As humans we seek happiness or things that give and/or extend the feeling of happiness. As consumers, unfortunately, we think the same way. A major reason for why we think this way is because of the successful manipulation that Madison Ave has carried out on the population to make us desire things we don’t need.
But, what happens during times of hardship? Like today, for instance where we’re in the middle of a recession. As always, we try to escape from the stark realities that surround us and in a recession, we try to do more of the same. That’s why fantasy shows and movies typically get the largest audiences. The ‘Twilight’ movies, the other fantasy experience shows that people have latched on to so readily like ‘Heroes’ and ‘Lost’. The bottom line is that people are looking for a way to escape but, they’re also looking for happiness and they find it in both fantasy and reality-based shows. Reality-based shows allow folks to look at others’ lives and smugly agree that they’re better than them. It’s about indulging a fantasy like a hook-up on a reality show as well as looking on with disdain when someone does something sneaky or heinous to win a spot – like the Survivor show.
A good example is the prevalence of vampire shows. There is a certain attraction towards the undead. It’s like the attraction towards the ‘X-Men’ characters from Marvel Comics. The real reason why people navigated towards the ‘X-Men’ was because they were the closest thing to being human and yet, superhuman. The value of community among the “undead” is attractive to most of us ebcause we too want to be part of the cool gang. The main characters in these shows illustrate how to embrace living under the threat of their lives disintegrating at any time by accepting the risks and trying to connect deeply with one another. The key takeaway is that we should focus on obtaining happiness no matter how fleeting it may tend to be.
Consuming under the threat of temporary happiness, means consumers try to find happiness in their lives through their purchases. It’s almost as if they don’t want to be reminded about how tough things are or how tough things used to be. they create this fall sense of security or a false reality for themselves and are are ready to move forward with it. They discover happiness through their consumption habits.
Businesses try to help consumers find happiness in everyday things and try to show them how their products contribute to that elusive goal of happiness. Best Buy is one retailer that has successfully capitalized on the ‘happiness’ opportunity. They realized that instead of talking about products and performance and price like everyone in consumer electronics had always done, they had to completely change their approach. While the latest technology and coolest stuff was appealing, it wasn’t a convincing call-to-action to purchase. So they created their “You, Happier” campaign (see the clip on YouTube) which focuses on the joy of helping, the joy of giving – the intangible benefits of the products and not the direct tangible benefits.
The bottom line here is that this trend will continue. Businesses will strive to extract as much sales as they can from the emotionally-detached masses that they sell to. And Mad Ave, will continue to make this happen.
