How consumerism penetrates into every aspect around us

Individual weaknesses

Human beings are creatures with seven emotions and six desires, but there are only two things that govern our decisions: fear and hope. All our emotions are attached to it. Sometimes they can also become weaknesses, sucking you and me into the whirlpool of consumerism.

1. Fear

Disease, aging, and death are human beings’ greatest fears.

Many businesses take advantage of this to achieve marketing purposes. There is an unspoken rule in the personal care industry: soaps and detergents will be particularly easy to sell as long as the word "antibacterial" is added, and the price will increase a lot.

But do those cleaning products with "antibacterial" functions really have special antibacterial effects?

Experiments have proven that there is no difference between them and ordinary cleaning products. The so-called "Antibacterial" is just a word play. This is a little trick played by businesses to take advantage of humans' fear of germs.

2. Hope

A girl went to the gym to apply for a card, and the other party kept urging her to buy private lessons.

She flipped up her hair and said, "No, I finally changed to another gym. I'm afraid I won't be able to help but sleep with the coach again." Many people at the front desk were stunned.

From then on, although she did not buy a class, every time she went to exercise, there were several coaches vying for guidance.

Of course this is a story, but it illustrates: hope is a powerful driving force that drives you to spend energy and money.

Businesses are well aware of this, and there are endless businesses that use "hope" to make money.

The coercion of the group

How much influence does the group have on the individual? Infinite.

Groups not only give individuals a sense of security, but also create an identity for individuals.

This allows us to gain respect and recognition from others, otherwise we will feel lost and helpless, and even lose the meaning of life.

Through a person's recognition of a group, it can be divided into two situations: one is a group you like and want to join, which we can call: "group catering"; the other is a group you like and want to join. , the group that you hate and try to avoid, we can call it: "group exclusion".

1. Catering to the group

J?germeister’s marketing techniques are well versed in this. "Jagermeister" is known as the most unpleasant drink, it tastes like cough syrup and motor oil. However, such a terrible drink is very popular in the United States.

"Jagermeister" is originally produced in Germany and is mainly used for hunting to keep away the cold.

In 1985, Denis Frank introduced this wine to the United States. However, because the wine was so unpleasant to drink, sales were poor.

Not only that, a newspaper published a short article criticizing the wine. Not only does it taste horrible, it may also contain some illegal drugs.

Ordinarily, Denis Frank should sue the other party for defamation. But he thought for a while and decided to ask his men to make thousands of copies of this newspaper and post them in bars near various universities. As a result, a miracle happened, and "Jagermeister" began to spread wildly among college students. Because of this "horrible" taste, coupled with the mysterious formula, the color of motor oil, and the deer head and cross on the trademark, it gives this wine a "sense of rebellion."

Imagine that in a bar, there are several boys, everyone is holding a glass of "J?germeister", but you are holding a glass of champagne, you will definitely be laughed at by everyone.

2. Group exclusion

There is a reality show in the United States called Jersey Shore, which records the real lives of some young people.

The film became a hit, and the characters in it became famous and became Internet celebrities. One of the heroines is named Nicole. One morning, she received a package. When she opened it, she found it was a high-end Gucci handbag.

Nicole was so happy that she was dizzy, but she didn’t know who gave it to her. Could it be that Gucci wants her to be an endorsement, or is it a gift from a fan?

No, what you might not expect is that this Gucci bag was a gift from a competitor of Gucci.

In other words, Gucci’s competitors want Nicole to carry Gucci bags! What is the logic of this? It turns out that these young people in Jersey Shore are all people of color at the bottom. They are uneducated and have no quality. Everyone watches this reality show as a joke.

And Nicole in the play feels a bit like Sister Furong.

The competitors of "Gucci" feel that as long as Nicole appears in front of everyone carrying a "Gucci" bag, the original "Gucci" users will be disgusted and fall into their arms.

It is said that after the person in charge of the "Gucci" brand learned about this, he was so frightened that he quickly bought the bag from Nicole at a high price.

The Merchant’s Trick

At the beginning of the movie "Lord of War", Nicolas Cage stood in the ruins of the war and said with emotion: Do you know that every 12 people in this world 1 person has a gun. Turning around, Cage continued: Okay, here's the question, how can we sell the guns to the remaining 11 people?

The pursuit of maximizing profits is the only rule for businessmen.

In this section, I will reveal to you some of the common tricks used by merchants.

Look at how they are making your wallet thinner and thinner, and turning their accounts into astronomical figures without making a sound.

1. Create demand

After World War II, an advertisement suddenly appeared on British TV: a beautiful girl was on the tennis court, and men kept coming to chat with her. However, before even a few words were said, the men left with frowns on their faces. The girl looked confused. . ....Finally, there was an ad for Listerine mouthwash.

This advertisement is a milestone in the history of marketing.

Because marketers in the past believed that products should cater to people’s needs. And this advertisement tells everyone that demand can be created. And it did create a concept: bad breath.

Yes, the concept of "bad breath" was invented by Listerine.

Before this, "breath" was just a normal reaction of the body's function, and no one thought it was a problem. But "Listerine" tells you: There is a silent social killer who is always by your side.

The predecessor of Listerine was a surgical disinfectant. Mouthwash was originally developed just for oral hygiene. As a result, the product cannot be sold. When marketers came up with the killer idea of ??"bad breath", it took only 7 years for Listerine mouthwash's marketing revenue to surge from US$110,000 to US$8 million.

To this day, Listerine is the number one mouthwasher.

2. Making up stories

Paul Cornette is the earliest creative team member of Hasbro in the United States. They developed a range of toys, six cars and six airplanes.

Unlike ordinary toys, these cars and planes can turn into robots. However, the product didn't sell that well.

Once, Paul Cornette and a colleague were on a business trip. During the 3-hour drive, they came up with the idea of ??making up a story to increase sales.

So, the "Autobots" and "Decepticons" jumped out one by one. The story of Transformers was born from this. Yes, the Transformers story is actually an advertisement, just to make the product more popular.

What Paul Cornette didn’t expect was that the Transformers story would be so profitable.

In 2018, Transformers toy revenue exceeded US$3 billion.

3. Labor dialectics

"Labor dialectics" is a psychological term. Simply put, it means: when you invest energy and labor in something or someone, you will also invest in them. Have a higher rating.

General Mills, a Fortune 500 company, owns many well-known brands such as Haagen-Dazs and Wan Chai Pier. General Mills has a classic marketing case:

General Mills headquarters once launched a cake mix called "Betty Crocker" with completely matched ingredients. Housewives can just put it directly in the oven. However, sales were extremely dismal. So General Mills hired a Ph.D. in psychology.

The doctor thought for a while and said: Remove the egg powder from the formula and ask the housewives to beat the eggs into it themselves. Although a little skeptical, General Mills complied.

As a result, sales surged and supply exceeded demand. They asked the doctor, what is the reason?

The doctor said: "It turns out that the fool-like operation method is too simple. It is a delicacy for the family, which will make the housewife feel guilty. It makes the housewife feel guilty. They cracked an egg into it themselves, and their participation increased significantly, and they became fond of the product. ”

You see, this is the application of “labor dialectics” in the business world. Some difficulties are deliberately added by the seller, so that you have to pay some price when you get or use this product.

Murphy's Law

Big data will not lie. When you can see this and leave the sentence "the strong will strengthen themselves", you will definitely become a strong person in life. Who!