52cognitive health and attentiveness.
5:47:54While Kelloggs quickly agreed to a
5:47:56settlement, Palm at time of writing has
5:47:58repeatedly claimed innocence and
5:48:00according to the company website was
5:48:02currently reviewing FDA concerns. 18.
5:48:06what that nutrition label is really
5:48:08saying. It should come as no surprise
5:48:10that selling health or the illusion of
5:48:12health is hugely profitable. In fact, it
5:48:15is so profitable that it has spawned an
5:48:17entire exploding industry of products
5:48:20marketed as functional foods. One that
5:48:22pulled $ 37.3 billion in 2009 in the
5:48:26United States alone. Naturally,
5:48:28companies have a lot of tricks up their
5:48:30sleeves for snagging a share of this
5:48:31hugely profitable and rather bogus
5:48:33market witness. For example, the cash
5:48:35cow known as 100 calorie packs, which
5:48:38cleverly allow manufacturers to create
5:48:40smaller servings, typically at twice the
5:48:42price. In industry parliament, this is a
5:48:45well-known strategy called selling
5:48:46perceived health and wellness, with the
5:48:48major word here being perceived. This
5:48:51illusion of healthy is perpetuated by
5:48:53the fact that many of us don't know what
5:48:55many of the marketing buzzwords really
5:48:57mean. And of course, marketers work hard
5:49:00to keep it that way. A national survey
5:49:02conducted by the Shelton Group found
5:49:04that when asked whether we'd rather buy
5:49:06a product build as natural or organic,
5:49:08we choose natural thinking organic is
5:49:10more of an unregulated marketing
5:49:12buzzword, that means the product is more
5:49:14expensive, says Suzanne Shelton, who
5:49:16conducted the survey. But she explains
5:49:18in reality the opposite is true. Natural
5:49:21is the unregulated word. And other
5:49:23popular buzzwords like organically
5:49:25grown, pesticidefree, all natural, and
5:49:28no artificial ingredients actually mean
5:49:30very little.
5:49:31Given how freely companies throw these
5:49:33terms around, one can hardly blame us
5:49:36for being confused. For example, in a
5:49:38clever bit of bait and switch marketing,
5:49:40when Silk Soy Milk recently introduced a
5:49:43line of milk made from non-organic
5:49:44soybeans, it simply switched its organic
5:49:46soy milk to a green box and began
5:49:49selling the new non-organic version in
5:49:51the original red packaging with only one
5:49:53perceptible change, replacing the word
5:49:55organic with the word natural. 19.
5:49:59Companies have gone to great lengths to
5:50:01convince us that natural equals healthy.
5:50:04But that couldn't be further from the
5:50:05truth. Believe it or not, because the
5:50:08term is unregulated by the FDA, a
5:50:10company can dub just about any product
5:50:12natural. Potato chips made from actual
5:50:15potatoes instead of potato flakes may
5:50:17technically be natural, but they are
5:50:19still processed, high in fat, high in
5:50:21sodium, and lacking in nutritional
5:50:23value. Or take English muffins. As
5:50:26someone who has been eating this
5:50:27breakfast staple for years, you can
5:50:29imagine how delighted I was to pull a
5:50:31package off the shelf and learn that
5:50:33they are now made with unbleached
5:50:35enriched white flour and contain hearty
5:50:37grains. How nutritious, I thought,
5:50:40feeling more virtuous than ever as I
5:50:41placed one in the toaster. But alas,
5:50:44this actually just means they are made
5:50:46with white flour and contain wheat, a
5:50:48standard ingredient for any bread or
5:50:50starch. As for multigrain, well, this
5:50:53more grains the marrier approach sure
5:50:54sounds convincing, but all it means is
5:50:56that more than one type of grain is
5:50:58involved, which doesn't automatically
5:51:00make it healthier. And what about
5:51:02products that boast they contain
5:51:04isolated fibers? Sorry, but this too is
5:51:07meaningless. To reap any actual health
5:51:10benefits, you have to consume intact
5:51:12fibers such as oats or legumes. As the
5:51:15Washington Post points out, fiber 1 oats
5:51:17and chocolate bars say they provide 35%
5:51:20of daily fiber, but the fiber comes
5:51:22mainly from chory root extract, 20,
5:51:24which isn't one of the healthy fibers.
5:51:27With all this linguistic smoke and
5:51:29mirrors, is it any wonder we have no
5:51:31idea what it is we're actually eating?
5:51:34My favorite slight of hand is the claim
5:51:36that a food or drink can give you
5:51:38energy. Well, I have news for you.
5:51:41Energy is just another way of saying
5:51:43calories, which makes this a very clever
5:51:46way of putting a positive spin on what
5:51:48would otherwise be the kiss of death for
5:51:50a health product. Can you imagine a
5:51:52company touting the fact that its
5:51:54product is high in calories? What about
5:51:56those claims made with real fruit or
5:51:58contains real fruit juice which
5:52:00regularly appear on the packages of
5:52:02fruit snacks, soft drinks, cereals,
5:52:04cookies, and pretty much any food item
5:52:07marketed to children or rather the guilt
5:52:09laid in parents of children. Again,
5:52:11considering that there is no law in
5:52:13place governing how much real fruit a
5:52:15food or drink must contain to make this
5:52:17claim, don't be surprised if those
5:52:18strawberry flavored fruit rolls contain
5:52:20maybe half a drop of fruit juice and are
5:52:22spiked with eight grams of sugar a
5:52:24piece. a perfect example of how food
5:52:26companies target children and their
5:52:28wallet carriers at the same time. And
5:52:30speaking of juice, what about those
5:52:32foods advertised as being fortified with
5:52:34nutrients like calcium fortified orange
5:52:36juice? According to the Washington Post,
5:52:39fortifying a junk food does not offset
5:52:41the food's negative qualities. Example,
5:52:44Froot Loop says it now provides fiber,
5:52:47but the nine grams of sugar in each 3/4
5:52:50cup serving of the cereal could have far
5:52:52more negative effects than any benefit
5:52:54from the slim amount of added fiber. 21.
5:52:58Another favorite among marketers is the
5:53:00low trans fat claim. Recall that several
5:53:03years ago, the FDA proclaimed that trans
5:53:05fat, the fat created when oils are
5:53:07hydrogenated during food processing,
5:53:09contributed to coronary heart disease,
5:53:11the biggest killer of Americans.
5:53:14Naturally, every food product under the
5:53:16sun was immediately proud to boast zero
5:53:18trans fat on its package. Problem is,
5:53:21products with zero trans fat. And by the
5:53:23way, thanks to labeling guidelines,
5:53:25these actually include any foods
5:53:26containing 0.5 g or less per serving are
5:53:29typically teeming with saturated fat,
5:53:31which can be just as bad for our hearts
5:53:33as trans fat. It's kind of like saying,
5:53:36"I'm not carrying a gun." While
5:53:38neglecting to mention you are packing a
5:53:40hand grenade or a switchblade, genie in
5:53:43a bottle. These are just the shenanigans
5:53:46being pulled with FDA regulated
5:53:48products. When it comes to non-regulated
5:53:50products like cosmetics, which are not
5:53:53considered drugs and thus can sidestep
5:53:55many of the clinical trials required by
5:53:57the FDA, marketers and advertisers can
5:53:59get away with saying just about
5:54:01anything. Makers of face creams, for
5:54:04example, are happily pedalling all kinds
5:54:06of clever and often blatantly unproven
5:54:08claims. The La Prairie brand, for
5:54:10example, which by the way is sold in a
5:54:13jar the shape of a genie bottle to imply
5:54:15magical wish-ranting powers, actually
5:54:17promises to reduce stress levels. A
5:54:19claim that one doctor I spoke to assured
5:54:21me is a medical impossibility. 98% of
5:54:25the cosutical industry is all about
5:54:27marketing. Eric Finsey, a dermatologic
5:54:29surgeon in Maryland, was quoted as
5:54:31saying, "If you buy a $1,000 cream,
5:54:34there's no reason to expect it's better
5:54:37than the $50 cream. It might be worse."
5:54:4022. La Prairie Cellular Serum Platinum
5:54:44Rare claims to maintain your skin's
5:54:46electrical balance while warding off
5:54:48pollutants. Given cheese le soy noir
5:54:50contains black sea algae which according
5:54:53to the companies at copy reconstructs a
5:54:55catalyst in the skin to counteract the
5:54:57signs of aging. Should you be so bold as
5:55:00to ask exactly how it does this a given
5:55:03spokesperson will offer you nothing more
5:55:05than the assurance that the company's
5:55:06clinical tests speak for themselves. And
5:55:09Lululemon, the maker of popular
5:55:11overpriced yoga wear, got into hot water
5:55:14in 2007 when the New York Times reported
5:55:16that a product called Vitec, which the
5:55:18company claimed contained a stress
5:55:20reducing underwater healing property
5:55:22known as sea cell, in fact contained no
5:55:24seaweed, no marine amino acids, no
5:55:26minerals, and no vitamins whatsoever as
5:55:28the label claimed. 23. Evidently,
5:55:31Lululemon agreed to withdraw the claims
5:55:33immediately, at least until it could
5:55:35prove them scientifically. The world is
5:55:38still waiting. 24. Finally, there's La
5:55:42Prairie Skin Caviar Crystalline Consent,
5:55:44which retails for $375 an ounce and
5:55:47contains, I'm not kidding here, stem
5:55:49cells from the rare water spatlo Swiss
5:55:51apple. So rare that only three trees
5:55:53remain in existence. 25 implying some
5:55:55magical regenerative or restorative
5:55:57properties. The problem with this
5:55:59deranged claim is that as Finy explains,
5:56:02number one, no cell would stay alive in
5:56:04a cream. A cell is a very delicate
5:56:06living thing and unless it's in the
5:56:08right environment, when you take the
5:56:10apple off the tree, it's starting to
5:56:12die. Number two, a plant stem cell is
5:56:15not going to do anything for human skin.
5:56:1826.
5:56:20Unfortunately, the fact is that most
5:56:22face creams that promise to prevent
5:56:24aging, many of which are loaded with
5:56:26antioxidants for no good reason other
5:56:28than to give marketers an additional
5:56:30tagline, have next to no effect.
5:56:32According to one prominent British
5:56:34researcher quoted in the UK's Daily
5:56:36Mail, rather than spending money on
5:56:38vitamin loaded potions and pills, people
5:56:40who want to retain a youthful look
5:56:42should instead concentrate on eating
5:56:43healthy foods in sensible amounts and
5:56:46exercising. 27.
5:56:48And while we're talking specious
5:56:50marketing claims, what about the
5:56:52multi-billion dollar supplement
5:56:53business, which has migrated well beyond
5:56:55chains like GNC and is now taking over
5:56:57aisles and aisles of most drugstores and
5:56:59health food stores? Shark cartilage may
5:57:02be used to help treat arthritis and
5:57:04cancer. Bollin is a storehouse of all
5:57:06naturally occurring multivitamins,
5:57:07minerals, proteins, amino acids,
5:57:09hormones, and enzymes. Ginobaloba may
5:57:12support mental sharpness. And then
5:57:13there's my personal favorite, or go
5:57:15weed, which we're only told has a long
5:57:17history of traditional use by men in
5:57:19China and Japan for what. You can draw
5:57:21your own conclusions. I could go on and
5:57:23on. And despite the fact that these
5:57:25statements have not been evaluated by
5:57:27the FDA and these products are not
5:57:29intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or
5:57:32prevent any disease as their labels are
5:57:33required by law to read. We continue to
5:57:35buy into them. According to a 2009
5:57:38survey conducted by Ipso's public
5:57:39affairs for the Council for Responsible
5:57:41Nutrition in Washington, DC, some 65% of
5:57:45Americans label themselves supplement
5:57:47users. According to Dr. W. Steven Prey,
5:57:50Burnernhard professor at the College of
5:57:52Pharmacy at Southwestern Oklahoma State
5:57:55University. All this crazy junk became
5:57:57available thanks to the 1994 Supplement
5:58:00Health Act. It's a completely
5:58:02unregulated industry. It just means that
5:58:04you or I could find a weed in our
5:58:06backyard and start marketing it as a
5:58:08dietary supplement. There have been
5:58:10reports of kidney stones and liver
5:58:12damage. No one knows what's in this
5:58:14stuff. It's true. The 1,994
5:58:18regulations, or lack of them, allow just
5:58:21about anyone to start up a company and
5:58:23roll out a supplement in record time. No
5:58:25medical license or credentials
5:58:27necessary. In general, supplement makers
5:58:30aren't even under any responsibility to
5:58:32register their products with the FDA. As
5:58:35another source puts it, the Dietary
5:58:37Supplement Health and Education Act of
5:58:391994 opened a floodgate of questionable
5:58:42health claims and advertising for herbal
5:58:44and dietary supplements. Although
5:58:47lawmakers didn't intend that the
5:58:48supplement industry be unregulated, this
5:58:51has been the practical result. 28. Given
5:58:55how easy it is for anyone to get in on
5:58:57this very profitable game, it's no
5:58:59surprise that the so-called
5:59:00neutrauticals industry worth $25 billion
5:59:04in the United States alone continues to
5:59:06expand. At time of writing though,
5:59:08several senators, including John McCain,
5:59:10are behind a new dietary supplement
5:59:12safety act, which would require dietary
5:59:15supplement manufacturers to register
5:59:17with the FDA and fully disclose their
5:59:19ingredients. Fingers crossed that it
5:59:21becomes law. the high price of doing
5:59:24good. Ever since the 2008 economic
5:59:27downturn, the cult of consumption in our
5:59:30culture has lost a lot of followers.
5:59:32Over the past couple of years, many of
5:59:35us have traded our worship of money and
5:59:37things for an almost fervent devotion to
5:59:39a new frugality. Forced to adjust to the
5:59:42new economic climate in which we
5:59:44suddenly found ourselves, our lives
5:59:46became smaller and simpler in a hurry.
5:59:48We stayed home, hunkered down. We quit
5:59:51eating out at restaurants. We sold off
5:59:54some of the junk collecting dust in our
5:59:56basement and storage lockers. We clipped
5:59:59coupons, shopped for bargains, made do,
6:00:01and wondered sensibly, too, how on earth
6:00:04we gotten so caught up in this spending
6:00:06spiral in the first place. So, if we've
6:00:08stopped praying at the Church of the
6:00:10Material Gods, what's standing in the
6:00:12wings? Answer: something no company can
6:00:15put a price or even a discount sticker
6:00:17on. Serenity. Simplicity. equilibrium,
6:00:21happiness, balance, virtue, in short,
6:00:25spiritual enlightenment in its many
6:00:27purchasable forms. It seems that in a
6:00:30world that's increasingly hyperconnected
6:00:32and always on today, more than ever,
6:00:34we're searching for a simplicity in life
6:00:36that few of us have ever known. This
6:00:39back to basic sentiment has become so
6:00:41pervasive, in fact, that it has spawned
6:00:43a number of popular trends. From urban
6:00:45farming, think chicken coupe on a fire
6:00:47escape to freanism consuming only
6:00:49discarded food and goods to clean
6:00:51eating, a strict regimen of natural
6:00:53eating popularized in part by
6:00:54best-selling author Michael Pollen.
6:00:57Marketers and companies have jumped
6:00:59right on these trends, which is why
6:01:01today so many products are marketed in a
6:01:04way that emphasizes Mother Earth. Their
6:01:06packages are plastered with words like
6:01:08wellness and natural and environmentally
6:01:11friendly buzzwords that have particular
6:01:13meaning and significance for women who
6:01:15influence roughly 80% of all consumer
6:01:18purchases. 29. The irony of all this is
6:01:22that green and ethical and organic
6:01:24products often cost more. A virtue,
6:01:27charity, health, benevolence, and social
6:01:29responsibility are expensive. According
6:01:32to a poll conducted by GFK Roper Public
6:01:34Affairs and Media and the Yale School of
6:01:37Forestry and Environmental Studies,
6:01:39nearly half of all people, women in
6:01:41particular, say they are willing to pay
6:01:43more for environmentally responsible
6:01:45products. 30. And according to that same
6:01:47survey, the majority of women pulled
6:01:49believe not only that consumers have a
6:01:51personal responsibility to take care of
6:01:54the earth, but also that being green is
6:01:56good for your health and well-being. 31.
6:02:00Companies know this and are exploiting
6:02:02it in all kinds of ways. Take how
6:02:04Proctor and Gamble's best-selling Tide
6:02:06laundry detergent has begun using social
6:02:09responsibility as a marketing tool with
6:02:11its hugely successful Loads of Hope
6:02:13campaign. Evidently, in the wake of
6:02:15Hurricane Katrina, PNG decided it would
6:02:17form a Tide Loads of Hope team to travel
6:02:19to Louisiana and other afflicted areas
6:02:21to supply clean, wash with Tide, of
6:02:24course, clothes to displaced residents.
6:02:26According to the online magazine slate,
6:02:28the team arrives in a rolling
6:02:30laundromat, a gigantic orange truck the
6:02:32color of the original Tide box carrying
6:02:3432 washers and dryers. Then for two or 3
6:02:37weeks, the team wearing bright orange
6:02:39tied t-shirts will wash, dry, and fold
6:02:42the sheets, towels, and clothes of
6:02:44families and aid workers for free. It's
6:02:46got to be a huge relief for displaced
6:02:49people. It's also likely to produce a
6:02:51very pleasant association the next time
6:02:54anyone who's been helped sees a bottle
6:02:55of Tide on the grocery shelf. The
6:02:58article notes 32. But is shelling out
6:03:01the extra money for these responsible
6:03:03products actually doing any social good?
6:03:06Or are they just making us feel more
6:03:08virtuous in the same way that drinking
6:03:10asai juice makes us feel more healthy?
6:03:13Signs point to the latter. Given that
6:03:15research shows that when we make these
6:03:16kinds of purchases, we tend to give
6:03:18ourselves permission to make less
6:03:20responsible decisions in other areas of
6:03:22our lives. Say failing to recycle our
6:03:24Coke can after scarfing down an organic
6:03:26hamburger or pressing the gas on our
6:03:28eco-friendly Priuses with an alligator
6:03:30skin boot, thus undoing our efforts to
6:03:32do good. One study found that the owners
6:03:35of hybrid cars drive more miles, are
6:03:37more ticket and accidentprone, and even
6:03:39bash into pedestrians more. 33.
6:03:43More ironic still is that today buying
6:03:45responsible products like hybrid cars is
6:03:47actually an act of conspicuous
6:03:49consumption, a way of purchasing the
6:03:51respect and admiration of our peers. An
6:03:53old episode of South Park didn't refer
6:03:55to it as the pas for nothing. And in
6:03:58fact, Toyota engineered this quite
6:04:00deliberately. Not only were its
6:04:02designers the first to make an
6:04:04environmentally friendly car stylish,
6:04:06even sexy with its sleek design,
6:04:08powerful engine, and coollooking
6:04:10solar-powered moonroof, its marketers
6:04:12made the Prius nothing short of a status
6:04:14symbol by taking swift advantage of our
6:04:17devotion to celebrity. How the company
6:04:20turned to Mike Sullivan, the owner of
6:04:22Toyota of Hollywood, and arranged for
6:04:24him to transport 26 Priuses to the 2003
6:04:27Oscars. And before long, Business Week
6:04:29notes such stars as Cameron Diaz and
6:04:31Leonardo DiCaprio were being
6:04:33photographed. Look, we're so green with
6:04:35their Priuses, and it became the cool
6:04:37thing to do, says Sullivan. 34. Toyota
6:04:41also loaned cars to an LA public
6:04:42relations agency, thus ensuring
6:04:44snapshots of such stars as Harrison Ford
6:04:46and Kalista Flockard in Priuses, and
6:04:48also provided Priuses for use on such TV
6:04:51shows and movies as CSI Miami, Weeds,
6:04:53Evan Almighty, and Superb Bad, where the
6:04:55cars ended up being featured
6:04:56prominently. always driven by the lead
6:04:58characters, no less. 35 with celebrities
6:05:01like Meil Stre, Brad Pitt, Kirsten
6:05:03Dunst, Le Ferrell, Miley Cyrus, Tim
6:05:05Robbins, Larry David, who owns three
6:05:07Priuses, including the one his character
6:05:09drives on his HBO series, Curb Your
6:05:12Enthusiasm, 36, and others singing the
6:05:14praises of Toyota's Environmental
6:05:16Marvel, and both the Sierra Club and the
6:05:18National Wildlife Federation, endorsing
6:05:20the Prius 37 remember the power of
6:05:22experts. It's no wonder that as of this
6:05:25writing, the hip brand is Toyota's third
6:05:28bestselling model, just behind the far
6:05:30more affordable Camry and the Corolla
6:05:3338. In fact, several consumer studies
6:05:36today rank Toyota as one of the most
6:05:38environmentally friendly brands in the
6:05:40world. But hold on a moment, isn't
6:05:42Toyota a car company? The appeal of the
6:05:45Prius is a perfect example of what
6:05:47psychologists call competitive altruism.
6:05:49A widely accepted theory which asserts
6:05:51that people do socially responsible
6:05:53things like buy hybrids and other
6:05:55environmentally friendly products not so
6:05:57much to do good but rather to show off
6:05:59their benevolence and enhance their
6:06:01social reputations. One study supporting
6:06:03this theory found that even the most
6:06:05ostensibly environmentally conscious
6:06:07consumers tend to actually avoid buying
6:06:10green products when no one else is
6:06:12around to witness their selfless,
6:06:13mindful behavior. When people buy light
6:06:16bulbs over the internet, for example,
6:06:18they tend to choose the non-green,
6:06:20politically incorrect, and less
6:06:21expensive option. But if they're buying
6:06:23in the store where other people can see
6:06:25them, they will typically go with a
6:06:27longerlasting LED bulb in the recycled
6:06:30package. As the researchers explain,
6:06:32status motives led people to make a
6:06:34rather economically irrational decision,
6:06:36at least from a superficial perspective.
6:06:39When people are thinking about status,
6:06:41they in fact want to spend more to
6:06:43demonstrate not only that they are
6:06:44environmentally conscious, but also that
6:06:47they can afford to be environmentally
6:06:48conscious. 39.
