I’m not intentionally a contrarian, but I have to admit I don’t like people telling me what to do. But this is exactly what advertisers (and, by extension, most businesses) do every day. They cram a particular value, and the resulting desire, down our throats.That sort of control, despite claims to the contrary, and it’s shiny packaging notwithstanding, feels an awful lot like a loss of freedom.
What would happen if we stopped marketing completely? Would the economy fall into ruin? Doubtful. Possible, but doubtful. The bigger question, in my mind, is would we, as individuals, be capable of existing in a advertising-free world?
I think we would.
See, we have this internet now and, conveniently, a thousand and one ways to sift through it. I’m betting we could find what we want and need all by ourselves. Or, barring internet access, we could likely drive to the store and rummage through the many goods and services being offered there and find a way to subsist.
I don’t watch television. I don’t read magazines. The few websites I visit rarely offer up any ads. And yet, I have wants and needs that get satisfied. Somehow I’m able to discern what I require, get it, and carry on with life. Could I use a bit more self-control? Uh-huh. But as Leo says, it doesn’t happen overnight.
Maybe there was a time when marketing, in some far less sophisticated and brazen form, was warranted. When barriers to communication were such that it was difficult to know what was available at large. But no more.
No, I’m thinking that the people of the world would get along just fine without advertisers telling them what they should want and value.
And maybe we’d even discover that the 11 year old person we used to be – the one who believed in the unbelievable and imagined into existence anything he wanted – is still alive and well, if, understandably, a little hard to recognize.
I do enjoy getting reacquainted with old friends.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Where does marketing start, and where does it end?
Carlos Micelli raised a similar question some days ago: Are we following the best thinkers, or are we just following the best marketers? (http://www.owlsparks.com/questions/scholars-marketing/)
I think advertising/marketing may get annoying, but as it is everywhere, it’s really hard to imagine a world without it. Not that I would be against that, but it really is, at least for me. So I think a first step could just be ignoring more and more the trash marketers and support some better approaches. Also, think about how to protect especially children from all this marketing hype. Because if you grow up with a critical consciousness towards it, it will be a lot easier to cope with it once you’re grown up!
Fabian´s last blog ..Marketing Triptych
Hey thanks for the link Fabian. And of course you’re right, very hard to imagine it (marketing) going away (though one of my values is to question what seems unquestionable). What’s got me thinking on this topic so much is the magnitude of the problem. There is a happy medium somewhere, and I guess that’s what I’m after.
And I’ve been leaning heavily, lately, toward gearing my efforts toward parents because a change in focus/mindset in raising our children will, naturally, change their realities as adults. Thanks FK…
Hi Jeb… I have the unique experience of having grown up behind the iron curtain in communist Poland until I was 10 years old… without any sort of advertising… I often wonder what it would be like to live like that again. I know we played outside a lot and made up our own games for everything…
Dorota Zuzanna´s last blog ..Perfect Gifts for Raw Food Lovers
Wow, truly the other end of the spectrum. So tell me this Dorota, once marketers had the freedom to enter that market, were you (and your peers) like some kids my wife knew growing up whose parents denied them sugar so, when home alone, would eat entire spoonfuls? In other words, did you overload on it? Did you become ultra consumerist? Or has that experience given you far greater balance than most of us had?
Jeb, it’s great to be reading your posts again, now that I’m back home and at my laptop. By the way, the site looks so good!
I had the same reaction as Fabian above… I completely share your sentiment about the gross overwhelm of omnipresent marketing, but it’s hard to imagine it stopping completely when “marketing” can refer to a woman who blogs about jewelry in order to sell her own jewelry. You know what I mean? I guess it’s largely about how broadly marketing is defined… I know so many creative professionals who are struggling financially because they are excellent artists but crappy marketers (i.e., they don’t know how to get people to check out their work). But like you seem to be saying, what we really need is to get past the bombardment of advertising that essentially shapes the way people think — usually into a pretty frightening consumerist mindset.
I think right now, the key step to take is to make people think much more critically about these matters… exactly as you’re doing with this blog.
Zoe´s last blog ..Five Years After the Wave… What is recovery?
Zdub, how nice to see you. Glad you like my site, and thank you for saying so.
Yes, that’s one of the challenges for me…reconciling my disdain for marketing with my genuine desire to see creative, enterprising individuals succeed. The scope of the definition does matter, of course, because what you or I would do to promote a product/service we offer is not even remotely similar to what Bud Light or McDonalds or a million and one other companies would do to promote theirs.
It’s a difficult topic for me, so many conflicting emotions. Thanks for helping me work through them. Cheers…
Kind of a different subject here, but I have some of the same feelings towards politics and the 24 hour news cycle. I’m getting real tired of it and I’ve started to tune it out, while I used to be more interested in politics. There are so many false stories and pandering being thrown at our faces day after day after day. In both cases I think it’s the ever invasive presence of media that dictates a lot of this.
Nate´s last blog ..Are You Chasing Someone Else’s Idea of What Lifestyle Design Is?
Exactly Nate. The ever invasive presence of media…a scorn to us all. It’s funny, I used to love politics and government. Majored in it in college, interned at the State Department. But at some point, much like this over consumerist society we live in, I just lost interest. So many false promises, so much rhetoric, such smoke and mirrors. All of it. It’s all connected by this ‘ever invasive’ presence of media…and honestly, this internet thing we are all enjoying (particularly Twitter) is, in my opinion, at risk of going in a similar direction. If the shouting of the online marketers drowns out authenticity, well, that’ll be the end.
Keep speaking true my friend.
I have a similar attitude about abhorring advertising. In fact, for me it’s sort of a rant. Why can’t people just fall all over what I have to offer them – especially when I think it’s so valuable for anyone to learn? Because it’s Alexander Technique and it’s not a quick fix. I’ve been teaching this for 30 years now without advertising it and nobody knows what it is – still. So, broke down and talked about it to anyone who would listen, despite feeling like a proselytizer. Then ran into Chuck Lewis (You’re Gonna Love It) who taught me that sales was just communicating, not manipulation. If people don’t know “What it is, how it works and why it exists” then they can’t decide if they want it. Even one person talking to other people about something makes a big difference…as I’ve done for Alexander Technique in the San Francisco Bay area.
Now I’m in Hawaii on the BIg Island where I’m starting from scratch again. Geez I hate selling, but nobody would know the power of what have devoted most of my life to if I did not teach them from the start.
p.s. I buy everything used and only new if it’s food or I go kicking and screaming. The major advantage to living my life like this has been – no credit card debt.
Hello Franis,
That’s the thing, it’s not that marketing/sales in and of itself is bad. It’s the approach. The intentional manipulation. The subconscious ‘leading’. If you have a product that you believe in and have the opportunity to tell others about it, by all means do so. And in all likelihood, I’ll buy from you. So long as you’re genuine and straightforward. And that’s what I meant when I said “Maybe there was a time when marketing, in some far less sophisticated and brazen form, was warranted. When barriers to communication were such that it was difficult to know what was available at large.”
But in my view, there is a difference between clear and honest communication and what passes as sales/marketing today. With clear and honest communication, all the requisite information upon which to make a decision is presented. If it’s not for me, I move on. But with so much of the sales/marketing that we’re barraged with today, it doesn’t stop there. Regardless of whether I need it, these efforts are designed to make me believe I need it, and for me, that’s a problem. A big one.
Thanks for your comment Franis.