Today I want to talk to you about how marketing has capitalized on the three most powerful primal survival instincts, and has built multi-billion dollar industries around them. The instincts are:
- Fear
- The desire
- The novelty
Each of them is rooted deep within our DNA, tied to life's relentless agenda: survive to procreate. Each is capitalized on by a different industry: fear by the media, desire by advertising, and novelty by social media.
Now, before we start our tour, I want to make it clear that I'm not trying to demonize the different media. They all have their place and are useful. However, it's important that we are aware of their effects on us in order to be more objective. So, let's start with fear, the most powerful and pernicious of instincts.
An old maxim in the journalism industry is: “If it doesn’t bleed, it doesn’t lead.” That is to say, only bloody events merit a place on the front page of the newspaper. They understood that fear is powerful, addictive, and sells.
Therefore, supplying spectacular news about the dark side of humanity, as well as suffering caused by earthquakes, fires, and accidents, incites our self-preservation instinct, generating large audiences tied to the medium, which in turn can be sold to another industry that is based on the second of our fundamental instincts, desire.
Now the advertising industry comes into play, appealing to our instinct to be accepted and improve our status within society. Let us remember that humans are deeply social animals, and advertisers are trained to use half-truths that link consumption with acceptance.
They appeal to our evolutionary chip that reasons: the better our social status, the better a mate I can get to procreate, and thus strengthen our lineage and transcend. There are all sorts of strategies to attract attention. Some advertisements are explicit and vulgar, like advertisements for motor oils and tires featuring women in minimal clothing that plaster the walls of auto repair shops.
Others are more subtle, like advertisements for cars, perfumes, and real estate, but deep down, they all appeal to our desire for status, which will allow us to pass on our genes.
Without a doubt, sex is the key piece in life's agenda, to which everything converges.
Finally, there is our third basic instinct, novelty. It is more subtle than fear or desire, and possibly for that reason more pernicious and addictive. This has been conquered by social media and its endless alerts.
This feeling that I'm missing out on something valuable if I'm not connected every second of the day is incredibly addictive. Every alert stimulates our need for novelty, giving us a shot of dopamine, a chemical that produces a pleasure sensation similar to what an addict gets from doing cocaine. Wow!
Fear, desire, and novelty, instincts necessary for the continuity of life, all noble, useful, and valuable. However, all easily manipulated by the great marketers of the 21st century.
Therefore, I invite you to evaluate your media consumption and decide what information you let into your head, because reclaiming freedom is a central theme of an agenda for a happy, productive, and meaningful life.
With that, I conclude my comment, and as always, I remind you that:
You are great and life demands your greatness!
Until the next comment.
Mac Kroupensky
kroupensky.com
55 1353 3907
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