6:06:51Is it any coincidence then that in July
6:06:542007, according to data from CNW
6:06:57Marketing Research, when asked why they
6:06:58bought a Prius, most people gave the one
6:07:01answer that every marketer loves to
6:07:02hear. The main reason for buying a
6:07:05Prius, said 57% of owners, was because
6:07:08it makes a statement about me. 40. The
6:07:12Church of Persuasion. I guess it should
6:07:14come as no surprise given the turbulence
6:07:17of these times and the return to basics
6:07:19that it has inspired in many of us that
6:07:21spiritual marketing, the term for trying
6:07:23to pass off products as having soothing,
6:07:25magical or summoning qualities, has
6:07:27become a popular strategy for all kinds
6:07:29of unlikely brands and products, ranging
6:07:32from candy to sports drinks to even cars
6:07:34and computers. Today, those seeking a
6:07:37taste of Nirvana can munch Hampton
6:07:39chutney or suck on classy yoga candy or
6:07:41karma candy. And if this leaves you
6:07:43thirsty, andheiser Bush recently rolled
6:07:45out a series of ads featuring parched
6:07:48Tibetan llamas gazing longingly at a
6:07:49blimp labeled Budweiser. Still, when it
6:07:52comes to spiritual marketing, few edible
6:07:54products can compete with the invention
6:07:56of one Gausian Zen, a Chinese farmer who
6:07:59has actually come up with a way to grow
6:08:00Buddha-shaped pears. Sure, they cost
6:08:03about $7.50 a piece, but that hasn't
6:08:06stopped this ingenious farmer from
6:08:08selling close to 10,000 of them. A
6:08:11commercial for the 2010 Hyundai Sonata
6:08:13features a suggested daily routine for
6:08:15achieving innerpiece essentially just a
6:08:17handful of yoga poses, including one
6:08:19cleverly christen the Sonata 41. While
6:08:21in one spot for Gatorade, basketball
6:08:23legend Michael Jordan hikes up a Rocky
6:08:25Mountain Himalayan, no doubt, in search
6:08:27of a spiritual guru whose sage wisdom
6:08:30turns out to be the brand slogan,
6:08:31"Life's a sport. Drink it up." and the
6:08:34computer maker IBM and web search engine
6:08:36Los have both built advertising
6:08:38campaigns around Sherpas and Tibetan
6:08:40holy men. 42.
6:08:43Sometimes holy people even participate
6:08:45in this brandwashing. For example, a
6:08:48rustic Cersian abbey in the Midwest has
6:08:50a for-profit arm called laser monks.com.
6:08:53When not praying or fasting, these
6:08:55monks, yes, actual monks will refill
6:08:58your used printer cartridges. The Monks
6:09:00claim that they have served more than
6:09:0250,000 customers to date and that they
6:09:04process anywhere from 200 to 300 daily
6:09:07orders. Their 2005 sales, $2.5 million.
6:09:13430. And the website also indulges
6:09:16internet prayer requests. 44. and one
6:09:18Los Angeles company known as intentional
6:09:21chocolate goes so far as to employ a
6:09:23recording device that captures the
6:09:24electromagnetic brain waves of real life
6:09:27meditating Tibetan monks before exposing
6:09:29the recording to the chocolates in the
6:09:31assembly lines for 5 days per batch.
6:09:33According to company founder Jim Walsh,
6:09:35whoever consumes this chocolate will
6:09:37manifest optimal health and functioning
6:09:39at physical, emotional, and mental
6:09:41levels and in particular will enjoy an
6:09:43increased sense of energy, vigor, and
6:09:45well-being for the benefit of all
6:09:47beings. 45. If new age spirituality has
6:09:51really become the new consumer religion,
6:09:53is it any wonder that there is a
6:09:55moisturizer called hydroen or that a
6:09:57campaign for the beauty company GHD
6:10:00which refers to itself as a new religion
6:10:02for hair explains how users can live
6:10:04their lives according to the gospel of
6:10:06GHD or that the logo for Brazil's saga
6:10:09popular sugarcebased liquor is Rio de
6:10:12Janeiro's Christ the Redeemer.
6:10:14Similarly, Gerlin, the upscale Parisian
6:10:16perfumer, distributes a fragrance known
6:10:18as Samsura, which is named after the
6:10:20Buddhist cycle of birth and rebirth and
6:10:22whose ad copy reads, "Samsura is the
6:10:25symbol of harmony of osmosis between a
6:10:27woman and her perfume. The perfume
6:10:29stopper even resembles the eye of
6:10:30Buddha." The reason all this works so
6:10:33well, well, remember that our brains are
6:10:36predisposed to believe in something,
6:10:38anything. You might say that as humans
6:10:40we need to believe. Which is why
6:10:43companies are constantly coming up with
6:10:45new and ingenious ways to capitalize not
6:10:47just on newagy spirituality but also on
6:10:50traditional oldw world faith and
6:10:52religion. To give one rather surprising
6:10:54example, I've noticed that in recent
6:10:56years the increasing number of
6:10:58modernleaning Muslims in our society
6:11:00have presented companies with an
6:11:02unexpected yet very lucrative
6:11:04opportunity. A little background. If
6:11:06you're a devout Muslim, your religion
6:11:08dictates that you can only eat foods
6:11:10designated halal, which is an Arabic
6:11:12term defined as lawful or permitted,
6:11:14among other things. This excludes pork
6:11:16and its byproducts, animals not properly
6:11:18slaughtered, carnivorous animals, and
6:11:20alcohol. Now, historically, buying halal
6:11:23food meant going to a Muslim grosser or
6:11:26butcher who cut the meat in accordance
6:11:28with Islamic principles. 46. Such a
6:11:31person might not be hard to find in
6:11:33downtown Baghdad, but here in the
6:11:35States, there aren't exactly Muslim
6:11:37butchers on every corner, which is why
6:11:39food companies have begun to offer
6:11:41thousands of new products boasting the
6:11:43halal label. This business, according to
6:11:46the Halal Journal, is worth roughly 632
6:11:49billion per year, a staggering 16% of
6:11:52the global food industry. 47.
6:11:56Today, companies are slapping the halal
6:11:58label on everything from food to makeup
6:12:00to even furniture. In this case, it
6:12:02could be the oil, paint, or soap used to
6:12:05stain the wood that claims halal
6:12:06certification. Canadian drug companies
6:12:09even sell halal vitamins, which claim to
6:12:11be free of the gelatins and other animal
6:12:13derivatives that some Islamic scholars
6:12:15say make mainstream products haram or
6:12:17unlawful. And there are multiple halal
6:12:19cosmetics lines, including a brand
6:12:21called OneER, which has supposedly been
6:12:23certified in Malaysia by the same
6:12:25Islamic body responsible for certifying
6:12:27meats. People are always looking for the
6:12:29next purity thing, confirms Ma Hussein
6:12:32Gambles, who built the halal makeup
6:12:34firm, Soft, Pure Skincare. 48. Whether
6:12:36or not all these religious claims are
6:12:38legitimate, they certainly are
6:12:40persuasive. A Muslim taxi driver in New
6:12:43York once told me that to make up for
6:12:45his lack of devoutness, he began buying
6:12:47more and more halal branded products,
6:12:50they made him feel better about his
6:12:52spiritual lapses, which is exactly the
6:12:54point. These shrewd brands aren't really
6:12:57selling food and perfume and makeup.
6:12:59They're selling purity, spirituality,
6:13:01faith, virtue, and in some cases,
6:13:03atonement. If you're not a Muslim and
6:13:05buying faith is what you're after, never
6:13:07fear. eBay has you covered. According to
6:13:10Newsweek, in 2008, the popular auction
6:13:13site offered strands of hair purportedly
6:13:15from the head of St. TZ Delisio. Bidding
6:13:17began at $40 per strand. Or you could
6:13:20purchase a fragment of bone supposedly
6:13:22from the 13-year-old St. Filya, who
6:13:24according to legend was flogged,
6:13:26drowned, and finally beheaded for
6:13:28refusing to marry the Roman Emperor
6:13:30Dialesian. 49. All of which prompted the
6:13:33author of the article to wonder whether
6:13:35it was really possible to purchase a
6:13:37piece of God's grace and mystery with a
6:13:39credit card. 50. That's not all. Among
6:13:43the strangest and arguably most
6:13:45ridiculous faith-based eBay offerings
6:13:47were a grilled cheese sandwich that
6:13:49appeared to be emlazed with the face of
6:13:50the Virgin Mary. It was bought by an
6:13:52online casino for $28,000 and a Dorito
6:13:56that precisely resembled the Pope's
6:13:57merit or signature hat. It was bought by
6:13:59the same casino for $1,29.
6:14:03But don't worry, those with more modest
6:14:05budgets need only shell out $326
6:14:09for an item claiming to be the meaning
6:14:11of life. What exactly would be arriving
6:14:13at your doorstep after purchasing such
6:14:15an item was unclear. The only picture
6:14:18the seller provided was a vista of a
6:14:20beautiful rainbow. 51. I can't talk
6:14:24about selling faith without mentioning
6:14:25the phenomenon of the megaurch, which
6:14:27debuted in 1977 with Houston's First
6:14:30Baptist, seating capacity 3,300, and
6:14:34today is nothing less than a marketing
6:14:36machine. Concentrated mostly in the
6:14:38south, megaurches tend to look more like
6:14:40shopping malls than places of worship,
6:14:42outfitted with coffee bars, bookstores,
6:14:44video games, food courts, and even
6:14:46bowling alleys. Others more closely
6:14:48resemble cinniplexes as they've hired
6:14:50technological consultants to help them
6:14:52install multimedia screens on which the
6:14:54sermon is broadcast via the web. With a
6:14:57high velocity mixture of music, media,
6:15:00print, and web, the amount of technology
6:15:02can rival a large concert hall, says
6:15:04Jack Duran, executive vice president of
6:15:06Turner Partners Architecture, LP 52,
6:15:09says another architect who has worked on
6:15:11transforming the look of American
6:15:13churches as well as theaters and
6:15:15entertainment complexes, including one
6:15:17at Universal Studios. When you get the
6:15:20children to come back again and again,
6:15:22the parents will follow. 53. Yet other
6:15:25churches have embraced the more
6:15:26corporate side of the coin. According to
6:15:29Forbes magazine, World Changers
6:15:30Ministries operates a music studio,
6:15:32publishing house, computer graphic
6:15:34design suite, and owns its own record
6:15:36label, 54. While the New Birth
6:15:38Missionary Baptist Church not only has a
6:15:40CEO, and plays, but offers a special
6:15:42effects 3D website that offers videos on
6:15:44demand. 55. in the Great Bington,
6:15:47Illinois based Willow Creek Community
6:15:49Church is famous for its marketing
6:15:51conferences and seminars and for its
6:15:52buzz events featuring speakers ranging
6:15:55from business consultant Jim Collins to
6:15:57President Bill Clinton to former
6:15:59Washington Redskins coach Joe Gibs. 56
6:16:02tickets can range anywhere from $25 to
6:16:05hundreds of dollars a pop. Oak floats.
6:16:09Whether the brand's promise is health,
6:16:11happiness, or enlightenment, what all
6:16:13the marketing PS we've been talking
6:16:15about in this chapter have in common is
6:16:17that they tap into our very human desire
6:16:19to return to the earth, to reclaim an
6:16:21innocence untainted by money or by the
6:16:24stresses of contemporary life. They're
6:16:26all about selling us inner peace,
6:16:28spiritual fulfillment, and a better
6:16:30life. And selling us hope as well. This
6:16:33is nothing new. Companies have been
6:16:35selling hope in one way, shape, or form
6:16:37for the past hundred years. Because hope
6:16:40works, we crave it. We need it, and we
6:16:44buy it. Charles Revson, the founder of
6:16:46Revlin, was clearly on to something when
6:16:48in 1967 he was quoted as saying, "In the
6:16:51factory, we make cosmetics. In the
6:16:53drugstore, we sell hope in a bottle.
6:16:56Hope is the loan we take out for the
6:16:58perfect home or the far away city we
6:17:00dream of living in someday. Hope is a
6:17:03bunch of camping gear we buy to feel
6:17:05closer to nature. Even if we live in the
6:17:07middle of a siren filled city, a kayak
6:17:09rack for a kayak we'll never paddle.
6:17:12Boots intended to scale a mountain we
6:17:14will never climb. Attent to pitch under
6:17:16the stars we'll never sleep under. Op is
6:17:19joining a health club to get the body
6:17:20we've always wanted. The local grass-fed
6:17:23beef we eat in the service of leaving
6:17:24our children a better planet. The
6:17:26expensive outfit we buy just in case we
6:17:29someday have someplace fancy to wear it.
6:17:31It's any product that promises to make
6:17:33our life better in some small way. I
6:17:37have a friend who recently found his
6:17:39sources of income drying up. One day, I
6:17:41peered in his garage and saw his
6:17:43expensive Hummer, which was hooked to
6:17:45his speedboat. "Why don't you sell your
6:17:48car and your boat?" I asked. It seemed
6:17:51to make sense if he was hurting
6:17:53financially. "No," he told me. At first,
6:17:56I thought he was being bullheaded. But
6:17:58then I realized that he was clinging to
6:18:00those objects, those things, because
6:18:02they represented hope, and that if he
6:18:05sold them, he would be selling his
6:18:07entire imagined future, that these
6:18:09objects represented a world in which he
6:18:11hoped he would someday live. Whenever I
6:18:14do speeches across the world, I knock on
6:18:16wood just for the hell of it. As far as
6:18:19I can tell, it's never brought me any
6:18:21spectacularly good luck, but I still do
6:18:24it. Hope may be an illusion, but we
6:18:26believe in it, and we're willing to
6:18:28spend our hard-earned money for it all
6:18:30the same. Chapter nine. You're sitting
6:18:34at home killing time at your computer
6:18:36when an email announces itself. No, it's
6:18:39not from a friend or from your boss.
6:18:41It's a notice from the chain drugstore
6:18:43you frequent down the street. Joanne, it
6:18:46says, "Save $5 off your next purchase of
6:18:48Neutrogena moisturizer." adding that
6:18:51this special offer expires in 3 weeks
6:18:53time. Now, how you wonder did the
6:18:56drugstore know you were a Neutrogena
6:18:58user. Must be a coincidence, you think,
6:19:01and then promptly forget about it. That
6:19:04is until the following week when you're
6:19:06sorting through your snail mail and find
6:19:08another flyer from the same store. This
6:19:10time it's offering you discounts for
6:19:12your brand of laundry detergent. Tide
6:19:14your preferred toothpaste, winter green
6:19:16crest with extra whitening, and your
6:19:18guilty pleasure snack food hint of lime
6:19:20tastitos. This is clearly not a
6:19:22coincidence. The pieces start to come
6:19:25together as you flash back to your last
6:19:28drugstore visit. Will you be using your
6:19:30loyalty card? The board teenage clerk
6:19:33asked as you were paying for your
6:19:34purchases, which included, "Besides the
6:19:36aforementioned items, band-aids,
6:19:39vitamins, your husband's head and
6:19:40shoulders, and your family's various
6:19:42prescriptions."
6:19:44As usual, unthinkingly, you handed over
6:19:46the red plastic card, watching
6:19:48impatiently as the clerk scanned the
6:19:49tiny barcode under her want. After you
6:19:52paid up, the clerk pulled up a two-ft
6:19:54long receipt, announcing without
6:19:56interest, "You've got four coupons
6:19:57today. One for half off a pack of Venus
6:20:00razors. Funny, you did just switch to
6:20:02Venus from another brand. Another for a
6:20:046 bottle of Purll. Weird thing is you
6:20:07just ran out. A third offering you a 10%
6:20:09discount on your next bottle of vitamin
6:20:11D tablets. How did they know that
6:20:13recently you've been reading tons of
6:20:15articles about vitamin D and one for a
6:20:18dollar off the next time you develop a
6:20:20roll of digital photos. Uh, you do have
6:20:22a family reunion coming up. On the way
6:20:25out, you were struck by the music
6:20:27playing overhead, James Taylor's Fire
6:20:29and Rain. Though you'd heard this song
6:20:31700 million times in your life, you
6:20:34couldn't help but wonder, was it sheer
6:20:36coincidence the drugstore knew you're a
6:20:38sucker for this particular heart tugging
6:20:40late baby boomer lullabi? Did these
6:20:42people have a microchip implanted in
6:20:44your brain or what? Well, sort of. As it
6:20:49turns out, thanks to the sophisticated
6:20:50techniques today's companies have for
6:20:52keeping track of your every move, this
6:20:54drugstore and virtually every other
6:20:56place you shop, for that matter,
6:20:58probably knows more about your wants,
6:20:59your needs, your dreams, and your habits
6:21:02than even you do. And it's using this
6:21:04information to make money off you in
6:21:06ways you couldn't even imagine. Welcome
6:21:09to the $100 billion world of data
6:21:12mining. Save the data. Data mining,
6:21:16euphemistically referred to in the
6:21:17marketing industry as knowledge
6:21:19discovery or consumer insights, is an
6:21:21enormous and rapidly growing global
6:21:23business devoted to tracking and
6:21:25analyzing consumer behavior, then
6:21:27categorizing, summarizing, and smoothing
6:21:29that data so it can be used to persuade
6:21:31and on occasion manipulate us to buy
6:21:33products. Data mining is how companies
6:21:36know not only your buying habits but
6:21:37also your race, gender, address, phone
6:21:39number, education level, approximate
6:21:41income, family size, pet's name,
6:21:43favorite movie, and much, much more,
6:21:45creating what one expert calls a mirror
6:21:47world of us. One, the goal of consumer
6:21:50insights. According to Stuart Akin, the
6:21:52CEO of Donia leading data mining company
6:21:55based in Ohio, whose clients include
6:21:57Proctor and Gamble, Macy's, PepsiCo,
6:21:59Coca-Cola, Kelloggs, Craft Foods, and
6:22:02Home Depot. We're looking for the
6:22:04motivations and the understanding behind
6:22:06what consumers do and buy. Two, being
6:22:10able to predict what a consumer is
6:22:12likely to buy next. And being the first
6:22:14company in line to perfectly target the
6:22:17offering to the consumer in question is
6:22:19of paramount importance to companies of
6:22:21all stripes. Why? Because based on
6:22:24marketers data, consumers who try a new
6:22:26product are likely to stick with it for
6:22:28an average of a year and a half. So, if
6:22:31a store can figure out what new product
6:22:33you might like and offer a free sample
6:22:35or coupon or promotion persuading you to
6:22:37try it, it's potentially locked up your
6:22:40dollars for the next 18 months. Thanks
6:22:42to data mining companies, or as I like
6:22:45to call them, Big Brother, every time we
6:22:47do a Google search, write on a friend's
6:22:48Facebook wall, swipe our credit card,
6:22:50download an iTunes song, look up
6:22:52directions on our cell phone, or shop at
6:22:54the local grocery store, an unseen data
6:22:56collector is shadowing us, recording
6:22:58every last bit of information, crunching
6:23:00and analyzing it, and then turning
6:23:02around and reselling it to retailers and
6:23:04marketing firms. What's more, the data
6:23:07mining industry is growing 10% a year.
6:23:10And why? Because thanks to technologies
6:23:12like the GPS tracking built into our
6:23:14smartphones, the license agreements we
6:23:16sign every time we download a new piece
6:23:18of software onto our laptops, commercial
6:23:20spyware, otherwise known as adwear that
6:23:22tracks and records every website we
6:23:24visit, and increasingly sophisticated
6:23:26algorithms and computer models to
6:23:28analyze all this information. Today,
6:23:30each and every move we as consumers make
6:23:32is producing reams more data than ever
6:23:34before. And you better believe companies
6:23:36are using this data to take our dollars
6:23:38in ways we don't even realize.
6:23:41Code blue. Don't you miss the good old
6:23:44days when coupons showed up in the
6:23:46Sunday newspaper? You put down your
6:23:48steaming mug of coffee, get out your
6:23:50scissors, cut along the dotted lines,
6:23:52then contentedly file away that freshly
6:23:55clipped coupon in the handy little
6:23:56folder you kept in your desk drawer.
6:23:59Well, those days are over. Thanks to the
6:24:01web, the coupon has now gone digital.
6:24:04and that digital coupon knows more about
6:24:06you than you can imagine. Digital
6:24:08coupons, another sneaky yet little known
6:24:11tool of the data mining world. If you
6:24:13think digitizing coupons is merely about
6:24:15convenience and saving postage, you're
6:24:18wrong. Today, the innocent looking
6:24:20barcodes on those ubiquitous online
6:24:22coupons are encoded with a shocking
6:24:23amount of information about you,
6:24:25including your computer's IP address,
6:24:27everything written on your Facebook
6:24:29profile and posts, the date and time you
6:24:31both obtained and redeemed the coupon,
6:24:33the location of the store where you used
6:24:35it, whether you found the coupon online,
6:24:37and even the search terms you used to
6:24:39track it down in the first place. And if
6:24:42this wasn't bad enough, more and more
6:24:43retailers are cross-pollinating this
6:24:45data with other information their datab
6:24:47bank has about you, including estimates
6:24:49of your age, your gender, your income,
6:24:51your buying history, what websites you
6:24:53visited recently, and your real-time
6:24:55whereabouts, creating a profile so
6:24:57intricate and detailed it would impress
6:24:58a CIA operative. Here's how it works.
6:25:02Let's say you receive a coupon in your
6:25:04inbox from Macy's. You either print it
6:25:07on your computer or send it to your cell
6:25:09phone. Then when you go into a store to
6:25:12redeem it, the clerk scans it, sending
6:25:14all the information I just noted to a
6:25:17company called Rift Tracks. RiftX then
6:25:19analyzes this information and assigns
6:25:21you to a particular cluster or
6:25:23cross-section depending on the type of
6:25:25consumer the data indicate you are. By
6:25:28matching your online behavior with your
6:25:30instore purchasing, the retailers can
6:25:32figure out which ads or online product
6:25:34promotions work best on you, what offers
6:25:36you are likely to jump at or ignore, and
6:25:38even how long after searching for
6:25:40something online you're likely to
6:25:41actually go to a store to chase it down
6:25:44over time, says Rift Tracks co-founder
6:25:46Jonathan Triber, we'll be able to do
6:25:48much better profiling around certain IP
6:25:50addresses to say, hey, this IP address
6:25:53is showing a proclivity for printing
6:25:55clothing apparel coupons and is really
6:25:57only respond responding to coupons
6:25:58greater than 20% off. Three adds Robert
6:26:01Dresser, chief executive of Cellfire, a
6:26:04mobile coupon company that works with
6:26:06grocery chains including Safeway,
6:26:08Kroger, and Shopright. We can already
6:26:10tell if you are near or inside a store
6:26:12and can give you particular offers, but
6:26:14that's the kind of thing we're moving
6:26:15fairly cautiously on so that the user
6:26:17can get to know us and trust us first.
6:26:20Four, if you use a coupon on your mobile
6:26:23phone, it's even worse. For example,
6:26:26Starbucks recently started a program
6:26:28that allows coffee drinkers to keep
6:26:29track of each purchase on our cell
6:26:31phones, rewarding us with a free drink
6:26:33for every 15th purchase. Yet, what most
6:26:36unsuspecting customers don't know about
6:26:38this seemingly bearded program is that
6:26:40it's actually pulling data from our
6:26:42phones and sending it straight into
6:26:44Starbucks database where it's then used
6:26:46to target us with personalized
6:26:47intreaties. We've tried to build a
6:26:50program around recognition and in some
6:26:52ways that relevance comes from knowing
6:26:53about purchases from data collected from
6:26:55the loyalty program. Five. Brady Brewer,
6:26:58the vice president of Starbucks
6:26:59overseeing brand loyalty and the
6:27:01Starbucks card told the New York Times.
