Speaker 1: Oh Medal that are.
Speaker 2: Hello, and welcome to the show. This is the Cult
Speaker 2: of Conspiracy.
Speaker 3: My name is Jacob.
Speaker 2: And today we are going to be diving in on
Speaker 2: Black Friday, a lot of the conspiracy surrounding it, not
Speaker 2: just the historic origins of it, but consumerism as a whole,
Speaker 2: where it all began with human culture. And then we're
Speaker 2: going to take a side step into the history of
Speaker 2: Black Friday, talk about some of the more racial connotations
Speaker 2: to Black Friday, believe it or not, and then talk
Speaker 2: about how these stores are basically screwing us as buyers.
Speaker 2: They're marking up prices just to make it seem like
Speaker 2: they're giving us a massive discounted Black Friday.
Speaker 3: It's a whole thing.
Speaker 2: My amazing co host Ravenle has done the majority of
Speaker 2: the research on this episode, so I am just excited
Speaker 2: to get in on it.
Speaker 4: Heck, yeah, I'm totally excited to dive in on this.
Speaker 4: So there's actually quite a bit of research about the
Speaker 4: consumerism aspect of Black Friday and the history kind of
Speaker 4: has If you go to TikTok, there's all sorts of
Speaker 4: stuff about controversy when it comes to the term Black Friday.
Speaker 4: So I wanted to kind of touch on the controversy
Speaker 4: aspect self. M. Yeah, the term Black Friday is that.
Speaker 3: Because of the racial epithets, Yes, of course, yep, yeah,
Speaker 3: it must be.
Speaker 4: So there's a lot of misinformation. I looked more into
Speaker 4: the best I could find.
Speaker 5: It's just to make.
Speaker 4: Sure that what they were, what it's being claimed is
Speaker 4: not actually tied to Black Friday.
Speaker 5: So but yeah, there's a lot.
Speaker 4: Of interesting We could spend like days just talking about
Speaker 4: consumerism in and of itself and how they use psychology
Speaker 4: against us to be able to promote this consumerism appetite
Speaker 4: within America for the last fifty years or more or
Speaker 4: less longer than that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So with that being said, we are actually going
Speaker 2: to kickstart this off with the conversation of what.
Speaker 3: Is consumerism as a whole? Where did it begin?
Speaker 2: How is it something that led into our society as old?
Speaker 2: Because we've talked about this a million times on this show.
Speaker 2: America is a nation of consumers, right, and yes we
Speaker 2: do produce certain things, this is true. But if you
Speaker 2: were to take a snapshot of America as opposed to
Speaker 2: a snapshot of the vast majority of other countries, I
Speaker 2: think it's a pretty fair assessment to say that America
Speaker 2: is a consumerist nation.
Speaker 3: That being said, it's not like we pioneered that.
Speaker 2: We're not the ones that came up with the by
Speaker 2: any means, but we adopted it and let it just
Speaker 2: breed into our society to a level that I honestly
Speaker 2: don't think we'll ever be able to break from.
Speaker 4: I don't think it'll ever go away, not for us.
Speaker 4: And actually, and actually it's spreading and infecting other countries.
Speaker 4: Black Friday is now being adopted by multiple countries throughout
Speaker 4: the world globally, is shifting how everyone actually quote unquote
Speaker 4: celebrates the time around Thanksgiving. It's more or less they've
Speaker 4: adopted the Black Friday traditions and having this massive sale.
Speaker 2: Which is crazy also because most countries don't celebrate Thanksgiving.
Speaker 4: They do not, but they are doing. They're kind of
Speaker 4: falling in a line because so many Americans are purchasing
Speaker 4: online now that they want to capitalize on the market
Speaker 4: of consumerism through US, and so now their countries are
Speaker 4: actually pating just like ours is.
Speaker 2: And I think that's kind of a double edged sword too.
