3 Stories About Consumer Psychology

*Understanding Media - The Extensions of Man: This one is dense. It is not the easiest book to read, and Marshall McLuhan has a lot of secret jargon that requires re-reading passages so you can understand of what he’s saying. I’ve been trying to get through this for a while now, and the only reason I haven’t given up on it entirely is because it is highly recommended by one of my favorite people on Twitter, David Perell.

McLuhan goes through every form of communication from the written word to the television to illustrate the impact that each specific medium has had on the media. He explains that each medium has its own unique messaging that has allowed them to be wielded as a weapon by both the media and government organizations since the beginning of time. My favorite line was a quote from Napoleon who said, “Three hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets.”

Although he died right around the time the internet started to take over, a lot of his writing seems to be foreshadowing the present day where big corporations and government leverage new technologies to shape public opinion.

*Sociology of Business - Ana and Web Smith have been two of my favorite people to follow over the last few months. Reading through their reports makes me feel like I am getting a glimpse into the future of marketing. Ana recently released a new blog/newsletter that I find really intriguing.

She thinks that the next wave of big brands won’t succeed by following the luxury playbook scripted behemoths like Gucci and Supreme, but that they will create a different of luxury by adhering to our culture’s current obsession with being “woke”. These brands will allow people to demonstrate that they pay attention to social causes and subscribe to broader wellness trends.

An example could be Justin Bieber’s new “Intentions” video where him and Quavo are giving back a group of women who are dealing with things such as homelessness and poverty. Wearing merchandise associated with these social causes can give the same type of exclusivity typically reserved for $1000 Louis Vuitton beanies.

Survival of the Prettiest*: The argument here is that humans are hard wired to appreciate and prefer beauty. It’s an evolutionary trait that we can’t just ignore. Thus giving rise to the mult-billion dollar cosmetic surgery and makeup industries as both men and women believe that looking their best is paramount to their ability to stick around the gene pool.

Despite the reprecussions of drastic measures like plastic surgery, they may not be wrong. If the prettiest do in fact survive then it’s not irrational to do whatever it takes to make yourself so.