6:27:04Similarly, last year Target rolled out
6:27:06barcode coupons scannable straight from
6:27:09your phone at its nearly 2,000 stores
6:27:11across the United States. But in
6:27:13exchange for receiving five coupons per
6:27:15month on various small items from lip
6:27:17balm to bubble gum. Are you aware of
6:27:20what you're giving up? Check out the
6:27:22company's terms and conditions which
6:27:23give Target permission to collect user
6:27:25cell phone numbers, their carriers
6:27:27names, and the date and the time users
6:27:29redeemed their coupons. Six worse. A
6:27:32Target spokesperson clarifies that the
6:27:34company may merge the information it
6:27:35pulls from people's phones with
6:27:37information from other sources before
6:27:39sharing that information with carefully
6:27:41selected third parties. Seven Target
6:27:43spokespeople were naturally reluctant to
6:27:45discuss what kinds of data they collect,
6:27:48but one expert estimates that roughly 15
6:27:50pieces of information, ranging from what
6:27:52search term you typed into your address
6:27:54and where you were when you downloaded
6:27:55the coupon, thanks to the fact that most
6:27:58smartphones are GPS equipped, could be
6:28:00relayed via the barcode of a simple
6:28:02mobile coupon. That's right, even our
6:28:05closest friends, namely our phones, are
6:28:07betraying our privacy. A mobile phone
6:28:10security firm known as Lookout
6:28:11Incorporated analyzed roughly 300,000
6:28:14free applications for the iPhone as well
6:28:16as for Google's Android and found that
6:28:18many of them secretly pull sensitive
6:28:20data off users phones and ship them off
6:28:22to third parties without notification. A
6:28:24by third parties they mean advertisers
6:28:26and marketing firms. This information
6:28:28these apps are stealing from right under
6:28:30our noses. everything from our contact
6:28:33lists to our pictures to our text
6:28:35messages to our internet search
6:28:36histories to our realtime locations.
6:28:39Nine. In fact, as the New York Times
6:28:41recently reported, when one German
6:28:43politician went to court to investigate
6:28:45just how much his cell phone company,
6:28:47Deutsche Telecom, kept track of his
6:28:49whereabouts, he discovered that within a
6:28:51six-month period, the company had
6:28:53recorded and stored the actual
6:28:54coordinates of his location a total of
6:28:5635,000 times. We are all walking around
6:29:00with little tags and our tag has a phone
6:29:02number associated with it, who we called
6:29:04and what we do with the phone as Sarah
6:29:06E. Williams, an expert on graphic
6:29:08information at Colombia University,
6:29:10explained to the New York Times. And in
6:29:13April 2011, a firestorm erupted when it
6:29:16was discovered that the iPhone, the 3G
6:29:18version of the iPad, and Google's
6:29:20Android phone all contain software that
6:29:22silently tracks and records the user's
6:29:24location and has been doing so
6:29:26unbeknownst to the vast majority of
6:29:28users for a year or longer. In the case
6:29:30of the Android, the software records
6:29:33data about the user's location as
6:29:34frequently as every few seconds, then
6:29:37transmits that data back to the company
6:29:39where it is stored in a database as
6:29:41regularly as every few hours. In the
6:29:43case of the iPhone and iPad, two San
6:29:46Francisco programmers discovered, the
6:29:48data also gets stored in a file that is
6:29:50automatically copied onto the hard drive
6:29:52of any computer synced to the device.
6:29:55Meaning that if I charge my iPad on a
6:29:57colleague's or acquaintance's computer,
6:29:59he or she now possesses a permanent
6:30:01record of my whereabouts over the last
6:30:03year in a file that could be easily
6:30:05hacked, copied, or disseminated via the
6:30:07cloud. And the worst part, various
6:30:10reputable news outlets report that Apple
6:30:12has been loading up phones with this
6:30:14software, which can't, by the way, be
6:30:16turned off without users knowledge. It
6:30:18simply appeared one day silently and
6:30:19invisibly as part of a seemingly routine
6:30:22upgrade. Understandably, privacy
6:30:24advocates were outraged at this blatant
6:30:27attempt to capture what the Wall Street
6:30:28Journal cites as a $2.9 billion market
6:30:31for location-based services. The newest
6:30:34ploy to turn our own cell phones into
6:30:36data mining tools. An iPhone app called
6:30:39Shopkick rolled out in November 2010,
6:30:42just in time for the holiday shopping
6:30:44season, which offers reward points for
6:30:46shopping redeemable everywhere from
6:30:48Macy's to Sports Authority to Best Buy.
6:30:50A few points are awarded for simply
6:30:52checking into a store, more points for
6:30:54scanning a product, and of course, still
6:30:56more points for buying. But of course,
6:30:59that's not all you get. Each time you
6:31:01check into a store, scan a product, or
6:31:04make a purchase shop, it collects and
6:31:06crunches the data about your purchase
6:31:08and then uses it to send targeted deals
6:31:10and offer straight to your phone. I
6:31:13don't know about you, but I'm starting
6:31:15to feel creeped out. Charge it at your
6:31:18own risk. It may not shock you to learn
6:31:20that Walmart, the biggest and most
6:31:23profitable retailer in the world, also
6:31:25operates one of the most massive data
6:31:27banks in the world. Capturing data on
6:31:29point of sale transactions from nearly
6:31:313,000 stores in six countries, Walmart
6:31:34maintains a 7.5 terbteter data warehouse
6:31:3710, a database many times the size of
6:31:39the federal governments. Because of its
6:31:42size, Walmart has unprecedented access
6:31:44to information about a staggering number
6:31:46of us. Which is why at any given time,
6:31:49Walmart always knows what's selling and
6:31:51what's languishing and with which
6:31:52specific customers. Two. In fact, the
6:31:55chain store is famous for hoarding its
6:31:57data somewhat obsessively. And it knows
6:31:59how to use this information to make us
6:32:01spend. I talked earlier about how
6:32:04retailers like Walmart employ a company
6:32:06to help them predict and capitalize on
6:32:08extreme weather events like earthquakes
6:32:10and snowstorms. Well, it turns out they
6:32:13also use the data about past extreme
6:32:15weather events to figure out which
6:32:16products beyond the obvious to stock.
6:32:19For example, a few years ago when a
6:32:22hurricane was approaching the Atlantic
6:32:24coast, Walmart crunched the numbers to
6:32:26figure out what hurricane victims had
6:32:28purchased during the previous hurricane.
6:32:30No, it wasn't flashlights. Instead, the
6:32:33top selling prehurricane item was beer.
6:32:35While, oddly enough, sales of strawberry
6:32:37Pop-Tarts of all things had increased
6:32:39sevenfold. Accordingly, trucks bulging
6:32:42with toaster pastries and six-packs were
6:32:44soon speeding toward the sight of the
6:32:46oncoming storm. But the scariest thing
6:32:48about this isn't that it's making the
6:32:50giant retailer a lot of money, which it
6:32:52is, of course. It's that the typical
6:32:55shopper has absolutely no idea how
6:32:57closely she is being monitored. At
6:32:59Walmart, there are no loyalty cards to
6:33:01swipe, no coupon barcodes to scan, just
6:33:04everyday low prices. So, without any
6:33:06loyalty program in place, how does
6:33:09Walmart capture information? Buy our
6:33:11very own credit and debit cards. It's
6:33:14amazing what a sophisticated data miner
6:33:17can learn from a credit card. In 2002,
6:33:20JP Martin, an executive at Canadian
6:33:23Tire, which, in addition to tires, and
6:33:25car accessories, sells electronics,
6:33:27sporting goods, and kitchen appliances,
6:33:29began analyzing the data gleaned from
6:33:31the credit card transactions the company
6:33:33had processed the year before. Among the
6:33:35many things Martin found, people who
6:33:37bought carbon monoxide monitors
6:33:39practically never missed payments, and
6:33:41neither did people who bought those
6:33:42little soft pads that keep furniture
6:33:44legs from scratching up your floor. They
6:33:47also found that people who bought cheap
6:33:49no-name automotive oil were much more
6:33:51likely to miss a credit card payment
6:33:52than people who got the expensive brand
6:33:54name stuff and that if a person bought a
6:33:56chrome skull car accessory, he was
6:33:58pretty likely to miss paying his bill
6:34:00eventually. 11. From all this, Martin
6:34:03concluded that the brands we buy are the
6:34:05windows into our souls, or at least into
6:34:07our willingness to make good on our
6:34:09debts. 12. This wasn't just an isolated
6:34:13experiment. Martin's methods are
6:34:16actually very common. Most credit card
6:34:18companies have and in fact have always
6:34:21had, though they are getting far more
6:34:23sophisticated thanks to technology
6:34:25systems in place that pour through all
6:34:27your data looking for clues that you
6:34:28might stop making payments. What kind of
6:34:31clues? Well, logging onto your online
6:34:34account in the middle of the night is
6:34:36one as it bespeaks anxiety about your
6:34:38finances. If you use a car to buy
6:34:40essentials like groceries or
6:34:42prescriptions, it's another indication
6:34:44that you may have fallen on hard times.
6:34:47Have you all of a sudden charged a large
6:34:49expense to a credit card you seldom use?
6:34:52That's another red flag that you may be
6:34:54delinquent with your upcoming monthly
6:34:56payment or even teetering toward
6:34:57financial insolveny. American Express
6:35:00has admitted it once used data about
6:35:02where its members shopped to set its
6:35:04credit limits, decreasing the limits if
6:35:07signs indicated a person was having
6:35:09money trouble. Though it has suspended
6:35:11the practice, not every company has. In
6:35:142008, it was revealed that one subprime
6:35:16credit card marketer had decreased
6:35:18credit limits on card holders who
6:35:19frequented pawn shops, massage parlors,
6:35:22tire retread shops, marriage counselors,
6:35:24and bars, and nightclubs. 13. no matter
6:35:28which credit card you use each and every
6:35:30time you charge something on it. The
6:35:32company records how much you spent and
6:35:34on what type of product. And while KG
6:35:37company representatives refuse to reveal
6:35:39how they use this data, the least you
6:35:41should know is that every single credit
6:35:42card transaction online or off is
6:35:45assigned a merchant category code, a
6:35:47four-digit number that indicates what
6:35:49kind of business or service the charge
6:35:51was for. The category codes include
6:35:53everything from wig and to pay stores to
6:35:55package beer, wine and liquor stores to
6:35:58pawn shops to wholesale clubs to bail
6:36:00and bond payments. 14. All of which,
6:36:02when you think about it, tell the credit
6:36:04card companies a whole lot about you and
6:36:06your lifestyle. Men, please note that if
6:36:09you happen to be among the 87% of males
6:36:12in the United States who buy less spoken
6:36:14about products or subscriptions on
6:36:16websites promising that some vague and
6:36:18discreet wording like international
6:36:20trading company will appear on your
6:36:21credit card statement rather than say
6:36:24Carl's adult videos, that little
6:36:26merchant category code will still reveal
6:36:28the truth to the credit card company.
6:36:31Have a lot of transactions in the air
6:36:33travel category. You may get an offer in
6:36:36the mail for either travel related
6:36:37services or a rewards equipped credit
6:36:40card from a major hotel chain, says Paul
6:36:43Stevens, the director of policy and
6:36:45advocacy for the San Diego based privacy
6:36:47rights clearing house. Depending on how
6:36:50extensively you use your credit card,
6:36:52they conceivably have a very clear,
6:36:54distinct picture of an individual. 15.
6:36:57These kinds of tactics explain why a
6:37:00person in serious debt can expect to
6:37:02find a handful of new credit card offers
6:37:04proclaiming to be for individuals with
6:37:06less than perfect credit awaiting them
6:37:08in their mailboxes. Who's behind these
6:37:11offers? And how do they know so much
6:37:13about our finances that they show up
6:37:15when they do? Well, certain financial
6:37:17institutions, including the big three
6:37:19credit rating agencies, Equifax,
6:37:21Experian, and TransUnion, pour through
6:37:23all kinds of documents, including bank
6:37:25and court records, to craft intricate
6:37:27profiles of the financial lives of over
6:37:30100 million Americans. 16. They then
6:37:32turn around and sell this detailed data
6:37:35including names, addresses, social
6:37:36security numbers, marital statuses,
6:37:38recent family births, education levels,
6:37:40car makes, TV cable service providers,
6:37:43and even magazine subscriptions to
6:37:45banks, credit card companies, and
6:37:46mortgage brokers who then fiercely
6:37:48compete to find untapped customers, even
6:37:50those who would normally face an uphill
6:37:52battle getting credit in the first
6:37:54place. Yes, that's right. The companies
6:37:57responsible for maintaining and updating
6:37:59your credit scores are the very same
6:38:00ones turning around and selling your
6:38:02financial information to credit card
6:38:04companies and mortgage lenders. Most
6:38:07people write it off as a timely
6:38:09coincidence when an offer for a new home
6:38:12equity loan arrives in the mail just as
6:38:14they've started struggling to make their
6:38:16mortgage payments. But it isn't. We
6:38:19called people who are astounded, said
6:38:21Alan E. Geller, chief executive of
6:38:23Visions Marketing Services, a Lancaster,
6:38:25Pennsylvania-based company that carries
6:38:27out telemarketing campaigns for banks
6:38:30offering new terms of credit. They said,
6:38:32"I can't believe you just called me. How
6:38:35did you know we were just getting ready
6:38:37to do that?" He adds, "We were just
6:38:39sitting back laughing." The goal of this
6:38:42incredibly devious tactic is to create
6:38:44the appearance of almost irresistible
6:38:46serendipity 17. like a devil whispering
6:38:49into our ears at the precise moment our
6:38:51defenses are at their lowest and our
6:38:53needs are highest. Thanks to data mining
6:38:56practices, banks and lenders know enough
6:38:58about our finances to tailor the
6:39:00specific wording in unsolicited letters
6:39:02to our individual situations. Often they
6:39:05even go so far as to calculate to the
6:39:07dollar what we would save on a mortgage
6:39:09or a monthly credit card payment if we
6:39:12took advantage of the offer in question.
6:39:14A few years back, one bank took this
6:39:16personalization to an extreme. It
6:39:19actually took satellite snapshots of a
6:39:21particular neighborhood and then
6:39:22highlighted each homeowner's property on
6:39:24the envelope accompanying the
6:39:26personalized credit offer. Not
6:39:28surprisingly, most consumers were
6:39:30spooked and the campaign was withdrawn.
6:39:33Again, while neither banks nor credit
6:39:35card companies will confirm their
6:39:37precise internal methodologies, it's
6:39:39widely acknowledged that property deeds
6:39:41are one of their major sources of data.
6:39:43Since property deeds are public records,
6:39:46each time we buy a piece of property, we
6:39:48get put on a list known in the industry
6:39:50as a trigger list indicating that we've
6:39:52just moved or are about to move.
6:39:54Companies then purchase these trigger
6:39:56lists and use them to shower us not just
6:39:58with loan offers and credit card offers,
6:40:00but also with decorating cataloges,
6:40:02magazine subscriptions, and more.
6:40:05Knowing that homeowners spend close to
6:40:07$12,000 furnishing their new digs within
6:40:09the first 6 months of moving into a new
6:40:12home and a good percentage of that in
6:40:14the first weeks or days. A company known
6:40:16as Elk Milestones New Movers and New
6:40:18Homeowners, for example, sells companies
6:40:20and businesses like Crate and Barrel and
6:40:22Pottery Barn updates every 24 hours
6:40:25about who has just purchased a property
6:40:27and is in need of brand new furnishings.
6:40:3018. Using a technique known as
6:40:32predictive modeling, which is
6:40:34essentially comparing your behavior to
6:40:36that of consumers who fit roughly the
6:40:37profile you do, data compilers and banks
6:40:40know whether you are likely to need new
6:40:42home credit before even you do. Equifax,
6:40:45yes, one of the companies that maintains
6:40:47your credit score, even offers lenders a
6:40:50brochure called target point predictive
6:40:52triggers whose advanced profiling
6:40:53techniques promise to help them sniff
6:40:55out consumers who show a statistical
6:40:57propensity to acquire new credit. 19.
6:41:01Naturally, the company declines to
6:41:03reveal its exact formula. But let's
6:41:05figure out how it might do it. Let's say
6:41:08a bank does a mail campaign offering new
6:41:10terms for home refinance. You receive
6:41:12the offer, check the box saying you
6:41:14might be interested and would like to
6:41:16learn more, and send the card in,
6:41:18complete with your name and address.
6:41:20Next, data crunchers proceed to pull
6:41:22together other information they have
6:41:24about you on file, including the value
6:41:26of your home, your outstanding credit
6:41:27card debt, and whatever savings you may
6:41:30or may not have. The bank then feeds all
6:41:32this into sophisticated statistical
6:41:34models that far it out other consumers
6:41:36who match the profile you do, eg other
6:41:39consumers who have a good-sized
6:41:40property, shop at Williams Sonoma, etc.,
6:41:44whom they then know to target with
6:41:46similar offers. In effect, the bank is
6:41:48getting us to unwittingly rat out one
6:41:51another. In 2010, the US Congress passed
6:41:54a bill designed to protect unsuspecting
6:41:56consumers, especially young consumers,
6:41:59from predatory credit card companies.
6:42:01Among the requirements of the new act
6:42:03was that colleges and universities
6:42:05publicly reveal the long-standing secret
6:42:07contracts they enjoy with credit card
6:42:09companies. That's how it was discovered
6:42:12that in 2007 hundreds of institutions of
6:42:14higher learning including some very
6:42:16prestigious ones like Yale University
6:42:18had entered into a highly lucrative
6:42:20affinity agreement by which they were
6:42:22essentially selling Chase Bank access to
6:42:24their alumni, staff, sports fans, and
6:42:26even students. 20. This is also how it
6:42:29was revealed that a staggering 800 of
6:42:31the United States 2-year colleges and
6:42:34700 of the country's four-year colleges
6:42:36maintained similar agreements with
6:42:38various credit card companies or banks.
6:42:41Under some of these agreements, the
6:42:43colleges received a cut of every new
6:42:45bank account a student opened. Under
6:42:47others, they got a percentage of every
6:42:49retail purchase a student made with
6:42:50their new card. Under still others, the
6:42:53schools actually earned money if an
6:42:54alumnest took on debt. Obviously, this
6:42:57was a huge incentive for these schools
6:42:59to encourage their students to rack up
6:43:01credit, which is why so many permitted
6:43:03credit card companies to advertise on
6:43:05campus, with some even granting the
6:43:07companies access to private campus
6:43:09events. 21. Why were the credit card
6:43:13companies so aggressively going after
6:43:15these young customers? Simple. These
6:43:18students with their meager incomes,
6:43:20irresponsible spending habits, and high
6:43:23credit limits thanks to the fact that
6:43:25many of them open joint accounts with
6:43:26their parents are cash cows for these
6:43:28banks. According to student lending
6:43:31company Sally May, in 2008, seniors
6:43:33graduated from college with a median
6:43:35credit card debt of more than $4,100.
6:43:38And 6 years ago, before the recession,
6:43:41the collegiate affinity market
6:43:42represented a more than $6 billion
6:43:44credit card debt portfolio. 22. And
6:43:48don't be fooled. Credit card companies
6:43:50love it when students max out their
6:43:51cards. In fact, so long as students
6:43:54don't default on what they owe, this is
6:43:56most credit card company's covered goal.
6:43:58Moreover, as Ohio State University
6:44:00researchers found, not only are
6:44:02firsttime college age card holders eager
6:44:04to buy stuff on credit, but they're apt
6:44:06to hang on to that particular card for
6:44:08up to 15 years. No wonder Bank of
6:44:11America's FiA card service unit
6:44:13outspends its competitors by 288% to
6:44:17entice college students to sign up for
6:44:19its card, according to the Federal
6:44:21Reserve Board of Governors. What's most
6:44:24valuable about these customers from a
6:44:25data mining perspective is that to
6:44:28prevent these young spenders from
6:44:29falling off the bank's radar once they
6:44:31graduate. Every single one of these
6:44:33affinity agreements requires colleges to
6:44:35provide students and graduates personal
6:44:37data, including names, phone numbers,
6:44:39and addresses. 23.
6:44:42What your shopping cart says about you.
6:44:45The loyalty card is another sneaky yet
6:44:48powerful tool companies use to turn
6:44:50every intimate detail about our lives
6:44:52into marketing gold. Today, the average
6:44:54person carries around 15 so-called
6:44:57loyalty cards, now being issued by every
6:44:59retailer under the sun, from your local
6:45:01drugstore to Staples to Best Buy to
6:45:03Starbucks. Yet, most of us forget we've
6:45:06even signed up for all these loyalty
6:45:08schemes. In a study I once conducted in
6:45:10the UK, when I asked a group of
6:45:12middle-aged females how many loyalty
6:45:14programs they belong to, most were able
6:45:16to recall only half. And when to jog
6:45:19their memories, I asked them to empty
6:45:21their wallets. Most were shocked by the
6:45:23number of cards that fell out. So,
6:45:25what's so bad about loyalty cards? You
6:45:27might be wondering, isn't the whole
6:45:29point of them to save me money? No, not
6:45:33exactly. Sure, the language and
6:45:35terminology that retailers use in
6:45:37talking about these programs, reward
6:45:38card, loyalty program, preferred
6:45:40customer savings may make you feel sort
6:45:42of special or may even lead you to
6:45:44believe that these programs are about
6:45:46rewarding you loyal customer with
6:45:47money-saving offers. Well, they aren't.
6:45:50The reason these clever programs exist
6:45:53isn't to save you 50 cents here, 50
6:45:55cents there, as their marketers and
6:45:57advertisers would have you believe.
6:45:59Loyalty programs exist for one simple
6:46:02and rather shifty purpose, to try to
6:46:04persuade you to buy more. In fact, each
6:46:07time you sign up for a store's loyalty
6:46:09program. What you are actually doing is
6:46:10giving the store explicit permission to
6:46:12collect aggregate, summarize, and crunch
6:46:14unparalleled amounts of information
6:46:16about you, your family, your habits, and
6:46:18your interests. All of which data miners
6:46:20then turn around and use to craft
6:46:22marketing and advertising in treaties
6:46:24too perfect, too persuasive, and too
6:46:26uncannily targeted to your individual
6:46:28psychology and lifestyle to resist. One
6:46:31study about Safeway, the supermarket
6:46:33chain, sums up the technique neatly.