Speaker 2: On the one hand, because we're a consumer's nation, all
Speaker 2: these manufacturing agencies from around the world realize, Okay, our
Speaker 2: sales skyrocket from the last week of November to the
Speaker 2: end of the year, specifically in America.
Speaker 3: What's this all about?
Speaker 2: So I think they're on the money making aspect of it,
Speaker 2: they see it for what it is. But on the
Speaker 2: other side of it too, American culture is a thing
Speaker 2: that bleeds into other countries.
Speaker 4: As well, right just like Chinese culture.
Speaker 2: Chinese culture absolutely does as well. But like what's hot
Speaker 2: in America right now, other countries pay attention to I
Speaker 2: couldn't tell you what's hot in Australia right now, Like
Speaker 2: I honestly couldn't tell you because we don't really typically
Speaker 2: pay attention to it. But I bet somebody in Australia
Speaker 2: could tell you what's hot in America right now.
Speaker 4: That's fair that. Actually, Australia is one of the main
Speaker 4: countries that have shifted towards adopting Black Friday, at least
Speaker 4: from what I've read. I know we have a couple
Speaker 4: Australian so maybe they could let us know next next
Speaker 4: Tuesday if that's a real thing or not.
Speaker 3: I do know.
Speaker 2: At one point in time, Australia was like four years
Speaker 2: ahead of us in fashion and that blew my mind.
Speaker 2: I don't know how and why they just like jumped
Speaker 2: it to the front of the line on that one.
Speaker 2: But I remember I was going to a church in
Speaker 2: Baton Rouge and that was one of these churches, you know,
Speaker 2: one of these big mega churches. And everything that comes
Speaker 2: out of Hillsong out of Australia is like the best
Speaker 2: thing ever.
Speaker 3: And fine, I have nothing against that.
Speaker 2: But we would see these concerts of these Hillsong United
Speaker 2: singers and they were dressed really like crazy to us,
Speaker 2: I'm like, what are they wearing? Why is this dude
Speaker 2: wearing a v NEX shirt that goes down past his stern?
Speaker 3: Them, like, is what is happening right now?
Speaker 2: Cut to four years later, American metrosexual males were dressing
Speaker 2: like this and I was like, wait what And I
Speaker 2: did more research into it, Like no, no, Australia is
Speaker 2: at least back in the early two thousands was four
Speaker 2: years ahead of us in fashion. So it's crazy how
Speaker 2: certain cultural things other countries are ahead of us. On
Speaker 2: other cultural things, they are striving to be more like us.
Speaker 2: Apparently Black Friday is one of those things, which is
Speaker 2: really crazy to me, but it may I will say.
Speaker 4: I will say, uh, Chinese culture, like when it comes
Speaker 4: to like little figurines and like the pop mart and
Speaker 4: all of that, I have them too. Yeah, yeah, the
Speaker 4: little boo boos, the little figurines I have. If those
Speaker 4: of you that are actually watching, I am at my
Speaker 4: home studio, my new en so you'll see all sorts
Speaker 4: of interesting things behind me. But yeah, I know that's
Speaker 4: bled and hard into America and that's become a huge
Speaker 4: consumer aspect. I mean, the one lady that on YouTube
Speaker 4: all she does is open stuff and she has like
Speaker 4: fourteen point six million view like followers on TikTok. Yeah,
Speaker 4: and my kids are like obsessed with watching unboxing unboxing.
Speaker 2: That is a whole thing to the point of how
Speaker 2: consumerism is such a thing in America. I don't know
Speaker 2: this for a fact. I don't know if France has
Speaker 2: a booming unboxed video.
Speaker 5: Tracks actually from the UK.
Speaker 4: Oh shut up, no, no, they they have it just
Speaker 4: as much as we do. Like the UK is actually
Speaker 4: adopted quite a bit from America when it comes to
Speaker 4: consumerism and.
Speaker 3: What do you call it?
