023: Invented Dissatisfaction
I’ve got a couple of questions for you to start off today’s article:
1) Is it OK to make people feel dissatisfied (with what they already have) in order to get them to buy from you?
2) How about if the thing that they buy from you will ultimately help them? Is it OK then?
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The final chapter of John Berger’s book: Ways of Seeing, explores the development and impact of the ‘publicity image’. In using this term, Berger is specifically referring to images that have been carefully crafted to sell things in a more effective way. Picture an ordinary bloke, flanked by two young women, selling a credit card, and you get the picture of the kinds of ads Berger is referring to. In fact, the strap line: “One man in 21 already has different kind of spending power” is hardly needed to illustrate the point…
There are many things that fascinate me about Ways of Seeing. In fact, I’m sure Berger will make an appearance in at least two future articles. But the topic of this final chapter is particularly fascinating. It’s a topic that I like to call ‘invented dissatisfaction’. Here are a couple of quotes out of the book to illustrate this phrase:
“The spectator-buyer is meant to envy herself as she will become if she buys the product. She is meant to imagine herself transformed by the product into an object of envy for others.”
“One could put this another way: the publicity image steals her love of herself as she is, and offers it back to her for the price of the product”
‘Invented dissatisfaction’ is the idea that a person may be inherently happy with everything in their lives. But marketing and advertising is used as a tool to make them think that they are missing something. Of course, the thing that they are seemingly ‘missing’ is the very product that is being sold to them.
A large number of companies rely on this idea to sell us newer (or different versions) of the things that we’ve already got. I’ve certainly fallen prey to the tricks of a cunning marketer (or two) like this in my lifetime - you may have done so as well. So, is this acceptable behaviour?
WMI: Weapons of Mass Influence
Shifting focus to another book and another author, Robert Cialdini’s: Influence introduces us to a number of psychological tools. These tools can (and often are) used to get people to behave a certain way - like getting them to buy something or to say yes to something. The tools that Cialdini identifies, known as his ‘weapons of influence’, are as follows:
Reciprocity (to give something first with the expectation that your gesture will be reciprocated)
Scarcity (to reduce, or have reduced, availability of something)
Authority (to use perceived position, status and expertise to influence others)
Commitment and consistency (to get someone to agree to something small, which can lead on to something bigger).
Liking (to get people to like you and then use this to have greater influence over them)
Consensus (to use the social norms of a wider group to get people to behave in a certain way)
People around the world are using these kinds of tactics to get traction with their business or idea. But looking closer to home, we are all selling something to someone at some stage. Whether it’s getting a toddler (or in my case, a dog) to behave a certain way in public. Or attempting to be more ‘likeable’ at a networking event, chances are that we’ve all used these ‘weapons of influence’ at some point or another.
Is that what selling is?
What does selling mean to you?
For some, it can be the awkwardness felt when a salesperson has tried to convince us to buy from them. We’ve all been there in the garage forecourt or the furniture shop, where someone is using every trick in their arsenal to get you to commit to a purchase. It’s not nice, and if the salesperson dupes you, you will probably regret your decision to buy - lamenting the loss of your hard earned cash.
So, what’s the answer to this? Should we just not sell?
My experience of being on the customer end of ‘selling’ made me think that selling was a dirty word. Say it once and be forever washing your mouth out with soap. But since then, I’ve been shown a different side of selling.
Selling, marketing and advertising can be about helping others.
It can be about looking at your target market, identifying the fundamental problem they are already experiencing and providing a robust solution to that problem. And hopefully, the solution that you have is something that exceeds your customer’s expectations.
In other words, if you’re solving a problem, you’re helping people to improve their experience of their life. So is there anything wrong with charging a fee for your game-changing product or service? What do you think?
It makes sense that we all need to market and sell ourselves. If we have a genuinely good product or service, there are probably a lot of people we can really help. And if we don’t market or sell ourselves, how will these people know that we exist?
Makes sense, right?
But do we still need our ‘weapons of influence’ or the tactics of ‘invented dissatisfaction’ to give our advertising more power and oomph? What about a bit more rocket fuel for the fire perhaps..?
It’s an important question.
Where do you stand?
In this article, I’ve been referencing two ends of a spectrum. At one end of the spectrum, we have ‘not selling’. At the other end, we have ‘manipulation techniques’ to get our own way. Like all things, there is an infinite number of shades of grey between these two extremes - and each of you will have a position that is entirely unique to you.
For example:
Would you scorn the coffee shop that has a “one day only” sale on a new Frappuccino? (While stocks last!)
Or how about the instagrammer that shares how perfect their life is? (And, by extension, how ‘inadequate’ yours is)
Or what about the multinational tech company that releases a new phone (And instantly renders your existing phone obsolete?)
At what stage does marketing, advertising or selling tip into manipulation?
We’re all selling something, so where is the line for you?
James
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