6:46:35Safeway has turned itself into an
6:46:37information broker. The supermarket
6:46:40purchases demographic data directly from
6:46:42its customers by offering them discounts
6:46:44in return for using a Safeway Savings
6:46:46Club card. In order to obtain the card,
6:46:49shoppers voluntarily divulge personal
6:46:52information that is later used in
6:46:54predictive modeling. 24. In other words,
6:46:56each time we hand the clerk that
6:46:58colorful little card we keep on our key
6:47:00ring, we're swapping our privacy for a
6:47:0225 cent savings here. A dollar off
6:47:04there. Maybe the occasional buy two get
6:47:06one free deal. Have you ever found
6:47:09yourself standing behind someone in the
6:47:11checkout line at the grocery store
6:47:13trying to figure out who she is based on
6:47:15her purchases? Let's say she's buying a
6:47:18package of garlic chicken lean cuisine
6:47:20and a six-pack of Diet Coke. Okay, you
6:47:23tell yourself she probably lives alone
6:47:25and is dieting. Next, she sets down a
6:47:28bottle of high-end shampoo and
6:47:30conditioner. She's brand and beauty
6:47:32conscious, you note, and probably makes
6:47:34a good living. Also in her basket are a
6:47:37can of Lysol with bleach and a bottle of
6:47:39Purll, so you figure she's germ
6:47:41conscious. Then she surprises you by
6:47:44pulling out a home blood pressure kit.
6:47:46Does she have an elderly parent living
6:47:48at home? You wonder, or is she an iffy
6:47:51health herself? You file this last
6:47:54observation away, awaiting later
6:47:56confirmation.
6:47:57This kind of speculation, in a nutshell,
6:47:59is what data miners do, only thanks to
6:48:02all the sophisticated data tracking
6:48:04technology and computer models they have
6:48:06at their disposal. These few purchases
6:48:08tell them a whole lot more about this
6:48:10woman than the naked eye ever could.
6:48:12How? Every time you or I use our loyalty
6:48:15card in a store, a record of what we've
6:48:17bought, how much of it at what time of
6:48:19day, and at what price is sent to a data
6:48:21warehouse where it is added to our
6:48:23digital folder. Most companies and
6:48:25retailers with loyalty programs amass
6:48:27data continuously, then parse it into
6:48:29chunks that sum up our weekly, monthly,
6:48:31and yearly behavior. Then algorithms so
6:48:34complex they would make a math major's
6:48:36head spin crunch all the data to come up
6:48:38with all kinds of interpretations of who
6:48:40we are and what we're likely to buy
6:48:42based on our own buying habits and those
6:48:44of millions of consumers similar to us.
6:48:47For example, when we use a loyalty card
6:48:49to buy groceries, we are being pegged by
6:48:51at least one supermarket chain as one of
6:48:53six different customer profiles. a
6:48:55timeressed meate eater, a back to nature
6:48:57shopper, a discriminating leisure
6:48:59shopper, a nononsense shopper, a
6:49:01one-stop socialite, or a
6:49:02middle-of-the-road shopper. 25
6:49:04categories used to target us with
6:49:06specific deals and offers. There's no
6:49:09end to what this data can tell companies
6:49:11about what we're likely to buy. If I buy
6:49:14yogurt and vitamins, the algorithms
6:49:16predict I am probably a good target for
6:49:18an invitation to join the new local gym
6:49:20that just opened up. If I buy ready to
6:49:23eat meals, the data shows it's a sign
6:49:25that I'm a busy guy and more likely to
6:49:27use a coupon that's delivered straight
6:49:29to my phone than one I have to clip from
6:49:31the newspaper or print from my inbox. If
6:49:34I suddenly start buying baby wipes and
6:49:36diapers, I've clearly recently
6:49:38experienced a life change that's likely
6:49:40left me run down and tired, and I'm
6:49:42statistically likely to jump at a
6:49:44special offer for a day at the spot. It
6:49:47is by crunching these kinds of numbers
6:49:49that the data mining industry has
6:49:50uncovered some even more surprising
6:49:52factoids. Did you know, for example,
6:49:54that at Walmart, a shopper who buys a
6:49:56Barbie doll is 60% more likely to
6:49:59purchase one of three types of candy
6:50:01bars? Or that toothpaste is most often
6:50:04bought alongside canned tuna? Or that a
6:50:06customer who buys a lot of meat is
6:50:08likely to spend more money in a health
6:50:11food store than a non-meat eater? Or
6:50:13what about the data that revealed to one
6:50:16Canadian grocery chain that customers
6:50:18who bought coconuts also tended to buy
6:50:20prepaid calling cards? At first, no one
6:50:23in store management could figure out
6:50:25what was going on. What could coconuts
6:50:27possibly have to do with calling cards?
6:50:30Finally, it occurred to them that the
6:50:32store served a huge population of
6:50:34shoppers from the Caribbean islands and
6:50:36Asia, both of whose cuisines use
6:50:38coconuts in their cooking. Now, it made
6:50:40perfect sense that these Caribbean and
6:50:42Asian shoppers were buying prepaid
6:50:44calling cards to check in with their
6:50:46extended families back home. This is all
6:50:49well and good. You might be thinking,
6:50:51"But how could that supermarket use this
6:50:53information to make more money off us?"
6:50:56Well, first and foremost, it could
6:50:58create what's known in retail parliament
6:51:00as an adjacency. An adjacency is when a
6:51:03store positions two or more products
6:51:05next to each other that are seemingly
6:51:06unrelated but appeal to the same target
6:51:09customer. This way, after that Jamaican
6:51:11shopper has picked out a coconut to cook
6:51:13with, she need only glance to her left
6:51:15to find the strategically placed display
6:51:17of prepaid phone cards and be reminded
6:51:20she owes mom a call. Often adjacencies
6:51:23make stores and companies money by
6:51:24offering us solutions to problems we
6:51:26didn't even know we had. For example,
6:51:29imagine it's mid August and recent
6:51:31incoming data shows that a lot of people
6:51:33are buying frozen strawberry shortcake.
6:51:36Now, typically the ingredients for fresh
6:51:38homemade strawberry shortcake, local
6:51:40strawberries, bottles of whipped cream,
6:51:41and pound cake are located in three
6:51:43discrete aisles of the store. However,
6:51:46gleaning from the data that this
6:51:47particular demographic has a weakness
6:51:49for strawberry shortcake, the
6:51:51supermarket installs a standalone
6:51:53display of strawberries, whipped cream,
6:51:55and pound cake at the front of the
6:51:57store. Thus, the shopper enters the
6:51:59store, murmurss to herself, "Instant
6:52:01fresh dessert. Why didn't I think of
6:52:04that?" and swooshes all three into her
6:52:06basket, costing herself about three
6:52:08times as much as a box of Sarah Lee.
6:52:11Some businesses are using the adjacency
6:52:13technique to turn even bigger profits.
6:52:16Take Marks and Spencer, the upscale
6:52:18English department store chain. A few
6:52:21years back, by parsing the data taken
6:52:23from loyalty cards, its management
6:52:25noticed that more and more of its
6:52:26customers were buying Indianstyle
6:52:28dishwear followed by ready to eat Indian
6:52:30meals. When management realized that a
6:52:33large number of first and second
6:52:35generation Indians must have started
6:52:37shopping there, a light bulb went off.
6:52:39Why not open a currency exchange office
6:52:42right there in the store? Then another
6:52:44thought occurred. Why not sell a service
6:52:46organizing travel to these countries?
6:52:48Which is why the retailer partnered with
6:52:50Thomas Cook, the UK's largest travel
6:52:52agency, to create the Marks and Spencer
6:52:54Travel Club, which offers holiday
6:52:56discounts as well as loyalty points when
6:52:58you book your holiday using your M and S
6:53:01credit card. 26.
6:53:04But this isn't all companies do with the
6:53:06information they compile from our
6:53:08loyalty cards. Not by a long shot. To
6:53:11truly see the volumes that even an
6:53:13innocent trip to the grocery store can
6:53:15tell a company about us and what it then
6:53:17does with that knowledge, let's take a
6:53:19quick trip to a regional grocery chain
6:53:21we'll call Sparkies. First off, mind if
6:53:24I note right off the bat here that
6:53:26Sparky's was smart to position its front
6:53:28door on the right? That's because data
6:53:30compiled from a study of 200 stores
6:53:33reveals that shoppers who move
6:53:34counterclockwise spend $2 more per trip
6:53:37than those who go in the opposite
6:53:39direction. Human beings are naturally
6:53:41more inclined to move to the left
6:53:43because it's easier to reach out with
6:53:45our right arms to grab whatever it is we
6:53:47need. So, a right side entryway is a
6:53:49subtle yet effective way to ensure a
6:53:51counterclockwise shopping flow. I might
6:53:53add here that Sparky's was smart to
6:53:55outfit its store with oversized shopping
6:53:57baskets, as studies show that the bigger
6:54:00the shopping basket, the more likely we
6:54:02are to fill it to the brim. After
6:54:04desperately making my way through the
6:54:06labyrinth of shelves, towers of
6:54:08products, and special displays, looking
6:54:09for the apples, I find the Granny Smith
6:54:11apples and put five in my basket. I
6:54:13really only wanted three. But I saw the
6:54:15sign saying, "Buy four, get one free and
6:54:17immediately fell for the classic ploy
6:54:19that author William Poundstone calls
6:54:21nonlinear pricing, meaning the store has
6:54:23upped the price of those four apples by
6:54:2520%. So, I'm actually paying the exact
6:54:27same amount per apple, even though I
6:54:29think I'm getting a bargain." My choice
6:54:31of organic apples tells Sparky's
6:54:33database that I'm pretty well educated,
6:54:35make a good living, and am more likely
6:54:37to buy eco-friendly products. No
6:54:40surprises there. Let's pause once again.
6:54:43Notice how I had to navigate around
6:54:45numerous displays before I chanced upon
6:54:48the apples. It's no coincidence. The
6:54:51more complex the navigation paths we're
6:54:53asked to walk, the slower we walk and
6:54:55the slower we walk, the more stuff we
6:54:57are exposed to and tempted to buy. In
6:55:00order to combat the increasing
6:55:01sophistication of shoppers, many of whom
6:55:04have learned to arm themselves with
6:55:05shopping lists and make a beline for
6:55:07what they want, more and more
6:55:09supermarkets are mixing around groceries
6:55:11or changing the location of items on a
6:55:13monthly basis. So, it's harder for us to
6:55:16find what we're looking for. The result
6:55:18is that not only are we tempted by more
6:55:20products, but finding what we want
6:55:22becomes a game of sorts. Remember the
6:55:24power of games. At the end of which we
6:55:27often reward ourselves for our hard work
6:55:29by buying something that wasn't on our
6:55:31list. Next, over by the pharmacy aisle,
6:55:34I pick up a package of Neorette. Even
6:55:37though I've never smoked, it's just part
6:55:39of my little experiment. By my buying
6:55:41the Necoret, Sparkies is immediately
6:55:43able to establish that I'm almost
6:55:45certainly between the ages of 25 and 54
6:55:48and more likely to buy name brand
6:55:50products over the generic or store brand
6:55:52variety. Again, makes sense, right?
6:55:56Next, just for fun, I buy a package of
6:55:58Jerry Curl texturizer in the women's
6:56:00hair care section and a small box of
6:56:02Dora the Explorer Band eight. Now, the
6:56:05store will make two fairly good
6:56:06assumptions about me. that I'm an
6:56:08African-American female and that I have
6:56:10a child under the age of five and am
6:56:13thus a good candidate for coupons and
6:56:15offers on those particular brands of
6:56:17everything from juice to breakfast
6:56:18cereals to cosmetics that the data
6:56:20miners have found to appeal to my
6:56:22demographic. Tucked away at the rear of
6:56:25the store so the pharmacists can keep a
6:56:27close watch on teenage boys. The condom
6:56:30display takes up half a shelf. Just for
6:56:32fun, I pick up a pack of neon ribbed
6:56:34ones. Now, I'm confirming to the data
6:56:37miners that I'm a woman who just happens
6:56:39to be named Martin. Why? Because most
6:56:43people who buy condoms are in fact
6:56:45female. Note that the name of the
6:56:46section is family planning, which subtly
6:56:48targets the female of the household by
6:56:50implying that this is the section for
6:56:52the person who is generally in charge of
6:56:53schedules, date books, doctor's
6:56:55appointments, and yes, condom use.
6:56:58Incidentally, this is why 9/10en of the
6:57:00condoms for sale proudly exhibit the
6:57:02words sensitive and thin. two adjectives
6:57:05guaranteed to strike accord with the
6:57:07contemporary woman. The one exception to
6:57:10the women buy condoms rule. It comes in
6:57:12a box similar to the others, except
6:57:15nowhere on its packaging does it mention
6:57:17the word sensitive or thin. Instead, its
6:57:20packaging features what at first glance
6:57:22appears to be a Roman soldier's helmet.
6:57:24Or, wait, could that actually be the
6:57:26engorged head of a penis? The words on
6:57:29the box say it all, extra-large Trojan
6:57:31condoms. That's right. Had I picked up a
6:57:34box of extra-large Trojans, Sparky's
6:57:36data, miners would have instantly
6:57:38revised their assumption about my gender
6:57:40as swaggering, often hopeful males, not
6:57:42females, are the ones who buy
6:57:44extra-large condoms. And I tip my hat to
6:57:46the marketing whiz who thought up that
6:57:48one. At the cash register, I give the
6:57:51cashier my Sparky's card and pay, though
6:57:53not before grabbing a bag of those new
6:57:55pretzel M and Miz, a small impulse by
6:57:57telling the data mining company that I'm
6:57:59amanable to trying new products and
6:58:01therefore a good target for future
6:58:03coupons on newly rolledout products.
6:58:06Next, the second the cashier swipes my
6:58:08loyalty card, Sparky's database will
6:58:10know exactly what I've purchased and how
6:58:12much and will nail my demographic as an
6:58:14educated, healthconscious, sexually
6:58:16active African-Amean ex-smoker between
6:58:18the ages of 25 and 54 who has a young
6:58:21daughter. Then the company will add my
6:58:24purchases to its datab bank where its
6:58:26computers will crunch that data and the
6:58:28data generated by every other card
6:58:30wielding customer who walked into the
6:58:32store that day to make all kinds of
6:58:34conclusions and predictions about who I
6:58:36am and what my preferences are. Then it
6:58:38will turn right around and sell the
6:58:40results not just to the companies that
6:58:42make the products that I bought, but
6:58:44also to the companies that make the
6:58:46products my profile indicates I am
6:58:48likely to buy. It will do so for each
6:58:50and every subsequent visit, just as it
6:58:53will for the thousands of other shoppers
6:58:55in my particular zip code. And based on
6:58:58what the companies now know about me and
6:59:00us, they will reformulate their
6:59:01marketing messages, rethink their
6:59:03inventory, and sneakiest of all, start
6:59:05targeting each and every one of us with
6:59:07advertising so tailored, so personalized
6:59:10that we're powerless to resist it.
6:59:12Believe me, in the future, supermarkets
6:59:14will get even smarter and more invasive.
6:59:17Recordant is an Atlanta-based instore
6:59:19monitoring company that provides digital
6:59:21audio recorders to capture all customers
6:59:24conversations with store employees.
6:59:26Sophisticated software then analyzes
6:59:28these recordings to isolate recurring
6:59:30words or phrases. Then there's
6:59:32Brickstream whose clients include toys
6:59:34are US Office Depot and Walgreens and
6:59:37which uses dual lens cameras to amass
6:59:39information about where and for how long
6:59:41people shop as well as how they respond
6:59:43to various products. 27 and path tracker
6:59:46is an electronic monitoring system that
6:59:48combines buying data with the paths of
6:59:51shopping carts through supermarkets.
6:59:53How? It wires carts and baskets with a
6:59:56location tracking device that emits an
6:59:58inaudible signal every few seconds at
7:00:01which point an array of antenna around
7:00:03the store's perimeter captures the
7:00:04signal which is then analyzed for
7:00:06individual shoppers as well as
7:00:08aggregated to provide composite views of
7:00:10shopping in the store. 28. Yikes.
7:00:15They're playing my song. But wait,
7:00:17that's not all that's going on at
7:00:19Sparky's. As I meander out of the store,
7:00:22I catch myself humming the Paul
7:00:23McCartney song that was playing overhead
7:00:26while I was shopping. Think this is just
7:00:28some random selection. It's not. It's
7:00:31actually a very carefully and
7:00:33deliberately selected track of music, a
7:00:35type, and in fact, a brand of music that
7:00:38has expanded beyond the insides of
7:00:39elevators and today serenates some 100
7:00:42million people a day. 29 inside Gaps,
7:00:44McDonald's, Barnes & Noble, and
7:00:46countless other restaurants and stores.
7:00:49So, how does a store decide what tune to
7:00:51play overhead? Well, first, one of
7:00:53Muzzac's audio architects, a term for
7:00:56someone who's trained in the
7:00:57physiological and psychological
7:00:58applications of music, pays a visit to a
7:01:01retailer or restaurant, and looks at the
7:01:03store's data mining research to figure
7:01:05out what demographic shops or eats
7:01:07there. Then, the audio architect
7:01:09carefully selects a playlist targeted at
7:01:11that demographic. a practice known in
7:01:13the biz as narrow casting. It's in this
7:01:16way that music has designed 74 music
7:01:19programs in 10 categories ranging from
7:01:21indie rock to hip hop to classical.
7:01:24Mapped out in 15minute cycles that rise
7:01:26and fall in intensity using a technique
7:01:28known as stimulus progression. The speed
7:01:30and pacing of each individual playlist
7:01:32are carefully designed to have a certain
7:01:34psychological impact. Ever noticed that
7:01:37the music playing in supermarkets and
7:01:39grocery stores is much slower than the
7:01:41music playing in restaurants? Well,
7:01:44again, it's because research shows that
7:01:46slow music makes us move more slowly and
7:01:48the longer we hang around in a store,
7:01:50the more likely we are to buy something.
7:01:52According to Douglas Rushkoff, author of
7:01:54Coercion, why we listen to what they say
7:01:56in US department stores, customers
7:01:58exposed to music with a slow tempo shop
7:02:0118% longer and make 17% more purchases.
7:02:04And in grocery stores, shoppers make a
7:02:06whopping 38% more purchases when slow
7:02:09music is overhead. On the other hand,
7:02:11says Rushkoff, fast food restaurants
7:02:13play music with more beats per minute to
7:02:15increase the rate at which a person
7:02:17choose. 30. Thus, they get us out of
7:02:20there sooner and can serve more
7:02:21customers and earn more money. Thanks to
7:02:24narrow casting, musicac can even tweak
7:02:27its selections to subconsciously
7:02:28persuade us to buy different items
7:02:30depending on what day of the week it is.
7:02:33Saturdays, the music will be more
7:02:35romantic, suggesting, "Buy her something
7:02:37like roses or jewelry." This technique
7:02:40has been found to be so effective that
7:02:42some Japanese supermarkets have split
7:02:44their stores into zones. Each one
7:02:46serenating consumers with sounds
7:02:48designed to optimize spending per
7:02:50minute. In the fresh fruits and
7:02:52vegetables department, water drips,
7:02:54birds sing, and the wind blows from
7:02:56overhead speakers. In the confectionary
7:02:58department, childish songs are
7:03:00interspersed with the sounds of children
7:03:01giggling. While over at the butchers, a
7:03:03steak sizzles overhead. As if that
7:03:06weren't enough, Musak also offers
7:03:08retailers a more subtle service dubbed
7:03:10atmospherics, designed to hit us on an
7:03:12even deeper level. 31. Imagine you're a
7:03:1516-year-old girl walking into a clothing
7:03:17store in middle America. The mood and
7:03:20the decor are silvery, sexy, and urban.
7:03:23The employees are uniformly hip, and
7:03:25attractive. Now add the seductive beat
7:03:28of fast-paced electronic music. Does
7:03:31this environment create a fantasy for a
7:03:33stareyed young girl who's always dreamed
7:03:35of moving out of her small town and into
7:03:38the big city? I'll say on a subconscious
7:03:41level, the music allows the girl to
7:03:43imagine herself as the cool,
7:03:44sophisticated city dweller she'd like to
7:03:47be, then buy those shirts and pants to
7:03:49complete the picture. Believe me when I
7:03:51tell you that stores do this
7:03:53deliberately. When the Gap was rolling
7:03:55out a new sweater line, for example,
7:03:57music vice president Alvin Collis
7:03:59determined that since sweaters
7:04:01represented friendship, family,
7:04:02security, and protection, the store
7:04:04should play music that evoked fuzzy,
7:04:06cozy feelings. Among the songs music
7:04:09selected to create this atmospheric,
7:04:12Louis Armstrong's it's a Wonderful
7:04:14World. 32. A South American banking
7:04:17chain once tasked me to help it
7:04:19transform the widespread public
7:04:21perception of its having shoddy second
7:04:23rate customer service and long waiting
7:04:25times. When I analyzed the customer
7:04:27experience, including how long people
7:04:29had to wait, I realized that the wait
7:04:32wasn't actually that long because people
7:04:34anticipated that their visit to the bank
7:04:36would be long and frustrating. They felt
7:04:38as if they were in line longer than they
7:04:40actually were. So using the data
7:04:42compiled by companies like music, we
7:04:44carefully choreographed the rhythms of
7:04:46the music playing overhead and created
7:04:48what was essentially a threeact
7:04:50soundtrack. At the door of the bank, the
7:04:53music serenating consumers was slow and
7:04:55welcoming. In fact, it was a beat slower
7:04:57than the average human heartbeat. As
7:05:00they came closer to the counter, the
7:05:02music would gradually increase in tempo,
7:05:04culminating with a fast beat as they
7:05:06carried out their transactions. The
7:05:08result, customers perceived customer
7:05:10service as being twice as good as
7:05:12before. And incidentally, the bank's
7:05:14revenue increased by 10% all thanks to
7:05:17the speed of the music playing overhead.
7:05:19The good news, the service was already
7:05:22great. Yet, it took music to convince
7:05:24the customers of it. I know what you
7:05:27bought last summer. Have you noticed
7:05:30that those traditional printed price
7:05:32tags on the shelves of supermarkets and
7:05:34big box stores like Costco and Walmart
7:05:36are slowly being replaced by digital
7:05:38pricing displays? You probably assumed
7:05:41this was for the sake of efficiency.
7:05:43After all, why have employees waste time
7:05:45walking around the store changing those
7:05:47prices every day or week when it can be
7:05:49done electronically? And sure, there's
7:05:52some truth to this explanation, but it's
7:05:54far from the whole story. Have you also
7:05:57noticed how, not unlike highways and
7:05:59commuter trains, supermarkets have their
7:06:01peak traffic times? Swing by the store
7:06:04at 5:00 p.m. and it will be jam-packed.
