The TRUTH about Marketing and Trends. And Why You NEED to Care.

The scrunchie is back and I am SO excited!

Ahh current trends

Unique expression of words, new artists slaying the charts, skinny jeans, hipsters. I can picture your eye rolls now.. Most people choose to not follow; these things are for the young upcoming generations to care about. And that’s fine.

But I’m here to say—

Maybe we should pay attention.

But first let’s back up. Before we get to the WHAT, we first need to ask the question, WHY do things become popular? Or certain ideas spread? Talent, substance, and quality products are absolutely essential ingredients, but another huge component of the recipe is exceptional marketing.

“Marketing is about spreading ideas, and spreading ideas is the single most important output of our civilization.”

Companies are part of the village.

Our youth are not only paying attention to the hot new trends, music, and clothes, but are influenced by what these brands represent. We should care about advertisements because the companies that produce these products are a part of the village that raise our children.

Brands greatly help mold our next generation, our future citizens. Brand stories become part our culture. These underlying messages have the power to become our beliefs. And this is only the beginning of the power of influence.

"Hundreds of thousands of Sudanese have died because of bad marketing. Religions thrive or fade away because of the marketing choices they make. Children are educated, companies are built, jobs are gained or lost—all because of what we know (and don’t know) about spreading ideas."

Even for the individuals who claim to not follow or care about culture trends, marketing messages are ubiquitous and inescapable. And these companies are doing everything they can to learn about you, the consumer. To be able to influence you, surreptitiously a lot of times and you won’t even realize it.

So, if these things are inevitable, what can we do about this?

Question and research EVERYTHING.

Make it a habit to be apprehensive about what is put in front of us. I am especially calling out Facebook ads and articles here. Before we get passionate about notions or even just have an opinion about something, we need to be doing our diligence of proper research. To feel responsible about spreading ideas. Rather than trusting Facebook articles or blogs ;) at face value, research where these writers are getting their information.

A lot of times, the actual social science study that was conducted and published, will be taken out of context. The message and story will be twisted to get you to believe something else. Unfortunately.

For example, the popular notion that spread like wildfire (thanks to Facebook articles)—drinking one glass of red wine a day is equivalent to one hour in the gym.

Although the health benefits of red wine are well published, you don’t always hear about the other variables that play a part, until you read the actual research study. And as we should all keep in mind, correlation is NOT causation.

Writers and marketers snagged it though, probably to sell more wine, and the idea spread because people wanted to believe this was true. It gave them comfort and made them feel better about their choices. And if it’s giving some people comfort, is that really wrong?

This is innocent compared to the extremes that can be explored.

"Nuclear weapons have killed a tiny fraction of the number of people that unethical marketing has. It’s time we realize that there may be no more powerful weapon on Earth."

Every dollar we spend is a vote.

We, as consumers, are not as small and helpless as we may think against billion dollar industries. When we buy something, we are supporting and voting for that brand to grow, and everything they represent. This includes how companies produce their products.—Think child labor, for example. This can be easy to forget when in a good shopping mood.

Every click we make is a vote.

Technology and the internet are extraordinarily powerful today, we should not underestimate their influence on us. Click bate is lurking and pops up everywhere. Recognize it. If someone is consistently falling for drama posts, or one sided articles, algorithms pick up on that. Facebook specifically, is designed for your experience to feel inclusive, not necessarily informative. Their objective is NOT to make sure users have all the facts.

“Marketers are wrong when they insist that “all we do is offer options—it's up to the consumers to decide for themselves.” Marketing is now so well developed and so embedded in our culture that consumers no longer make decisions based on rational analysis of facts. Instead they decide based on the stories they’re told. To disclaim responsibility for a fraud is cowardly.”

I am not bashing on marketers here by any means. I am one. That’s why I read this book. But I am sending a friendly reminder that there is ethical and unethical marketing. Just like business, sales, politics, etc., the list goes on. There are ideas worth spreading and ideas that are harmful to spread (that sometimes seem innocent).

My point here is to encourage people to critically think more.

Our future generations and our world depend on it.

If anyone has a another good source for published science studies, please COMMENT and share with me!

Please LIKE or SHARE if you agree!

SUBSCRIBE below if you also encourage Reading, Thinking, and then Applying. #ReadersUnite !

Written after learning that Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow this year. And I’m just saying, he better be right or I’m coming for his weasel ass to find out who he works for!