7:06:07Stop by at 11:00 in the morning on a
7:06:09weekday at least, and it will be nearly
7:06:11deserted, except for maybe that elderly
7:06:14couple buying a cantaloupe. No big shock
7:06:16here. Everyone knows that the vast
7:06:18majority of people do their grocery
7:06:20shopping when they get off work, if not
7:06:22on Saturday or Sunday. But what you
7:06:24probably didn't know is that now these
7:06:26stores can, in keeping with the traffic
7:06:28metaphor here, change the price of the
7:06:30toll depending on what time of day
7:06:32you're driving. Have you ever felt that
7:06:34uncontrollable craving for an ice cream
7:06:37sundae at midnight and realized you were
7:06:39out of whipped cream? Such an urge is
7:06:41too powerful to be denied, so you gun
7:06:44your car to the nearest 24-hour
7:06:46supermarket to buy some. I'm guessing
7:06:48that you're willing to pay more for that
7:06:50can of whipped cream than you would have
7:06:52paid at the 5:00 p. p.m. peak shopping
7:06:54time. Now you can. Companies and
7:06:57retailers know full well that our price
7:06:59sensitivity varies across the day, week,
7:07:01month, and year. Sometimes we enter a
7:07:04store determined to find a bargain,
7:07:06while other times, like when we're in a
7:07:08pinch or a hurry, we couldn't care less.
7:07:10Well, guess what? Thanks to data mining
7:07:13technology, in some countries,
7:07:15supermarkets and other large retailers
7:07:17know exactly when we're willing to shell
7:07:19out more for products and are altering
7:07:21their prices accordingly.
7:07:24Enter digital signage. In Scandinavia,
7:07:26some supermarkets are already switching
7:07:28their prices daily, and across Japan,
7:07:30some are even doing so on an hourly
7:07:32basis. The factors that currently
7:07:35determine the price of an item include
7:07:36weather. Bad weather means that prices
7:07:39go up and the density of customers in
7:07:41the store. Lots of customers means
7:07:43prices decrease. I can promise you that
7:07:45this trend can lead to one thing and one
7:07:47thing only. In the future, prices will
7:07:50begin fluctuating like the stock market,
7:07:52creating a sort of game. Remember the
7:07:54addictive quality of games out of
7:07:56getting the lowest prices for your
7:07:58everyday stuff. Companies are using data
7:08:01mining to play on our price
7:08:02sensitivities in other ways, too. Over
7:08:05the past year, a whole new data mining
7:08:07tool has taken flight, and many Fortune
7:08:10100 companies are embedding it into
7:08:12their websites as we speak. It's called
7:08:14predicta.net, and its purpose is simple.
7:08:17Predicta allows websites to identify,
7:08:19then segment shoppers based on what they
7:08:21do and where they go online, then direct
7:08:24highly specific advertising and
7:08:26marketing tailored to how much they're
7:08:27willing to spend. Let's say that just
7:08:30this morning you were perusing a sale on
7:08:32Best Buy.com for a digital camera. If
7:08:35the Best Buy site is enabled with
7:08:37Predicta, whose clients include Visa,
7:08:40Phillips, and Huelet Packard 33, it
7:08:42immediately knows two things. That
7:08:44you're in the market for a digital
7:08:46camera, and that you're a true bargain
7:08:47hunter. Thus, it serves you up a
7:08:50personalized coupon that offers a
7:08:51shockingly good discount on, yes, that
7:08:54very same camera you've been hunting
7:08:56down all morning. There's only one
7:08:58catch. You'll have to visit the store to
7:09:00buy it, where you may spot and be unable
7:09:02to resist that laptop you've had your
7:09:04eye on. In short, based on what online
7:09:07searches you have made or websites you
7:09:08visited, Predictto will ensure that the
7:09:10entire homepage of the store you
7:09:12coincidentally decided to visit is
7:09:14redesigned in a split second to feature
7:09:16guess what? The camera you've been
7:09:18checking out all morning. This is known
7:09:20as behavioral targeting. And as data
7:09:22mining technologies become cheaper and
7:09:24easier to use, it's becoming an
7:09:26increasingly popular tactic among
7:09:28marketers of all stripes. Let's take a
7:09:31slightly different scenario. Say your
7:09:33friend spent the morning searching for a
7:09:35premium camera on the Canon or Nikon
7:09:37homepage. This time, the Predicta
7:09:39enabled site realizes in a split second
7:09:41that a bargain offer isn't for her and
7:09:43that she's willing to pay a high price
7:09:45for all the bells and whistles, which is
7:09:47why it offers up its best quality camera
7:09:49along with a coupon that gives her a
7:09:51slight discount on an equally high-end
7:09:53leather carrying bag. Though the camera
7:09:55itself is for full price, of course. The
7:09:57upshot is essentially what economists
7:09:59call price discrimination. You and your
7:10:02friend end up buying the same item, but
7:10:04at radically different prices. An even
7:10:07newer software program known as Bayote
7:10:09in use by companies including AT&T and
7:10:11apparelmaker Anthropology not only
7:10:13tracks your online purchases where you
7:10:15scroll on a page, what you click and
7:10:17what search terms you use on any given
7:10:19site, but also refineses its search
7:10:21results to recommend to you products
7:10:22based on what products have appealed to
7:10:24users who have browsed and searched
7:10:26similar products. 34. In one example,
7:10:29when AT&T noticed that people were
7:10:31plugging in a lot of searches for a new
7:10:33phone model known as Insight, Bayote was
7:10:36able to bump Insight up higher on the
7:10:38search results on the AT&T website in a
7:10:40matter of minutes. And AT&T is not
7:10:43alone. eBay has a team that buys
7:10:46internet search terms in order to drive
7:10:48search traffic back to its site.
7:10:50Predicta and Bayote are just two of the
7:10:52many variations on a new and
7:10:54increasingly widespread marketing tool
7:10:56called personalized retargeting or
7:10:58remarketing that is popular with
7:10:59retailers like diapers.com, ebags.com,
7:11:02and the Discovery Channel, as well as
7:11:04companies that sell real estate, travel,
7:11:06and financial services online. These
7:11:09programs capture the cookies that your
7:11:11computer automatically deposits into
7:11:12your web browser, creating an indelible
7:11:14imprint of every site you visit and
7:11:16every page you view, then use that
7:11:18information to send you personalized
7:11:20offers relating to anything you have
7:11:22read, viewed, or bought online. This, in
7:11:25fact, was the mysterious force behind a
7:11:27bizarre tale of a pair of stalkerish
7:11:29shoes. As the New York Times reported
7:11:31last year, one morning, a Canadian
7:11:33mother of two saw and admired the pair
7:11:35of shoes on Zapos, the huge online shoe
7:11:37retailer. From then on, the shoes just
7:11:40wouldn't leave her alone. For days and
7:11:42weeks, every site I went to seemed to be
7:11:44showing me ads for those shoes, the
7:11:46woman recalled. Cookies are used by
7:11:49virtually all commercial websites for
7:11:51various purposes, including advertising,
7:11:53keeping users signed in and customizing
7:11:55content," the article went on, adding,
7:11:57"Bad as it was to be stalked by shoes."
7:11:59Ms. Matlin said she felt even worse when
7:12:01she wasounded recently by ads for a
7:12:03dieting service she had used online.
7:12:06"They are still following me around and
7:12:08it makes me feel fat," she says. 35.
7:12:12Last year, researchers at the University
7:12:14of California at San Diego found that a
7:12:16significant proportion of the 50,000
7:12:18most visited sites on the web 36 were
7:12:21engaging in some manner of behavioral
7:12:23tracking, with some even employing an
7:12:24analysis known as history sniffing,
7:12:26which delves into our past browsing
7:12:28behavior to uncover what sites we
7:12:30visited in past months or even years.
7:12:33Note, as of writing, this kind of
7:12:35tracking doesn't work on Apple's Safari,
7:12:37Google's Chrome, or Firefox, though it
7:12:39will work on Internet Explorer.
7:12:41Similarly, sites like Perez Hilton,
7:12:43Wired, Technarati, and Anserebe employ
7:12:45an analytics service known as tint.com,
7:12:48which measures what articles users cut
7:12:49and paste, a spying protocol known as
7:12:51behavior sniffing. 37.
7:12:55Experiencing a recurrent pain in your
7:12:57abdomen? Having trouble sleeping?
7:13:00Concerned about a relative's depression?
7:13:02What do you do? I'm guessing you go
7:13:05straight to the internet where you
7:13:06quickly type in the symptoms. This is
7:13:09why some pharmacy chains are now
7:13:11monitoring our search patterns online.
7:13:14Imagine how valuable this data is for
7:13:16drugstores. Not only can they use it to
7:13:18send us offers related to our specific
7:13:21condition, but they know what health
7:13:22concerns are most prevalent in our
7:13:24geographic area or among our demographic
7:13:27and can alter their inventory or in
7:13:29store signage accordingly. As of
7:13:31writing, a number of prominent consumer
7:13:33organizations are asking the FTC to
7:13:36investigate deceptive ads that pop up
7:13:38when we go online to hunt down medical
7:13:40or prescription drug information. Notes
7:13:42the consumer complaint. Nearly $1
7:13:44billion will be spent this year by
7:13:47online health and medical marketers
7:13:49targeting the growing number of US
7:13:50consumers who increasingly rely on the
7:13:53internet for information about medical
7:13:55problems, treatments, and prescription
7:13:57drugs. 38 among the companies named in
7:14:00the complaint are Google, Yahoo.
7:14:02Microsoft, AOL, WebMD, Quala Health,
7:14:05Everyday Health, and Health Central.
7:14:07What's more, as of writing,
7:14:09pharmaceutical and other health oriented
7:14:11marketers are pressuring the FDA to
7:14:13grant them greater latitude to expand
7:14:15their online advertising, whether it's
7:14:17through data mining, internet search
7:14:19monitoring, or online behavioral
7:14:20profiling. In short, even the most
7:14:23private details about our health aren't
7:14:25safe from data miners.
7:14:27Gay or straight advertisers? No. Thanks
7:14:31to social media, our digital footprints
7:14:33have gone from a faint silhouette in the
7:14:35sand to a sprawling multi-clave track
7:14:37that could easily belong to Bigfoot. One
7:14:40of the main culprits is the website
7:14:42everyone loves, loves to hate, and
7:14:44otherwise cannot live without, namely
7:14:46Facebook. Ready to know what they know?
7:14:49Although Facebook's much maligned
7:14:51privacy policies have generated a lot of
7:14:53controversy, they are fairly
7:14:55straightforward. that is if you bother
7:14:56to take the time to read them. The site
7:14:59claims it does not share personally
7:15:01identifiable information with
7:15:03advertisers unless we get your
7:15:05permission. At the same time, Facebook
7:15:07does allow advertisers to choose the
7:15:09characteristics of users who will see
7:15:11their advertisements 39 and retains the
7:15:13right to use any attributes the site has
7:15:15collected, including information you may
7:15:18have opted to keep private, such as your
7:15:20birthday, to select the appropriate
7:15:21audience for those advertisements.
7:15:24Scarier still, the site ads, when users
7:15:26click on or otherwise interact with an
7:15:28advertisement, there is a possibility
7:15:30that the advertiser may place a cookie
7:15:32in their browser and note that it meets
7:15:34the criteria they selected, which is
7:15:37just a confusing way of saying that if
7:15:39you click on an ad, that advertiser
7:15:41reserves the right to pull up as much
7:15:43information as your Facebook account
7:15:45permits and use it to sign you up for
7:15:47months and even years of conveniently
7:15:49personalized ads. In the fall of 2010, a
7:15:52Wall Street Journal article made waves
7:15:54when it revealed that nearly a dozen
7:15:56popular Facebook apps, including Texas
7:15:58Holden Poker, Frontierville, and
7:16:00Farmville, were sharing information,
7:16:02including users names and the names of
7:16:04those users friends, with at least 25
7:16:06advertising and internet tracking
7:16:07companies, shattering all Facebook's
7:16:09privacy rules, and compromising the
7:16:11privacy of 70% of all those who
7:16:13regularly use apps on Facebook, even
7:16:15those who maintained the most secure
7:16:17privacy settings. Though no one was able
7:16:19to prove that Facebook had any prior
7:16:21knowledge of this breach, the shocking
7:16:23affair renew questions about Facebook's
7:16:26ability to keep identifiable information
7:16:28about its users activities secure. The
7:16:30journal reported 40. If this wasn't
7:16:33enough to make you want to sell your
7:16:35virtual farm, disband your mafia crew,
7:16:37and deactivate your profile. A few weeks
7:16:39later, the other shoe dropped. This time
7:16:42it was the New York Times that broke the
7:16:44story, revealing that in some cases
7:16:46Facebook advertisers or as the article
7:16:48put it, Snoops posing as advertisers
7:16:50could capture sensitive profile data,
7:16:52including user sexual orientations and
7:16:54religions. Even though as a policy,
7:16:56Facebook does not trade this information
7:16:58with marketers. As an experiment,
7:17:01researchers in India and Germany created
7:17:03six separate Facebook user accounts.
7:17:06These accounts were identical except for
7:17:08one difference. In two of the six, the
7:17:10fake user checked off that he she was
7:17:12interested in persons of the same sex.
7:17:15Not surprisingly, gay specific ads, eg
7:17:18ads for gay bars, soon began to pop up
7:17:20on the sites of the individuals who had
7:17:22revealed themselves to be gay, as did
7:17:24other ads that had no link to users
7:17:26sexual preferences. However, since these
7:17:29seemingly neutral ads appeared
7:17:31exclusively on gay men's pages, if the
7:17:33user clicked on one of them and was
7:17:35taken to that company's site, he would
7:17:37be dropping a unique identifier telling
7:17:39that company or advertiser that he was
7:17:41gay. And while the identifier, typically
7:17:44a cookie or a computer's internet
7:17:46address, does not necessarily disclose
7:17:48the identity of the person who clicked.
7:17:50The Times reported, "Privacy experts
7:17:52said an advertiser could potentially
7:17:54obtain the name in other ways and link
7:17:55it to the user's sexual orientation,
7:17:58perhaps by asking the person to sign up
7:18:00for a newsletter, or fill out a form."
7:18:02In a related experiment, a Stanford
7:18:05researcher placed an ad on Facebook
7:18:06targeting users based on their location,
7:18:09age, gender, interests, and sexual
7:18:11orientation. She next placed a Facebook
7:18:13ad targeting those characteristics,
7:18:15including ads aimed at users interested
7:18:17in same-sex relationships. As the
7:18:20advertiser, she was able to see whom
7:18:22Facebook had chosen to display that
7:18:24particular ad to and could thus conclude
7:18:26that that person was gay. According to
7:18:29the New York Times, she concluded that
7:18:31someone could use this same technique to
7:18:32find other profile information
7:18:34supposedly protected by the privacy
7:18:36settings, including relationship status
7:18:38and political and religious
7:18:39affiliations, and that it could even be
7:18:41on other social networks or websites
7:18:43like Google and MySpace. 41.
7:18:47True. No identifying names are involved.
7:18:49And true, Facebook doesn't directly or
7:18:51deliberately share your personal
7:18:53information with advertisers, or if it
7:18:55does, I can't prove it. Still, it
7:18:57doesn't make it all that difficult for
7:18:59probing advertisers to get around its
7:19:01privacy control either. In fact, the
7:19:04site is notorious for constantly
7:19:05changing and tweaking its privacy
7:19:07policy. And each time it does, it's an
7:19:09excuse for the site to reset users
7:19:11privacy controls to a default setting.
7:19:14And after all, what is Facebook if not
7:19:16an incomparably rich database of
7:19:18information about every detail of our
7:19:20lives? And what is Facebook's business
7:19:22model if not one of reliance on its
7:19:24partnerships with advertisers? Noting
7:19:26that someday soon Facebook will
7:19:28represent the default single sign on for
7:19:30the web. The Financial Times imagines a
7:19:32nightmarish future fantasy in which a
7:19:34user shares information about their
7:19:36eating and exercise habits on Facebook.
7:19:38And this is paired with other
7:19:39information such as web browsing history
7:19:42by any number of so-called data mining
7:19:44companies. These companies create a
7:19:46profile of the user that is sold to
7:19:48various parties potentially including
7:19:50health insurers. Based on some of this
7:19:52unflattering information, the insurer
7:19:55decides to deny the user coverage. 42.
7:19:59every step you take. If you want to keep
7:20:02your personal information away from data
7:20:04miners, I also suggest you stay away
7:20:06from Foursquare, which not only stores
7:20:08any information you provide, including
7:20:10your IP address, browsing history, phone
7:20:12number, birthday, and more each time you
7:20:15check in somewhere, but also reserves
7:20:16the right to draw upon this personal
7:20:18information in order to adapt the
7:20:20services of our community to your needs,
7:20:22to research the effectiveness of our
7:20:24network, and to develop new tools for
7:20:26the community as well as to provide
7:20:28aggregate information to our partners.
7:20:30parters about how our customers
7:20:32collectively use our site. 43. Of
7:20:35course, for Square claims, we share this
7:20:37type of statistical data so that our
7:20:39partners also understand how often
7:20:40people use their services and our
7:20:42service so that they too may provide you
7:20:44with an optimal online experience. But
7:20:46this really means it reserves the right
7:20:48to share any of your information with
7:20:50thirdparty search engines, businesses,
7:20:52and advertisers and in real time too.
7:20:54And what happens if you broadcast your
7:20:56Foursquare location to all your buddies
7:20:58on Facebook as most people do? Well, uh,
7:21:02then such information is no longer under
7:21:04the control of Foursquare and is subject
7:21:06to the terms of use and privacy policies
7:21:08of such third parties. 44. In other
7:21:11words, it's fair game for all. But
7:21:14perhaps the biggest thorn in privacy
7:21:16advocates paw is Google, the king of the
7:21:18internet, which has made it a corporate
7:21:20mission to organize the world's
7:21:22information. Known for having the most
7:21:24sophisticated and predictive algorithms
7:21:26and data tracking capabilities of any
7:21:28site on the web, Google not only knows
7:21:30what you search for and links our
7:21:32accumulated search patterns to the
7:21:33computers we use. It knows what online
7:21:35videos you watch, what music you stream,
7:21:38what articles you read, what files you
7:21:40download, and more. It also knows what's
7:21:42in your emails, which it scans
7:21:44automatically for the purpose of serving
7:21:46you up contextual advertising, that is
7:21:48targeted advertising for products
7:21:50somehow related to something you've just
7:21:52emailed about. And of course, thanks to
7:21:55Google Maps, it also knows where you
7:21:57live, what books are on your shelves,
7:21:58what car is parked in your driveway, and
7:22:01whether or not there's a wisp of smoke
7:22:03coming out of your chimney. If you sign
7:22:05up for Google Buzz, an online service
7:22:07that's also available via your
7:22:09smartphone, Google will know even more.
7:22:11Google Buzz works by bringing together
7:22:13all the information you post on various
7:22:15social media, including Facebook,
7:22:17Twitter, Flickr, Forsquare, and Picassa
7:22:20in one place. If you subscribe, Buzz not
7:22:23only will know who appears in your
7:22:24photos, what topics you tweet about on
7:22:26Twitter, and what you like on Facebook,
7:22:28it will geo tag your Buzz post. So, it
7:22:30will also know exactly where you are at
7:22:32all times. And since what Google Buzz
7:22:35does differently from other social media
7:22:37services is filter the information from
7:22:39people you've signed on to follow so
7:22:41that only the most popular content shows
7:22:43up in your inbox. Google will also know
7:22:45which individuals are the most valuable
7:22:48or influential members of your circle.
7:22:50In other words, which individuals are
7:22:52the most irresistible marks for
7:22:54advertisers.
7:22:55Still, if you thought this was bad, wait
7:22:58until you find out how advertisers and
7:23:00data miners will use social media to
7:23:02brandwash you in the future. Software
7:23:04company SAS recently rolled out a
7:23:06product that can analyze the chatter
7:23:08across social media, including Facebook
7:23:10and Twitter, and identify those who post
7:23:12the most influential comments and are
7:23:14therefore the best marketing targets.
7:23:17Last year, a broad array of companies,
7:23:19including Amazon, joined forces with
7:23:21Facebook. Now, if you opt into this
7:23:23particular alliance, not only will
7:23:25Amazon be able to see what books and
7:23:27music you and any of your friends who
7:23:29have also opted in deem cool and market
7:23:32to you accordingly, but if you view a
7:23:34product on Amazon, a little icon will
7:23:36tell you how many of your friends like
7:23:38it on Facebook. It's data mining needs
7:23:41pure pressure at its finest.
7:23:43Surrendering our immortal souls. As if
7:23:46this digital spying weren't enough,
7:23:48companies also have a lot of tricks up
7:23:50their sleeves for getting us to
7:23:51voluntarily divulge a whole lot of data.
7:23:54If you want to cash a paycheck at a
7:23:56Walmart, for example, you must surrender
7:23:58both your social security number and
7:24:00your driver's license information and
7:24:02quite often your email address. Guess
7:24:05where that information ends up? You
7:24:07guessed it, in Walmart's headquarters in
7:24:09Bentonville, Arkansas. And if Walmart
7:24:12were working with a data enhancement
7:24:14company, which as of writing it's not,
7:24:16merely divulging your email address
7:24:18could reveal not just your name and
7:24:20address, but also additional information
7:24:22about the value of your house and even
7:24:24the size of your mortgage. Often, we
7:24:26unwittingly give companies permission to
7:24:28share our personal information with
7:24:30other companies and advertisers by
7:24:32blindly agreeing to terms of service or
7:24:34license agreements on sites like the
7:24:36iTunes store. It's no secret that
7:24:38companies bury all kinds of privacy
7:24:40waiverss in pages and pages of writing
7:24:42so complex, tedious, and confusing. Only
7:24:45a member of Mensa using a microscope
7:24:47could decipher it. But take a guess how
7:24:50many people read these disclaimers,
7:24:52known in industry circles as Ula's end
7:24:54user license agreements, before clicking
7:24:56yes or I agree. According to a 2009
7:24:59study conducted by the New York
7:25:01University School of Law, of the 45,091
7:25:04households tracked over a 30-day period,
7:25:06only one or two per every thousand
7:25:08shoppers, that's about 0.01%,
7:25:11spend longer than a single second
7:25:12reading a products ula, 45. And what's
7:25:14more, the 2005 National Spyware study by
7:25:17Ponman Institute found that only 13% of
7:25:20people bother to read Ulas before they
7:25:22download free software. Did you bother
7:25:24to read the latest Apple iTunes user
7:25:26agreement? Me neither. So, let's review
7:25:29what it says. Included are new terms and
7:25:32conditions in which Apple asks, or
7:25:34rather requires that iTunes users
7:25:36consent to let Apple know where their
7:25:37iPhone, iBook, or MacBook is at any
7:25:40time. In other words, if you want to use
7:25:42the Apple iTunes Store and it won't let
7:25:44you in until you click I accept, you
7:25:46have to agree to let Apple track your
7:25:48computer in real time 24/7 and share
7:25:51that information with third parties.
7:25:53Don't forget that Apple knows a lot
7:25:55about you already, including all your
7:25:57past purchases and your credit card
7:25:59number, which it keeps on file. No
7:26:02wonder Germany responded to Apple's
7:26:04demands with the country's federal
7:26:05justice commissioner insisting that
7:26:07Apple without delay disclose the details
7:26:09of the location data it is collecting
7:26:11from handhelds and that in the United
7:26:13States the House Bipartisan Privacy
7:26:15Caucus has demanded that Steve Jobs
7:26:17explain the sudden appearance of this
7:26:19new policy and how precisely he intends
7:26:21to guarantee users anonymity. 46.
7:26:25A few years ago, a neat little April
7:26:27Fool's joke revealed just how little
7:26:30attention we pay to this kind of fine
7:26:32print. GameStation, a British online
7:26:34video game retailer, playfully buried a
7:26:36clause in its terms and conditions that
7:26:38read, "By placing an order via this
7:26:40website on the first day of the fourth
7:26:42month of the year 2010 anodominy. You
7:26:44agree to grant us a non-transferable
7:26:46option to claim now and forever more
7:26:49your immortal soul. Should we wish to
7:26:51exercise this option, you agree to
7:26:53surrender your immortal soul and any
7:26:55claim you may have on it within 55
7:26:57working days of receiving written
7:26:58notification from gamestation.co.uk
7:27:01or one of its duly authorized minions.
7:27:0447. How many souls did the company
7:27:06capture? Roughly 7,500 or 88% of all the
7:27:11people who bought stuff from the site on
7:27:12that April 1st. April fools. A
7:27:16post-privacy society. Yes, it's true
7:27:19that we as consumers are partly to blame
7:27:21for all that companies know about us. We
7:27:24place way too much information online.
7:27:27We blog, we chat, we tweet, we play
7:27:31foursquare, we post our favorite YouTube
7:27:34videos. We enter our credit card numbers
7:27:37every time we want to buy a book, a
7:27:38t-shirt, a plane ticket, and more. We
7:27:41announced to our Facebook friends where
7:27:43we're going on vacation that we like
7:27:45Pink Floyd, Cold Stone, Ice Cream,
7:27:47Pixar, and House. And each time we do,
7:27:50we're playing right into the hands of
7:27:51the data miners. It's no huge surprise
7:27:55given how much of their lives the
7:27:56younger generation spends on Facebook
7:27:58and Twitter that when I gather groups of
7:28:00teenagers from across the country to
7:28:02talk about privacy in conjunction with
7:28:04the recruitment firm Murray Hill
7:28:06Associates, the word privacy appeared to
7:28:08mean nothing to them. Either they were
7:28:10completely indifferent to the subject or
7:28:12they'd completely given up on it. It was
7:28:15a little chilling. It should also come
7:28:17as no surprise given how much time
7:28:19today's kids spend online that data
7:28:21miners are collecting information about
7:28:23children as young as four or five. Some
7:28:26do this via online questionnaires that
7:28:28pop up on kid-friendly sites asking kids
7:28:30their age, favorite toys, and cartoon
7:28:32characters and buying behavior and
7:28:34sometimes even the buying behavior of
7:28:36their parents. Your kid wants to
7:28:38register for the Warner Brothers Looney
7:28:41Tunes kids website. Well, you'll have to
7:28:44join first by giving his first name,
7:28:46answering a security question, and
7:28:48offering up his parents, i.e. your email
7:28:50address. Once you've answered with a
7:28:52confirming email, Warner Brothers will
7:28:55ask for your child's email address,
7:28:57followed by his zip code and year of
7:28:59birth, and then we'll require you to
7:29:01check a box agreeing to the terms of
7:29:03agreement on his behalf. What are those
7:29:06terms of agreement? According to the
7:29:08website, we may ask them to provide us
7:29:10with their first name, hometown, and
7:29:12email address. On some pages of our
7:29:14sites, such as where children can send
7:29:16electronic postcards to their friends,
7:29:19we also may ask your child to provide
7:29:21personal information about other people.
7:29:2348. Then again, even if your kids don't
7:29:27sign up for the Looney Tunes website,
7:29:29it's not too difficult for marketers to
7:29:30mine data about them, given the fact
7:29:32that according to internet security firm
7:29:34AVG, 92% of American children have a
7:29:37digital footprint before the age of two,
7:29:39497% of babies exit the womb to find
7:29:42they already have an existing email
7:29:44address, and 5% have a social network
7:29:46profile, and almost a quarter of all
7:29:48newborns already have a photographic
7:29:50presence online. too. As 23% of parents
7:29:53upload their sonogram photos online, and
7:29:56as social networking becomes even more
7:29:58ubiquitous, there's no question in my
7:30:00mind that these numbers will continue to
7:30:02grow, remarks J.R. Smith, the CEO of
7:30:05AVG. It's shocking to think that a
7:30:0830-year-old has an online footprint
7:30:09stretching back 10 to 15 years at most,
7:30:12while the vast majority of children
7:30:14today will have online presence that
7:30:16will continue to build throughout their
7:30:17whole lives. He also cautions parents to
7:30:20be mindful of the privacy settings on
7:30:22websites where parents share photos and
7:30:24information about their children,
7:30:26including YouTube and Flickr. 50. Still,
7:30:30while many of us are fully aware that
7:30:31all these details about our likes,
7:30:33dislikes, habits, and personal lives are
7:30:36out there floating around in the ether,
7:30:38most of us are ignorant of the extent to
7:30:40which every movement we make, every step
7:30:42we take, every item we buy is being
7:30:44recorded and transcribed onto an
7:30:45indelible digital footprint that stays
7:30:47with us for the rest of our lives and in
7:30:49fact will outlive us long after we're
7:30:51gone. As the New York Times notes, all
7:30:54of us are members of the post privacy
7:30:56society where we have lost track of how
7:30:58many entities are tracking us, not to
7:31:01mention what they are doing with our
7:31:02personal information, how they are
7:31:04storing it, whom they might be selling
7:31:06our dossas to, and yes, how much money
7:31:08they are making off them. 51. It's true.
7:31:13We are living in a post-privacy society.
7:31:16Nothing drove this point home more for
7:31:18me than a poignant irony. IBM boss Sam
7:31:20Palmazano noted in a recent speech that
7:31:22today some 32 closed circuit cameras sit
7:31:25within 200 yards of the London flat
7:31:27where author George Orwell wrote 1,984
7:31:30his dystopian book about the prying eyes
7:31:32of big brother. So yes, we all know that
7:31:36every time we tweet our whereabouts on
7:31:37Twitter, update our Facebook profiles,
7:31:39buy something online with our credit
7:31:41card, or swipe our reward card at a
7:31:43drugstore, we're letting information
7:31:45about ourselves out into the world. But
7:31:48we don't fully realize that every time
7:31:50we do, we're essentially giving
7:31:51companies and marketers permission to
7:31:53record, store, compile, and analyze
7:31:55every last bit of information we choose
7:31:57to share and many pieces of information
7:31:59we don't, and then turn around and use
7:32:01it to trick, manipulate, and seduce us
7:32:03into buying more stuff. The fact is, as
7:32:06our world becomes increasinglyworked,
7:32:08digitized, and hyperconnected, and we
7:32:10inevitably conduct even more of our
7:32:12lives online, it will become harder and
7:32:14harder to escape the prying gaze of the
7:32:17data miners. Sure, we could toss out our
7:32:19cell phones, deactivate our Facebook
7:32:21profiles, and cancel our credit cards,
7:32:24but let's get real. We're far too
7:32:26brawashed to do anything as drastic as
7:32:28that. Conclusion. It was close to
7:32:31midnight Pacific Standard Time as one
7:32:34truck after another crept down a quiet
7:32:36gated village road in the heart of
7:32:37Lagona Beach, one of the most beautiful
7:32:39oceanside communities in Southern
7:32:41California, as well as one of the most
7:32:43affluent and most expensive. The median
7:32:45income for a family is $146,562
7:32:50and the average home price easily tops
7:32:52$1 million. Most of the ornate sprawling
7:32:55Stuckco houses were in shadows. Their
7:32:57owners asleep with the exception of the
7:32:59very last house on the block.
7:33:01Considering the time of night, it was
7:33:03unusual to see one, let alone several
7:33:05vehicles on the road. Yet, five or six
7:33:08trucks stood silhouetted in the driveway
7:33:10and along the front curb as workers
7:33:12silently unloaded camera equipment and
7:33:14cardboard boxes, then carried them
7:33:16inside the house. What was about to take
7:33:19place over the next 8 weeks was among
7:33:21the most risky and unconventional
7:33:23operations my team and I had ever
7:33:25concocted. If a single person in the
7:33:28neighborhood had found out what we were
7:33:29up to, the entire project, which we've
7:33:32been planning and preparing over the
7:33:33past 6 months, would be jeopardized.
7:33:36Why? Because the families in this
7:33:38upscale neighborhood could have no idea
7:33:40they were about to become unwitting
7:33:42participants in a massive $3 million
7:33:45social experiment whose results would
7:33:47reveal a side of consumer behavior few
7:33:49of them would have believed. Inspired by
7:33:52the 2010 Hollywood movie The Joneses
7:33:55about a family of stealth marketers who
7:33:57move into an upper middleclass
7:33:58neighborhood to pedal their wares to
7:34:00their unsuspecting neighbors. My scheme
7:34:02was both simple and ambitious to test
7:34:04the power of word of mouth marketing. I
7:34:07would create a real life version of the
7:34:09film, taking a real life California
7:34:11family, dropping them in a real life
7:34:13California neighborhood, and then film
7:34:15them in every waking moment as they went
7:34:17about covertly persuading friends,
7:34:19colleagues, and loved ones to buy a
7:34:21number of carefully selected brands.
7:34:24First step, I hired one of America's top
7:34:26reality show casting directors, Marcy
7:34:28Tishke, who has worked on shows ranging
7:34:30from Jersey Shore to Paris Hilton's My
7:34:32New BFF, and producer Andy Massanti,
7:34:34whose credits include The Millionaire
7:34:36Matchmaker and Extreme Makeover Home
7:34:38Edition to narrow a large field of
7:34:40candidates to select our perfect
7:34:41all-American family. If our experiment
7:34:44was to succeed, the Morgensson family
7:34:46had to represent a perfect mix of ages,
7:34:48styles, interests, and aspirational
7:34:50values. After a lengthy search, Marcy
7:34:53and Andy found their ideal candidates in
7:34:55Eric and Gina Morgensson and their three
7:34:57sons, Jack, Sam, and Max, a successful,
7:35:00good-looking, picture perfect Southern
7:35:02California family who agreed to make it
7:35:04their life's mission well for at least a
7:35:06month to discreetly persuade their
7:35:08neighbors to buy a broad array of
7:35:09products. Let's meet them. Eric
7:35:13Morgensson in his mid-4s with a degree
7:35:15from an East Coast College. Eric is a
7:35:17successful, compassionate, funny, sports
7:35:19obsessed and involved father with a
7:35:21latent party hearty streak. Gina
7:35:24Morgensson, sophisticated, charming, and
7:35:26popular. Gina is politically and
7:35:28environmentally aware, as well as a
7:35:30fashion trends setter among her friends.
7:35:33Jack, Sam, and Max Morgensson as sports
7:35:35crazy and outdoorsy as their father.
7:35:37Jack, Sam, and Max are hip, handsome.
7:35:39Justin Bieberesque Southern California
7:35:41adolescence ages 16, 14, and 12, smitten
7:35:44with music, skateboarding, technology,
7:35:46and like most teens and tween, the
7:35:48latest brands and styles. Now I want you
7:35:51to picture the scene that took place
7:35:53several days later in the Morgensson
7:35:56spacious yard complete with heated in
7:35:58ground swimming pool toro mode and
7:36:00impeccably landscaped lawn and threecar
7:36:02garage housing a 2005 Ford Expedition
7:36:04Eddie Bower edition a 2008 BMW 750 LII
7:36:08and a 2008 Nissan Ultima coupe. Eric
7:36:10Morensson shows off his grilling
7:36:12techniques and new front gate and TJ
7:36:14Maxx barbecue tools to a handful of male
7:36:16buddies. 200 f feet away. Gina
7:36:19Morgensson is entertaining a group of
7:36:21female friends in her state-of-the-art
7:36:22kitchen containing an array of
7:36:24top-of-the-line kitchen and appliances,
7:36:26including a combination microwave oven,
7:36:28induction cooktop, ice maker, trash
7:36:30compactor, toaster, immersion blender,
7:36:32and water filter, gushing about how hard
7:36:34she's fallen for a beautiful new jewelry
7:36:36line. Upstairs, Jack, Sam, Max, and a
7:36:39few school friends play the newest game
7:36:41on Xbox while showing off the hip new
7:36:43Vans and Etnne sneakers they've recently
7:36:45picked up on a family shopping spree.
7:36:47The point of this multi-million dollar
7:36:50experiment was to test the seductive
7:36:52power of word of mouth marketing. By
7:36:55filming a real family in spontaneous,
7:36:57unscripted situations and scenarios like
7:36:59these, from barbecues to champagne
7:37:01brunches to shopping expeditions, we
7:37:03would document how the Morgensson's
7:37:05circle of friends responded to specific
7:37:07brands and products the Morgenssons
7:37:09brought into their lives. When put face
7:37:11tof face with another family's enviable
7:37:13lifestyle and the brands and products
7:37:15that sustain it, would they want all the
7:37:18things that family has? And more
7:37:20important, would this influence be so
7:37:22powerful as to make them actually go out
7:37:24and buy those things? With the help of
7:37:2735 video cameras, 17 hidden from view,
7:37:30and 25 microphones tucked away inside
7:37:33the furniture and fixtures, providing us
7:37:35with a 360° view of every room in the
7:37:38house, so we could follow the
7:37:39Morgenssons wherever they went. The
7:37:41results of this clandestine operation
7:37:43would ultimately reveal something
7:37:44shocking, that the most powerful hidden
7:37:46persuader of them all isn't in your
7:37:48television set or on the shelves of your
7:37:50supermarket or even lurking in your
7:37:52smartphone. It's a far more pervasive
7:37:55influence that's around you virtually
7:37:57every waking moment, brainwashing you in
7:37:59ways you don't even realize, your very
7:38:01own friends and neighbors. You run your
7:38:04mouth and I'll run my business. Over
7:38:07these past pages, we've learned that
7:38:09few, if any, accidents take place in the
7:38:11marketing and advertising world. We've
7:38:13looked at many of the tricks, minations,
7:38:16untruths, and manipulations that
7:38:18marketers and advertisers use to
7:38:19pressure, cajol, and entice us. We've
7:38:22seen how they use fear, sex, celebrity,
7:38:25new age promises, insecurity, nostalgia,
7:38:27data mining, and more to prey on our
7:38:29most deeply rooted fears, dreams, and
7:38:31desires in the service of selling us
7:38:33their products. We've witnessed up close
7:38:35the alarmingly young age, often before
7:38:38we've even left our mother's wombs, at
7:38:40which they begin to target us, and the
7:38:42sometimes surreal lengths they'll go to
7:38:44in order to secure us as lifelong
7:38:46customers. We've even looked at the role
7:38:48peer pressure can play in shaping our
7:38:50buying habits. But this chapter goes
7:38:53well beyond that. In a world where
7:38:55roughly 60% of all Americans are members
7:38:58of Facebook and some 175 million people
7:39:01worldwide log into Facebook each day and
7:39:04Twitter has around 190 million users who
7:39:06tweet approximately 65 million times
7:39:09during a 24-hour period. I believe I've
7:39:12only just scratched the surface in
7:39:13exploring how vulnerable and susceptible
7:39:15we are to the advice, recommendations,
7:39:17and subconscious influence of our
7:39:19friends, neighbors, and peers. The seed
7:39:22of the idea for the reality TV show we
7:39:24dubbed the Morgenssons occurred to me
7:39:26almost 18 months before I started
7:39:28writing this book when I'd been
7:39:30unknowingly lured into a cover marketing
7:39:32ploy that prompted me to doubt my own
7:39:34ability to separate reality from
7:39:36advertising spin. As I pulled up to a
7:39:38gas station in Sydney, Australia, the
7:39:41guy across from me, who just finished
7:39:43filling up his own tank, approached me.
7:39:45"Hey, mate. Love your car," he said.
7:39:48"Oh, thanks," I said politely. "But
7:39:50mate," he went on, "Yes, Australian men
7:39:53do love to use this endearing term. You
7:39:55really should consider using Superctane
7:39:5798 gas." He proceeded to tell me he had
7:40:00the same model of car as mine at home in
7:40:02his garage, adding, "You can't believe
7:40:04the difference in your car's
7:40:05performance. It's amazing. I thanked
7:40:08him, then promptly forgot his advice.
7:40:11Yet, over the next few weeks, every time
7:40:13I needed to gas up my car, I couldn't
7:40:16get his words out of my mind. Whenever I
7:40:18drove into a gas station, the same
7:40:20internal dialogue, should I buy the
7:40:22Octane or the Superctane 98 rolled
7:40:24around in my brain. What the hell? I'd
7:40:27begun thinking. It couldn't hurt, and it
7:40:30costs less than 10 cents more. And sure
7:40:33enough, from then on, each time I needed
7:40:35gas, I'd fill up with the Super Octane
7:40:3798. Then a few months later, with the
7:40:40needle of my gas gauge close to empty, I
7:40:43pulled into the very same gas station. I
7:40:46was filling up when I heard an extremely
7:40:48familiar voice. It was him, the Super
7:40:51Octane 98 man. This time, though, he
7:40:54wasn't addressing me, but another car
7:40:56owner who was filling his tank with the
7:40:58cheapest brand of gas. Hey mate, he
7:41:01called over. love your car. Thanks," the
7:41:03guy replied in the same polite tone as I
7:41:06had. "But mate," the man went on. You
7:41:08really should consider using Super
7:41:10Octane 98. Thing is, I have the same
7:41:13model of car at home, and once you tried
7:41:15it, you won't believe the difference.
7:41:17It's amazing. I've been completely
7:41:19punked. Either this guy owned every
7:41:22brand of car ever manufactured and knew
7:41:24only two sentences in the English
7:41:26language or the gas station had planted
7:41:28him to ramp up sales of its higherpriced
7:41:30gas. At the same time, I couldn't help
7:41:33wondering, Martin, how could you fall
7:41:35for it? You who work day in and day out
7:41:38in the marketing industry have been
7:41:40duped into changing your whole buying
7:41:42behavior thanks to 5 seconds of covert
7:41:45marketing. But it wasn't until a year
7:41:47later when the film The Jones hit the
7:41:49big screen that I was inspired to hatch
7:41:51my own marketing experiment to test the
7:41:54effects over an 8-week period of that
7:41:56same tactic I had succumbed to in the
7:41:58suburbs of Sydney. A month later, after
7:42:01screening literally hundreds of hours of
7:42:03videotape, the results from the
7:42:05Morgenssons came in. But anecdotal
7:42:08evidence like this, no matter how many
7:42:10hours of it, isn't always the most
7:42:11scientific, which is why I decided to
7:42:14conduct an additional free study to
7:42:16confirm our findings. The results prove
7:42:18beyond any doubt whatsoever that
7:42:20marketers, advertisers, and big
7:42:22businesses have nothing at all compared
7:42:24to the influence we consumers have on
7:42:27one another. Mrs. Morgensson goes
7:42:29shopping. Picture this. Gina and a
7:42:33gaggle of friends are going shoe
7:42:34shopping at DSW, the giant retail chain.
7:42:38DSW, for the uninducted, stands for
7:42:40designer shoe warehouse and routes to
7:42:43the giant shoe mecca. Gina ingenuously
7:42:45asks a car full of her friends, "Has
7:42:47anyone been to DW before? I just love
7:42:50the whole concept. You're just bound to
7:42:53find the shoe you want there." 2 hours
7:42:55later, she's managed to convince subtly,
7:42:57of course, five of her friends to buy
7:42:59multiple pairs. Some, in fact, have
7:43:02walked out of the store armed with as
7:43:03many as five new pairs of boots, heels,
7:43:05and flats. Not only that, but I
7:43:08discovered later that following their
7:43:09trip, three of Gina's friends visited
7:43:11DSWS website, liked the store on
7:43:14Facebook, and as of writing had bought
7:43:16several more pairs of its shoes online.
7:43:19How did I know this? Well, because I
7:43:21called upon Chhat Threads, a company
7:43:23that specializes in capturing data on
7:43:25how, when, and where consumers notice
7:43:27specific brands in their day-to-day
7:43:29lives, then analyzing how these
7:43:30encounters impact buying behavior. Both
7:43:33before and after the experiment, the
7:43:35Cathreads team interviewed Gina's
7:43:37friends about their buying behavior. The
7:43:39before interviews were under the guise
7:43:40of a random survey and were thus able to
7:43:43analyze exactly how exposure to the
7:43:45brands they'd encountered had influenced
7:43:47their subsequent buying behavior. Plus,
7:43:50once the experiment had wrapped up,
7:43:52Gina's friends were asked to text
7:43:54message whenever they came across the
7:43:55brand, saying how they felt about and
7:43:57interacted with it. DSW came up numerous
7:44:01times. Perhaps even more telling, in
7:44:03later scenes, two of Gina's friends
7:44:05showed up at the Morgensson's house
7:44:07wearing the shoes they bought on the
7:44:08expedition, and on hidden camera, one of
7:44:10the friends even boasted about her $30
7:44:13shoes, adding, "I love them. They are
7:44:15the most comfortable heels I own."
7:44:17What else did I observe on that shopping
7:44:19trip? Well, for one thing, that Gina's
7:44:22friends seemed very reluctant to buy an
7:44:24item unless their friends approved of
7:44:26their purchase beforehand. At one point,
7:44:28two of the friends opted to buy the same
7:44:30style of shoes as the other, whereupon
7:44:32one of the women was heard to gleefully
7:44:34use the word samesies, another testament
7:44:36to the power of peer influence,
7:44:38especially given that there are hundreds
7:44:40of different shoe styles in the store.
7:44:43In addition, I noticed that a woman's
7:44:45friends could sway or change her choice
7:44:46up until the very last second. At one
7:44:48point, Gina talked a friend into
7:44:50changing her purchase while the clerk
7:44:52was scanning the product behind the cash
7:44:54register. We saw similar effects of peer
7:44:57pressure again and again. At one point
7:45:00during our filming, Gina invited a dozen
7:45:02or so friends over for a champagne
7:45:04brunch, more like one long infomercial
7:45:06disguised as a champagne brunch. First,
7:45:09everyone was served Tlarney, a sparkling
7:45:11wine from Australia. "Isn't it yummy?"
7:45:14Gina asked at one point, repeatedly
7:45:17dropping the name of the brand, which
7:45:19her friends continued to describe as
7:45:21yummy for the rest of the evening. Then
7:45:23she went on to show her friends the
7:45:25amazing new Pandora brand jewelry she
7:45:27was wearing. "Isn't it spectacular?" she
7:45:30asked. Gina explained that Pandora's
7:45:33website allowed her to customize her new
7:45:35charms and that she especially loved the
7:45:37breast cancer charm that the company had
7:45:39created in honor of National Breast
7:45:41Cancer Awareness Month. Gina was so
7:45:44skilled at pushing this particular
7:45:45jewelry line on her friends that one
7:45:47even asked her to write down the name of
7:45:49the brand so she could visit the website
7:45:52once she got home. Bingo. But Gina
7:45:55wasn't done. After all, she needed to
7:45:58tell her friends that she'd recently
7:45:59replaced every single one of her beauty
7:46:01soaps and lotions with a brand of
7:46:03natural products called Kiss My Face,
7:46:05which sells everything from toothpaste
7:46:07to mouthwash to shaving cream. She even
7:46:10loved the brand so much she told them
7:46:12that she decided to give every single
7:46:14one of her guests a gift bag that
7:46:16included Kiss My Face soaps and lip
7:46:18balms. Later on, she popped open a few
7:46:20bottles of Claus Duvel wine from a Napa
7:46:23winery known for their fantastic reds.
7:46:25She told her guests, "Oh, and by the
7:46:28way, had everyone seen her exquisite new
7:46:30bag created by the London company Nommo?
7:46:33A stylish modern briefcase that would be
7:46:35perfect for all you corporate girls."
7:46:37So, how did Gina's friends respond?
7:46:40Well, we first witnessed the impact of
7:46:42Gina's influence two weeks later when
7:46:44three of her friends showed up at a
7:46:46Lagona Beach party newly adorned in
7:46:47bracelets, charms, and earrings, all
7:46:50created by the jewelry company Gina had
7:46:52trumpeted. Later on, Chathred's
7:46:55interviews revealed that after the
7:46:56brunch, a handful of Gina's friends had
7:46:58gone out and actually bought Nommo bags
7:47:00along with a whole bunch of Kiss My Face
7:47:02products. In subsequent interviews, one
7:47:05friend actually stated that using these
7:47:07products at Gina's house made her really
7:47:09impressed at how great the products are.
7:47:12I thought because they are so lowriced
7:47:14that they would not be so great. Now I
7:47:16love the products and because of the low
7:47:18price and accessibility, I will
7:47:20definitely start using them. Class
7:47:23Duval, our branded California wine too
7:47:25had caught on. The women started buying
7:47:27it in bulk and in later scenes several
7:47:29women told Gina how much they liked the
7:47:31taste. One stated later in an interview,
7:47:34"I really enjoy wine. I am reluctant to
7:47:37purchase wine that I have not tasted. I
7:47:40have not had a tasting of that
7:47:41particular brand, but I was happy to
7:47:44hear that a friend I trust has given her
7:47:46seal of approval, so I would be more apt
7:47:48to purchase it when I come across it."
7:47:51Turned out the power of word of mouth
7:47:53extends even beyond footwear and jewelry
7:47:55choices. among women at least. It seemed
7:47:58that a preference for even the most
7:48:00personal of personal products can spread
7:48:02like wildfire. At one point during our
7:48:05filming, Gina brought out a box of
7:48:07Libres, a Swedish brand of tampons
7:48:09unavailable as of writing in the United
7:48:11States, which allowed us to ensure that
7:48:13Gina's friends didn't have prior
7:48:15knowledge of the product. What's so
7:48:17amazingly different about Libres? Among
7:48:20other things, it's hard to tell at first
7:48:22glance what the box contains. Gina's
7:48:24friends went crazy for the brand, also
7:48:27proving that as far as certain products
7:48:29are concerned, subtle packaging is an
7:48:31irresistible selling point. What else
7:48:34did this experiment reveal about the
7:48:36power of guerilla marketing,
7:48:38particularly among women? Well, it seems
7:48:40if a female is actually wearing or using
7:48:43the brand or product in question, a new
7:48:45line of jewelry, a brand of skincare
7:48:47products, a pair of boots, or a stylish
7:48:49new bag, her influence over her peers is
7:48:52that much more formidable. What's more,
7:48:54if a friend is impressed enough to write
7:48:56down the name of a brand on a piece of
7:48:58paper, it's pretty much a slam dunk
7:49:00certainty that she is going to later buy
7:49:03the thing. Now, I'm going to get fat.
7:49:06So, what about Mr. Morgensson? Was he
7:49:09able to sway his friends and neighbors
7:49:11brand choices as effectively as his wife
7:49:13was? Here's where the genders go their
7:49:16separate ways a little. It turns out
7:49:19that Eric's male buddies were actually
7:49:21more likely to come right out and
7:49:23challenge him when he recommended a
7:49:25brand or a product. What makes you the
7:49:27expert was the unspoken and default male
7:49:30response. In one scene, for example, a
7:49:33friend visibly bristled when Eric
7:49:35suggested he try a certain brand of
7:49:37barbecue marinade. My guess, many men
7:49:40experienced these kinds of suggestions
7:49:42as an assault on their authority, as if
7:49:44Eric were implying he knew better. Yet,
7:49:47we did come across some exceptions to
7:49:49this rule. Turns out Eric's male friends
7:49:52were happy to accept a word of mouth
7:49:54recommendation about a brand or a
7:49:56product that was aspirational and that
7:49:58signaled money, power, and worldly
7:50:00success. Say a new Jaguar or a
7:50:02state-of-the-art grill or an expensive
7:50:04bottle of wine. That said, they would
7:50:06only accept this kind of word of mouth
7:50:08recommendation if it came from another
7:50:10male whose opinion and expertise they
7:50:12respected, like Eric. Without that, as
7:50:15our footage clearly showed, another
7:50:17man's recommendation carries no impact
7:50:19whatsoever. In our experiment, we saw
7:50:22evidence of this in the mere words
7:50:23people used to describe a product. In
7:50:26one scene, when one neighbor, who was
7:50:28clearly not a member of Eric and his
7:50:30friend's inner circle, used the word
7:50:32super cool to describe one of the Kiss
7:50:34My Face products, the gang was visibly
7:50:36dismissive of his recommendation. But
7:50:39when one of Eric's other friends who
7:50:40clearly was in the inner circle used the
7:50:42term funky, the term caught on among the
7:50:45group like wildfire. Another surprising
7:50:48thing I noticed from the Morgensson's
7:50:49footage was that the men in the
7:50:51Morgensson's circle seemed to be more
7:50:53easily influenced by their peers food
7:50:55and dietary choices than the women. At
7:50:58one point during the filming, Eric went
7:51:00so far as to change his drink order when
7:51:02a friend reminded him of the drink's
7:51:04caloric content. And not because he was
7:51:06scripted this way either. Remember,
7:51:08there was no script. "There's a ham
7:51:10sandwich in a glass of dark beer," Eric
7:51:12remarked after his friend suggested he
7:51:15switch to a vodka and cranberry juice,
7:51:17adding, "Now I'm going to get fat." The
7:51:20Junior Morgenssons.
7:51:22Earlier, we talked about how susceptible
7:51:24teens and tween are to peer pressure,
7:51:26and the Morgensson's sons friends were
7:51:28no exception. Part of their influence
7:51:30over their peers had to do with the aura
7:51:32of confidence Jack, Sam, and Max exuded.
7:51:35The Morgensson boys always seemed to
7:51:37know exactly what they were talking
7:51:39about, and it helped that they were cool
7:51:41and handsome. At one point, Jack was
7:51:43telling his friend about an
7:51:45environmentally friendly snowboard he
7:51:47was trying out and planned to buy. His
7:51:49friend was clearly impressed and
7:51:51immediately wanted one. "Hey, I'll look
7:51:54into it when I get my own board," he
7:51:56said completely unprompted. It seemed
7:51:58that the boy's influence persisted even
7:52:01across ages and genders when Jack told
7:52:03his college-age female cousin, who was
7:52:05not in on the experiment, about Stinky
7:52:07Stink, the brand of body spray marketed
7:52:09to teen boys that I mentioned in chapter
7:52:111 and gave her a whiff. She commented
7:52:13that the young men in her dorm should
7:52:15use the stuff. Interestingly though, it
7:52:18turned out that as much brainwashing
7:52:20power as the Morgensson kids had on
7:52:22their friends and peers, the people they
7:52:25ended up having the most persuasive
7:52:27power over were their own parents. At
7:52:29one point during our filming, forgetting
7:52:31the cameras were running, Eric and Gina
7:52:33took their three sons shoe shopping.
7:52:36Over and over again, Eric approached his
7:52:38sons with one brand of sneaker after
7:52:40another. Would you ever wear something
7:52:42like this? He would ask. It should come
7:52:45as no surprise, given how brand obsessed
7:52:48most teenagers are, that Jack, Sam, and
7:52:50Max made it clear that unless the
7:52:52sneaker was made by Nike, Vans, or
7:52:54Etnne, they weren't interested. In the
7:52:56end, in an obvious and somewhat sweet
7:52:59attempt to gain their children's
7:53:01approval, Eric and Gina ended up buying
7:53:03exactly those brands. The sounds of
7:53:06science. After watching the hundreds of
7:53:08hours of footage, I could come to only
7:53:10one conclusion. Whether it's shoes,
7:53:12jewelry, barbecue tools, or sports
7:53:14equipment, there's nothing quite so
7:53:16persuasive as observing someone we
7:53:18respect or admire using a brand or
7:53:20product. Still, as convincing as the
7:53:22Morgensson's footage was, I wasn't
7:53:24completely satisfied with this anecdotal
7:53:27data. I wanted to empirically measure
7:53:29and validate our findings. So, we had
7:53:32Chathreads analyzed the data. This
7:53:34revealed a couple of interesting trends.
7:53:38The first was that whether Gina was
7:53:40telling her friends about a great spa
7:53:42where she just spent a week or simply
7:53:43drinking a new brand of coffee in front
7:53:45of them, the Morgensson's friends were
7:53:47by a long shot most likely to be
7:53:49susceptible to guerilla advertising in
7:53:51the mornings, specifically between the
7:53:53hours of 8 and 10. Why? Because in the
7:53:57wake of our dreams, mornings are when we
7:53:59tend to be most vulnerable to influence,
7:54:01persuasion, and suggestion. My guess is
7:54:04that mornings are also the time when we
7:54:06haven't yet been exposed to marketing
7:54:08messages. Thus, our filters haven't yet
7:54:11been activated. At the same time, it's
7:54:14worth noting that not a single person we
7:54:16spoke to in the show recalled even one
7:54:18TV commercial they'd seen over the past
7:54:21month. Not one. Yet, when we asked the
7:54:24Morgensson's friends to reel off a few
7:54:26random brand names, practically everyone
7:54:28came up with the brands that Eric and
7:54:30Gina had recommended. It was as though
7:54:33they'd stored these Morgensson approved
7:54:35brands in an easily recallable personal
7:54:37place in their brains as opposed to a
7:54:39corporate or commercial region that
7:54:41usually puts our brains on the
7:54:42defensive. The brands the Morgenssons
7:54:45advocated had another effect as well.
7:54:48They went viral faster. Perhaps more
7:54:50important, they also carried a halo
7:54:52effect, meaning they became safe,
7:54:54preapproved, and endured to any possible
7:54:56criticism. Consequently, roughly
7:54:59onethird of the Morgensson's friends
7:55:00began promoting and even flaunting these
7:55:03same brands to their friends and
7:55:04acquaintances. It even reached the point
7:55:07that when several of Gina's friends came
7:55:09home raving at such length about the
7:55:11brands the Morgenssons had recommended,
7:55:13the location producer suspected he was
7:55:15the victim of a setup. These women
7:55:18sounded like walking talking TV
7:55:20commercials. Later, he discovered that
7:55:22the women were simply enthusiastically
7:55:24repeating what Gina had said to them,
7:55:26even using her exact same phrases and
7:55:28words. Might I take a moment here to add
7:55:31that during our four-week shoot, none,
7:55:33and I mean, not one of the Morgensson's
7:55:36friends ever suspected anything, even
7:55:37when Gina drove an hour and a half out
7:55:39of her way to go shoe shopping. Gina
7:55:42later told me she'd never driven this
7:55:44far to any store. At times, Eric and
7:55:47Gina both felt they were pushing the
7:55:48products too hard. That is until they
7:55:50realized just how much many people's
7:55:52natural everyday conversations actually
7:55:54do revolve around brands. Perhaps not
7:55:58surprisingly, Chathreds also found that
7:56:00the brands the Morgensson's peers were
7:56:02most likely to go out and buy at the
7:56:04Morgensson's subtle suggestion were the
7:56:06bigger and better known ones, which
7:56:08confirmed my theory that conventional
7:56:10marketing and the more cover variety
7:56:12work best together. that the most
7:56:14persuasive of advertising strategies
7:56:16become that much more so when amplified
7:56:18by word of mouth advertising.
7:56:20In the end, even I was genuinely
7:56:22flabbergasted by the power of word of
7:56:25mouth marketing. Going in, my paranoid
7:56:28fear had been that perhaps I'd
7:56:29overestimated the power of peer
7:56:31pressure. What if no matter how much the
7:56:33Morgenssons promoted this or that brand,
7:56:36none of their friends actually went out
7:56:38and bought anything or at best just
7:56:40bought a single brand now and again?
7:56:42Turns out I needn't have worried. The
7:56:45fact that the Morgensson's friends
7:56:46actually ended up buying an average per
7:56:49person of three brands recommended by
7:56:51the Morgenssons blew my mind. More
7:56:53amazing still, the impact the experiment
7:56:56had on the buying habits of the
7:56:58Morgensson family themselves. Once our
7:57:01reality show wrapped, Eric, Gina, and
7:57:03their boys continued using and buying
7:57:05six out of the 10 brands they'd spent
7:57:07the last month touting. A few more
7:57:09things took me a back. I was surprised
7:57:12to learn that according to Chathred's
7:57:14analysis, even off camera, more than 50%
7:57:16of people's everyday conversations
7:57:18revolve around brands. I was surprised
7:57:21by the extent to which people show off
7:57:23brands in their homes, both consciously
7:57:25and unconsciously. As one woman told me,
7:57:28I guess I wanted to display the brand
7:57:31because it gave me something to talk
7:57:32with all my friends about. Finally, I
7:57:35was surprised that when we told Eric and
7:57:37Gina's friends and acquaintances that
7:57:39the whole thing was a hoax and a reality
7:57:41show, no one was angry or upset or cared
7:57:44even slightly that they had been duped.
7:57:46Let me reiterate this last point. When I
7:57:49finally revealed the truth about the
7:57:51reality show experiment, the
7:57:53Morgensson's friends were at first
7:57:54disbelieving. Come on, who wouldn't be?
7:57:57But when I asked them if they minded
7:57:59that two of their closest friends had
7:58:01betrayed them in order to convince them
7:58:03to buy brands, it was my turn to be
7:58:05shocked. It was okay, they said. If the
7:58:08Morgenssons told us a brand was good, it
7:58:11was totally okay. But what if the brands
7:58:13the Morgenssons recommended weren't ones
7:58:16they liked? I asked the answer. Even if
7:58:19the Morgenssons recommended brands they
7:58:21disliked, I'd still buy them. And what's
7:58:24more, not one person felt that our
7:58:26reality show experiment had been
7:58:28unethical or wrong. Strange, huh? I kept
7:58:32asking questions. When asked if they
7:58:35could measure how influenced they were
7:58:36by the Morgensson's recommendations on a
7:58:38scale of 1 to 10, Eric and Gina's
7:58:41friends unanimously answered 10 out of
7:58:4310. What's more, when I asked one man, a
7:58:46corporate speaker, whether he had ever
7:58:47mentioned the Morgensson approved brands
7:58:49on stage, he told me he'd probably
7:58:52passed on the names of the brands to
7:58:53thousands of audience members. Assuming
7:58:56I'd misheard him, I asked him to repeat
7:58:58the figure. Thousands, he repeated,
7:59:01adding, I just happened to love the
7:59:02shoes they recommended. In some
7:59:05instances, the persuasive effect was
7:59:07unconscious. In these cases, it was only
7:59:10after multiple prompting that the
7:59:11Morgensson's friends did admit that yes,
7:59:14come to think of it, they had altered
7:59:15their purchase patterns by buying
7:59:17precisely the products the Morgenssons
7:59:19had recommended. More than once, one of
7:59:22Gina's friends volunteered that her
7:59:23favorite cosmetics brand was Kiss My
7:59:25Face and that she'd heard about it.
7:59:27Well, seems she couldn't remember where.
7:59:30When asked to recall the date she first
7:59:32started using the brand, it turns out it
7:59:34was the day after she'd had dinner at
7:59:36the Morgensson. At another point, that
7:59:39same woman mentioned how thrilled she
7:59:41was that her 12-year-old had picked up
7:59:43his childhood Lego obsession. Why did he
7:59:46suddenly start playing with Lego again?
7:59:48I asked. The woman confessed she had no
7:59:51idea, but finally revealed that
7:59:53something had literally snapped into
7:59:55place after we had dinner at the
7:59:57Morgens. Talk about unconscious. Eric
8:00:00and Gina had never even promoted the
8:00:03brand by name. But upstairs, while the
8:00:05adults were at dinner, this woman's son
8:00:07had spent a half hour playing Lego with
8:00:09the Morgensson boys. Clearly, the
8:00:12Morgenssons had exerted a very powerful
8:00:14influence on both conscious and
8:00:16subconscious levels. Still, I wanted to
8:00:19learn more. So now it was time to
8:00:21measure precisely just how much guerilla
8:00:23marketing can amplify the persuasive
8:00:26power of a marketing or advertising
8:00:28strategy by carrying out infuri research
8:00:30study. My goal to compare the power and
8:00:34effectiveness of personal word of mouth
8:00:36recommendations to the blizzard of other
8:00:38media pushing and persuading us to buy
8:00:40stuff whether it's a TV commercial, an
8:00:42internet campaign or a fashion magazine
8:00:44spread touting the latest miracle
8:00:46cosmetic. Six weeks later, after
8:00:48analyzing millions of pieces of Marie
8:00:50data, the research team sent me the
8:00:52results, allowing me to put into words
8:00:54finally why the Morgensson held in their
8:00:56hands the most irresistible tool of
8:00:58persuasion there is. You see, in
8:01:01contrast to conventional TV or magazine
8:01:03advertising, a very surprising event
8:01:05takes place in our brains the moment
8:01:07other people recommend a car, a book, a
8:01:09band, a makeup, or a wine. The rational
8:01:12executive regions of our brains close
8:01:14down while a fireball of activity occurs
8:01:16in the insula, a brain region that is
8:01:18responsible for social emotions such as
8:01:20lust, disgust, pride, humiliation,
8:01:23guilt, empathy, and even love. In
8:01:25addition, the brain scans showed our
8:01:27friends recommendations stimulate the
8:01:29sensory regions of our brains, causing a
8:01:31sensation not dissimilar to the
8:01:33biological cravings I described in the
8:01:35chapter on addiction. In other words,
8:01:38it's as though word of mouth
8:01:39endorsements are recorded on multiple
8:01:41brain tracks. And I know from my
8:01:43experiments in biology that the more
8:01:45tracks of the brain a brand or a product
8:01:47affects, the more engaged and attuned we
8:01:49are with it and the more likely the
8:01:51recommendation is to stick. Once again,
8:01:54the inner workings of the brain explain
8:01:56why word of mouth advertising lingers in
8:01:59our memory for weeks, whereas we can't
8:02:01even recall the TV commercials we saw
8:02:03just this morning. More interesting
8:02:05still, it explains why we seem to have
8:02:08an innate tendency to spread these word
8:02:10of mouth endorsements to others. Recent
8:02:12research into the evolutionary roots of
8:02:14gossip itself a form of word of mouth
8:02:17marketing when you really think about it
8:02:19has found that whenever someone tells us
8:02:20something good like this is a delicious
8:02:23wine or this makeup makes you look 5
8:02:25years younger and we go on to repeat it
8:02:27our brains reward us with a shot of
8:02:29dopamine that feelgood neurotransmitter
8:02:31associated with everything from
8:02:32addiction to sensation seeking. In
8:02:35short, whenever we hear about a brand
8:02:37from people we like and admire then
8:02:39spread the secret along to others. Not
8:02:41only are our brains emotionally engaged,
8:02:43they are also dowsted with a chemical
8:02:44reward that as the expression goes keeps
8:02:47on giving. In short, if you can get word
8:02:50of mouth influence behind your brand,
8:02:52that influence multiplies the power of
8:02:54your brand exponentially.
8:02:57Which is why I predict the premise
8:02:58behind the Morgenssons will soon become
8:03:00a reality that in the future companies
8:03:03will hire and plant thousands of
8:03:04Morgensson like families and communities
8:03:06everywhere, tasking them with the
8:03:08mission of promoting a brand or even an
8:03:10entire family of brands. We may even
8:03:13reach the point where certain households
8:03:14begin to accept salary positions as
8:03:17stealth marketers. Think of these
8:03:19thousands of households as marketing
8:03:21sleeper cells that will come to life
8:03:23once a company releases a new product.
8:03:25or conversely when a brand endures a
8:03:27bout of bad publicity. Sure, there may
8:03:30be resistance at first, but quite
8:03:32simply, companies have too much to gain.
8:03:35So, consumers, when you receive product
8:03:37recommendations and advice from that
8:03:38affluent, attractive family who lives
8:03:41down the block from you, beware.
8:03:43Remember that to companies, their words
8:03:45are worth roughly $10,000 a month in
8:03:48marketing power. And companies won't
8:03:51have to look hard to find these cover
8:03:53marketers either. According to our
8:03:55incredible casting director Marcy Tishke
8:03:58and producer Andy Massanti when they
8:04:00began their search to find the perfect
8:04:02family to play the Morgenssons,
8:04:03countless auditioning families were all
8:04:06but begging to be cast in the
8:04:07experiment. So let's say that a show
8:04:09like the Morgenssons morphs from
8:04:11experiment to reality. I said to Marcy
8:04:14and I tked you to identify families who
8:04:16would be willing to carry out a similar
8:04:18job of secretly promoting brands to
8:04:20their friends and acquaintances. How
8:04:22difficult would that be? Oh, it would be
8:04:25pretty easy, Marcy replied. Could you
8:04:27recruit, say, tens of families like the
8:04:30Morgenssons? I pressed. Martin, Marcy
8:04:33said patiently. Yes. But not tens
8:04:36thousands. Whenever I meet up with
8:04:38executives around the world, I remind
8:04:40them that today the most powerful force
8:04:43in marketing is not a corporation. It's
8:04:46not a CEO. It's not a big budget
8:04:48marketing department. And that with all
8:04:51apologies to Don Draper, the madman days
8:04:53of sneaky one-way mirror marketing are
8:04:56over. Today and in the future, the
8:04:58people who hold the real power are
8:05:00hyperconnected, mouse clicking consumers
8:05:02and their wide circles of virtual and
8:05:04real life friends and acquaintances. In
8:05:07other words, the people who hold the
8:05:09real power are us. As consumers, we may
8:05:12think that brands own us, but in
8:05:14reality, it's the other way around. So,
8:05:16the good news I want to leave you with
8:05:18is this. In our hyperconnected world of
8:05:20Twitter and YouTube and Wikileaks, a
8:05:22world in which a single trick or
8:05:24deception or secret can be immediately
8:05:26broadcast to the world with the click of
8:05:28the mouse, the consumer is more
8:05:30empowered than ever. As a result, brands
8:05:33of the future simply must be transparent
8:05:36and live up to their promises. Trust me,
8:05:38and you marketers out there, take note.
8:05:41Any brand that doesn't will be instantly
8:05:43and painfully exposed and reviled. That
8:05:46in the end is what this book is all
8:05:48about. Mountain greenery. At this point
8:05:51in the experiment, I began to wonder
8:05:53something. If cover marketing could be
8:05:55used to persuade us to buy all sorts of
8:05:57luxury brands and products, could it
8:06:00also be used for a more noble purpose,
8:06:02like nudging us to buy more socially and
8:06:04environmentally friendly products and
8:06:06even live greener, more ecologically
8:06:08conscious lives? And after all, if
8:06:10Toyota can peer pressure us into buying
8:06:12environmentally friendly Priuses, the
8:06:14Morgenssons could peer pressure their
8:06:16friends into buying environmentally
8:06:18friendly soap. As of writing, according
8:06:21to the World Meteorological
8:06:22Organization, the past decade has been
8:06:24the hottest ever, a trend that many
8:06:26scientists attribute to man-made
8:06:28pollutants trapping heat in the
8:06:30atmosphere. In 2010, as you may recall,
8:06:3311,000 people in Moscow died heat
8:06:35related deaths. Floods overran Pakistan,
8:06:38Thailand and Vietnam. Heavy rain
8:06:39saturated Australia and Indonesia and
8:06:42parts of China endure droughts. All
8:06:44tragic events that are at least in part
8:06:45attributable to the major climate
8:06:47changes sweeping our planet. Which is
8:06:50why one of the goals with which I tasked
8:06:52the Morgans and family was to increase
8:06:54awareness within their circle of friends
8:06:56of the crucial importance of going green
8:06:58and to try to covertly persuade their
8:07:00friends and neighbors to buy more
8:07:02environmentally friendly products which
8:07:04they succeeded in doing in small yet
8:07:07meaningful ways. But before the
8:07:09Morgensson family embarked on this last
8:07:11mission, I brought in an environmental
8:07:13coach known locally as the green
8:07:15goddess. Sophie Aliono, the author of
8:07:18the book Gorgeously Green: Eight Simple
8:07:20Steps to an Earth Friendly Life, is a
8:07:21leading expert who has built a career
8:07:23around helping consumers begin living
8:07:26greener lives. Following Aliono's
8:07:28advice, the Morgensson family began
8:07:30using the same tactics they used to
8:07:32persuade their friends to buy those
8:07:34beautiful bracelets and those bottles of
8:07:36California bubbly to persuade them to
8:07:38live in more ecologically mindful ways.
8:07:40For example, the Mortensson boys began
8:07:43showing up at school with green smart
8:07:44bags, eco-conscious backpacks, messenger
8:07:47bags, and lunch boxes that are created
8:07:49entirely from recycled materials. And
8:07:51sure enough, a number of their
8:07:53classmates soon started doing the same.
8:07:56Gina introduced these same bags to her
8:07:58friends as great picnic tote bags,
8:08:00perfect for keeping hot things hot and
8:08:02cold things cold. She told them, "This
8:08:04little mini experiment within my
8:08:06experiment worked better than even I
8:08:08anticipated." In the 60 days following
8:08:11the Morgensson's ecological mission,
8:08:13Chathreds found that the number of green
8:08:15activities the Morgensson's friends and
8:08:17neighbors engaged in increased by an
8:08:19astonishing 31%. Moreover, the influence
8:08:22seemed to stick. According to Cathread's
8:08:24analysis, these same friends and
8:08:26neighbors showed a strong likelihood of
8:08:28performing at least one green behavior
8:08:30or activity or making an eco-friendly
8:08:32purchasing decision each day over the
8:08:34next 30 days as well. The fact of the
8:08:37matter is that pure pressure is the only
8:08:39way to make people go green. The most
8:08:42powerful persuader, for better or for
8:08:44worse, guilt. Naturally, most people
8:08:47recognize the importance of living
8:08:49environmentally mindful lives. We've
8:08:51read the articles and watched the TV
8:08:53documentaries. But in this era of media
8:08:56overload and instant amnesia, the
8:08:58influence of our peers ends up being
8:09:00far, far more powerful. I couldn't help
8:09:03but noticed that when Eric took center
8:09:05stage to announce to his friends what
8:09:07green products he was using, everyone in
8:09:09the room not only listened intently to
8:09:11what he was saying, they later actually
8:09:13changed their habits. It's easy enough
8:09:16to imagine. A woman mentions to a friend
8:09:18in passing that she just bought a green
8:09:21smart bag. That second woman goes out
8:09:23and buys it, mentions it to six of her
8:09:26friends, several of whom go out and buy
8:09:28it, and then talk about it to their
8:09:30friends. Or a businessman is aboard an
8:09:32airplane, his laptop enclosed in a green
8:09:35smart bag, when his seatmate asks,
8:09:36"Where'd you get that bag?" That
8:09:38passenger happens to be a popular
8:09:40blogger who buys it and gives it a plug
8:09:43in his widely read weekly column. A day
8:09:45or so later, 250,000 readers are aware
8:09:48of Greens Smart and its products and are
8:09:50liking the GreenSmart Facebook page. And
8:09:53remember, if our Facebook friends like a
8:09:55product, we perceive it as pre-approved
8:09:57and like it more ourselves. From there,
8:09:59buzz about the brand and what it stands
8:10:01for, spreads virally, and in no time at
8:10:03all, it has a worldwide following that's
8:10:05stronger, deeper, and far more loyal
8:10:07than any big budget campaign that even
8:10:09the savviest marketer, advertiser, or
8:10:11corporation could ever concoct. In 2011,
8:10:15Barrett Anand of Harvard University and
8:10:17Alexander Rosinski, a former visiting
8:10:19researcher there, found that we are far
8:10:22more likely to be persuaded by a product
8:10:24recommendation when it comes from a
8:10:26source we trust and respect. When they
8:10:28placed the exact same ad in two
8:10:30different publications, one a respected
8:10:32print publication, the other an online
8:10:34news site. They found that the more
8:10:36respected the publication, the more that
8:10:38people would trust the app. I would
8:10:40argue that when it comes to word of
8:10:41mouth recommendations, which we expect
8:10:44to be authentic and genuine rather than
8:10:46paid for by a company, the source
8:10:48matters even more. Which brings me back
8:10:50to the Morgenssons. The Morgenssons
8:10:53embody the American dream. They are
8:10:56successful, wealthy, attractive, the
8:10:58picturesque, harmonious family living a
8:11:00life we all want to live. In short, we
8:11:02not only respect them, we aspire to be
8:11:05them and in turn we trust them. We all
8:11:08have the equivalent of the Morgensson
8:11:10family in our own social circle because
8:11:13they've created a life we all somehow
8:11:15would like to have. We believe
8:11:16consciously or not that buying the
8:11:18things they buy and doing the things
8:11:20they do just might give us a whiff of
8:11:22their success or their happiness. Just
8:11:24as with a beloved celebrity, our respect
8:11:26and admiration for the Morgenssons or
8:11:29the equivalent in our neighborhood gets
8:11:31transported onto every brand they
8:11:33recommend. So yes, while companies and
8:11:36marketers have all kinds of sneaky ways
8:11:38of tricking us into buying their
8:11:39products, at the end of the day, we're
8:11:41not just being brawashed by companies,
8:11:43the fact is we're also being brainwashed
8:11:46and sometimes in a good way by one
8:11:47another. Here I will leave you with just
8:11:50one final reflection. For better or for
8:11:52worse, a year after my brand detox, I'm
8:11:55still coming to terms with how
8:11:56completely hooked I was and still am on
8:11:58the brands I love and use. from my
8:12:00Gillette Fusion razor to the Clarins
8:12:02moisturizer I slather over my face after
8:12:04a long plane flight to the Pepsis in my
8:12:07fridge at home. At the same time, my
8:12:10failed detox helped open my eyes to the
8:12:12fact that I may be a marketer, but I'm
8:12:14also a consumer just like the rest of
8:12:16us. It helped me realize that there are
8:12:19simply a handful of brands I cannot live
8:12:21without. Brands that define who I am and
8:12:23who I wish to become. I hope this book
8:12:26has similarly helped you to understand
8:12:28your own complicated relationship with
8:12:30brands and that it's educated and
8:12:32empowered you to be able to recognize
8:12:34when you're being manipulated and when
8:12:36you're not. And by the way, I still
8:12:39Cyprus. In my experience, we all have
8:12:42three bank accounts as most of the world
8:12:45knows. The first is where you stash your
8:12:47money. The second, our personal brand
8:12:50account is a place where we actively
8:12:52innovate or enhance our brand. Just as
8:12:54critical as our third account, which I
8:12:56dub our exploration account, a time
8:12:58period or state of mind when we learn,
8:13:00improve ourselves, or just plain evolve
8:13:04or enhance our personal brand. When did
8:13:06you last set aside time to strengthen
8:13:09the skills you were born with? It's
8:13:11pretty hard to remember, right? The
8:13:14point is a deposit into our brand and
8:13:16exploration accounts takes place only
8:13:18with the help, support, encouragement,
8:13:20and talent of others. and without them,
8:13:23this book would never have hit the
8:13:25bookstores or made it into your hands in
8:13:27the first place. First, a huge thanks
8:13:30goes to all the sponsors of Brandwashed,
8:13:32in particular, Julia Steerman and the
8:13:34Murray Hill Center, one of the top focus
8:13:37group companies in the United States,
8:13:39who have not only helped support some of
8:13:40the fascinating results you've just read
8:13:42about, but helped confirm many of my
8:13:45hypotheses and theories. Headed up by
8:13:48Ruth Stenat, CIS International made our
8:13:50nationwide study on kids and parents
8:13:52become a reality by exploring millions
8:13:54of data points, which led to a host of
8:13:57intriguing conclusions. A big thank you
8:13:59also goes to Ashon Khan, John Nuding,
8:14:02and John Spadaro of Zenith Media for
8:14:04giving me access to some rather
8:14:05spectacular media habits across the US.
8:14:08without and Marie Kovac who forwarded me
8:14:11the trailer to the film the Joneses
8:14:13months before its theatrical release and
8:14:15helped craft the experiments hypothesis
8:14:17and outline the inspiration for the
8:14:19Morgenssons would never have taken place
8:14:22and Marie also co-ran focus groups in
8:14:25Chicago related to many of the topics in
8:14:27this book I owe you one or several Marie
8:14:31which brings me back to my sponsors
8:14:33without which this project would never
8:14:35have become a reality I'd like to thank
8:14:38my number one favorite brand, LEGO. If
8:14:41you've read my previous books, you
8:14:43probably know about my lifelong love
8:14:45affair with that company. A special
8:14:47thank you goes to LEGO senior vice
8:14:49president, Mads Nipper, with whom I've
8:14:51worked since the birth of the internet.
8:14:53That's 16 years, Mads if you're
8:14:55counting. Also, a big thank you to Chris
8:14:58Sers from Stink is Stink. You're really
8:15:00an amazing guy and I'm grateful for all
8:15:02your support. Let's pause for a moment
8:15:05because here comes without any doubt the
8:15:07most important part of my thank you
8:15:09speech. The editorial team. First of
8:15:12all, Peter Smith, my favorite ghost
8:15:14writer. Peter and I works together on
8:15:17Bology. The success of Bology can
8:15:19without any doubt be credited to his
8:15:21amazing work. Peter and I have worked on
8:15:24Brandwashed for close to 2 years. He's
8:15:27more than a ghost writer. Peter, we
8:15:29really need to rebrand that stupid term.
8:15:31A he's a mentor, creative genius, and
8:15:34amazing writer. Traveling as much as I
8:15:37do means impossible working hours and
8:15:39constant jet lag. Can you imagine what
8:15:42it's like to work with me? Peter coped
8:15:44with it all and did so with brilliance.
8:15:47Thanks for everything, Peter. Close
8:15:50behind Peter is the team behind Guology
8:15:52and now brainwashed. First, my
8:15:55extraordinarily talented editor, Talia
8:15:57Cron. The truth. I didn't invent the
8:16:00concept for this book and neither did I
8:16:03come up with the title. Both were
8:16:05Talia's doing, which I think says it
8:16:07all. Talia has worked extraordinarily
8:16:10hard on this book and performed magic.
8:16:12My gratitude to her skills and patience
8:16:14is enormous. I'd also like to thank a
8:16:17truly essential member of the Crown
8:16:19team, senior editor Roger Schul, who has
8:16:21kept a critical objective eye on this
8:16:23project over the past two years. Among
8:16:26the biggest champions of this book from
8:16:28the get-go were senior vice president
8:16:30and publisher Tina Constable and crown
8:16:32deputy publisher Michael Pulan. Tina,
8:16:35you did a great work in guiding the
8:16:37entire publication of Brandwashed,
8:16:39making everyone believe this was
8:16:41something special. Amy Bourstein, thank
8:16:43you for your guiding hand and a special
8:16:45thanks to the Random House sales team,
8:16:47which in my mind is an essential reason
8:16:49why Brandwashed became what it is today.
8:16:52Okay, let's get this in writing once and
8:16:54for all. You are my favorite publisher,
8:16:56but you all know that. Another big thank
8:16:59you goes to my hardworking agent, Jim
8:17:01Lavine, and his foreign rights director,
8:17:03Elizabeth Fischer. Jim was one of the
8:17:05forces behind brand sense and dology,
8:17:08and I know our professional relationship
8:17:10will only flourish in the future. What
8:17:13is a book without marketing? By now, you
8:17:16probably know the answer. Not a lot.
8:17:18First of all, a big thank you goes to
8:17:20Melissa Hobi at Lindstöm Company in New
8:17:23York. Melissa oversaw the entire
8:17:26marketing machine, a team of more than
8:17:2810 people in and out of house. Melissa
8:17:30not only made our Morgensson's
8:17:32experiment a reality, she did an amazing
8:17:34job overseeing the free studies, the CIS
8:17:36studies, and all our promotion and
8:17:38marketing plans. Supporting Melissa is
8:17:41Kate Ferfea, who worked day and night to
8:17:43craft online strategies and make our
8:17:45online visibility a reality. Much of our
8:17:48online presence, our marketing concepts,
8:17:51graphics, and viral videos was overseen
8:17:53by Jonathan Greenstein and Laura
8:17:55Greenstein at Juice, my favorite
8:17:57marketing company operating out of
8:17:59Canada. They know how to create magic,
8:18:01and I'm deeply in debt to them for
8:18:03sharing their amazing skills and talents
8:18:05with me. A huge debt of gratitude also
8:18:08goes to Random House's amazing marketing
8:18:10and publicity team. In particular, I'd
8:18:13like to thank Meredith McGinness,
8:18:15Jennifer Robbins, Katie Connelly, Tara
8:18:17Gilbride, Jacob Bronstein, and Denell
8:18:20Catllet. But I've also had to learn a
8:18:22lot, and in order to do so, there are a
8:18:25ton of people I need to thank. Mark
8:18:28Fortier has been a cornerstone behind
8:18:30all the publicity for Brandwashed. Mark
8:18:32and I have now worked together on two
8:18:35books. And Mark, you are without any
8:18:37doubt one of the top PR people, not just
8:18:39in the US, but in the world. Period. As
8:18:43you've probably noticed, marketing and
8:18:44psychology go together, which is why I'd
8:18:47like to thank psychologist Dr. Bisa
8:18:49Veranic, a Today Show contributor and a
8:18:51just plain amazing person. Bisa not only
8:18:54oversaw many of the psychological
8:18:56behaviors taking place in Los Angeles,
8:18:59she also contributed with amazing
8:19:00observations and interpretations during
8:19:03Brandwashed's journey. Bisa, you're a
8:19:05true also sexy as hell star. Thank you.
8:19:09Oh, and Christa Brunson from the Today
8:19:11Show. You're quite literally a star as
8:19:13well. I'd also like to thank Dr. Greg
8:19:16Dylan, Dr. Hawksmith, Dr. Jorge Patit,
8:19:19Dr. Isabelle Suantront, Dr. Gertie
8:19:21Quintandon, Rose Garcia, John Dullworth,
8:19:23and Ron Mitchell, who helped shape some
8:19:25of my thoughts and clarify some of my
8:19:27hypotheses.
8:19:29Among my goals in a book is to share
8:19:31observations, fascinating statistics,
8:19:33and of course, access to people who my
8:19:35readers never thought existed. Making
8:19:37all this possible is my number one
8:19:39researcher, Bobby 7. Yep, that's really
8:19:42her name. Bobby 7 has worked for me for
8:19:44over 10 years. Together, we've worked on
8:19:47four books, yet we've never met. Part of
8:19:49her brand is to be mysteriously unknown.
8:19:53Thank God I found you, Bobby 7. Joining
8:19:56our research effort were the talented
8:19:58Reese Saxs and Amelia Castle, who ran
8:20:00some of the primary and secondary
8:20:02research jobs for almost one year.
8:20:04They've interviewed and screened
8:20:06hundreds of people and helped me verify
8:20:08hard to track down data. I'm so proud to
8:20:11have worked with both of you. Thanks
8:20:13heaps for all your hard work. Frank
8:20:16Foster, thanks for your friendship and
8:20:18thanks for your guiding hand turning the
8:20:20last chapter around in the 11th hour.
8:20:23All of which leads me to the hundreds of
8:20:25people we've interviewed worldwide. A
8:20:28special and enormous thank you goes to
8:20:30Unilver's David Kousno, a shining star
8:20:32in the field of consumer insight. Thank
8:20:35you so much for sharing the most amazing
8:20:37insights about a fascinating project led
8:20:39by a fantastic company. Howard Roberts
8:20:42and Richard Huntington, both from Sachi
8:20:44and Sachi, also contributed amazing
8:20:47insights. I'd also like to thank
8:20:49Isabelle Lopes, Msley's assistant
8:20:51librarian, Center on Media and Child
8:20:53Health, Children's Hospital, Harvard
8:20:55Medical School, Harvard School of Public
8:20:57Health, and Sally J. Persing, Center on
8:20:59Media and Child Health, Seamic
8:21:01Children's Hospital, Boston. Also, a
8:21:03special thank you to Linda Aki and Beth
8:21:05Given, privacy activism, for their
8:21:08insight into online practices. Steven
8:21:11Prey, Ph.D. Def Professor of
8:21:13Non-prescription Products and Devices at
8:21:15College of Pharmacy, Southwestern
8:21:17Oklahoma State University, helped me
8:21:19understand the addictive qualities of
8:21:21products. Thanks also go to Dr. Charles
8:21:24Lind, past president of the Canadian
8:21:26Dermatology Association, assistant
8:21:28professor at the University of Toronto.
8:21:30Jazelle Witwell, music therapist of
8:21:32Pioneer in Music Therapy Especially for
8:21:34Prenatal and Early Childhood. Peter
8:21:36Heer, Fetal Behavioral Research Center,
8:21:38Queens University, Belfast, Northern
8:21:40Ireland. Katherine Lynch and Joanne
8:21:42Irwin and Jenny Saffron, Distinguished
8:21:44Professor Psychology, University of
8:21:46Rochester, Group Coordinator,
8:21:48Communication, and Cognitive Sciences
8:21:50Group. Thank you to Janet D. Petro,
8:21:52associate dean for research, professor,
8:21:55department of population, family and
8:21:57reproductive health, John's Hopkins
8:21:59Bloomberg School of Public Health,
8:22:00Claire Learner, director of parenting
8:22:02resources, 0ero to3, and David
8:22:05Chamberlain, PhD, author of prenatal
8:22:07memory and learning in the mind of your
8:22:09newborn baby, among other books. I'd
8:22:12also like to thank Marcy Axnus of
8:22:14Quantum Parenting for help understanding
8:22:15the uses of data mining. Brian Pearson,
8:22:18president and CEO, Alliance Data and
8:22:20Loyal Tionaire Miles Reward program.
8:22:22Michael Barry, data miners, Peter Feder,
8:22:24Wharton School of Business, Herbs SAN
8:22:26Sun, TNS Global, and Wendy W Mo,
8:22:28Associate Professor of Marketing, Robert
8:22:30H. Smith School of Business, University
8:22:32of Maryland. for help with early
8:22:35childhood issues. I'd like to thank
8:22:37Emily Korns, Nestle Infant Nutrition,
8:22:39and Abigail Tuller, editor-inchief,
8:22:41Pregnancy Magazine, and Pregnancy
8:22:43360.com.
8:22:45Thank you both for all your amazing
8:22:47insight. Last, but certainly not least,
8:22:50thanks to the talents of our incredible
8:22:52casting director, Marcy Tishke, we
8:22:54searched for months for a beautiful,
8:22:56kind, outgoing, smart, beautiful family.
8:22:58And boy were Eric and Gina Morgensson
8:23:01and their children Jack, Sam, and Max
8:23:03ever up for it. A very significant and
8:23:06major thank you to the Morgensson family
8:23:08who couldn't have made this project more
8:23:10interesting, easier, or more exciting,
8:23:12and to all their lovely friends in
8:23:14Lagona who allowed us to observe their
8:23:16consumer habits. We are forever
8:23:18grateful. Enormous thanks also go to our
8:23:21TV producer Andy Masanti who made this
8:23:24project so successful and provocative
8:23:26and without whose expertise, ideas and
8:23:28warmth this project would never have
8:23:30happened. Finally, Chathreads, a company
8:23:33that captures data on how, when, and
8:23:35where consumers notice individual brands
8:23:37in their day-to-day lives, then analyzes
8:23:39how these encounters impact purchase
8:23:41behavior, helped measure the profound
8:23:43impact of word-of- mouth marketing. I
8:23:46truly believe no other company can
8:23:48perform better than they did.

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