Speaker 2: Black Friday, I'd be very interested to see what her
Speaker 2: analytics look like as far as which age range is
Speaker 2: her like target demographic, but also what country her.
Speaker 4: Listeners probably like fifteen.
Speaker 3: Americans or not American. See that's my point.
Speaker 2: Even if somebody in India is doing unboxing thing, their
Speaker 2: parents probably think that is the dumbest shit they've ever
Speaker 2: heard of in their life. But they're looking at their
Speaker 2: algorithm like, look, these Americans eat this shit up.
Speaker 3: It's the craziest things. I don't know.
Speaker 2: Maybe maybe India also has an insane unboxing trend that's
Speaker 2: going on with their algorithms and their tiktoks.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the people in America love watching unboxing videos and
Speaker 2: unpackaging in general.
Speaker 3: It's crazy.
Speaker 4: It's saying, oh.
Speaker 3: It's a but anyway.
Speaker 2: Anyway, So to Ravenley's point, if you would like to
Speaker 2: see what we are, First of all, if you want
Speaker 2: to see her gorgeous home studio, I highly recommend you
Speaker 2: check it out. But also we would like to see
Speaker 2: y'all the books, all the bones, all the la booboos,
Speaker 2: the things. But if you would also like to see
Speaker 2: the video and the articles that we are going to
Speaker 2: be talking about this evening, the only place to go
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Speaker 3: You will also get come almost mess that one up.
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Speaker 2: sign up for that Third Eye All the Way Open tier,
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Speaker 2: Member Live that we host every Tuesday night at nine
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Speaker 3: It's a fun time.
Speaker 2: It's a conglomeration of cult members from all over the world. Actually,
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Speaker 3: A lot of I love it to death.
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Speaker 2: If you sign up for the ten dollars third Eye
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Speaker 3: Directed to you.
Speaker 2: Good luck, good luck anyway, all right, without further ado,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna go ahead and share the screen and we
Speaker 2: are gonna get after it. We're gonna start off with
Speaker 2: a VIDIA and we're gonna learn about the history of consumerism.
Speaker 3: Where did it come from? How did it really come about?
Speaker 2: Right, because it's such a prevalent theme in our society today.
Speaker 2: But if you look back throughout the course of human history,
Speaker 2: that has not been a thing right for the majority,
Speaker 2: the vast majority, as a matter of fact of human existence.
Speaker 2: It has been about surviving and thriving as a society.
Speaker 2: But your average person did not have the means nor
Speaker 2: the funds to afford.
Speaker 3: Small luxury items.
Speaker 2: Cut to in the last two hundred years, that's just
Speaker 2: been the way of the world.
Speaker 3: So when did this start and how did it start?
Speaker 3: Let's learn about it together, good cult members.
Speaker 6: I will say shout out to this for most do
Speaker 6: I know? Oh, I said, I will say shout out
Speaker 6: to the School of Life. They that's the YouTube that
Speaker 6: we're watching. You should everyone should check it out. They
Speaker 6: actually have a lot of really good videos.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, shout out to the School of Life YouTube channel.
Speaker 2: Matter of fact, I'm gonna source them a subscribe while
Speaker 2: I'm at it. All right, let's check it out.
Speaker 7: Most of history, the overwhelming majority of the Earth's inhabitants
Speaker 7: have owned more or less nothing. The close they stood
Speaker 7: up in some bowls of pot and a pan, perhaps
Speaker 7: a broom, and if things were going really well, a
Speaker 7: few farming implements. Nations, and peoples remained consistently poor. Global
Speaker 7: GDP did not grow at all from year to year.
Speaker 7: The world was in aggregate as hard up in eighteen
Speaker 7: hundred as it had been at the beginning of time. However,
Speaker 7: starting in the early eighteenth century in the countries of
Speaker 7: northwestern Europe, a remarkable phenomenon occurred. Economies began to expand
Speaker 7: and wages to rise. Families who'd never before had any
Speaker 7: money beyond what they needed just to survive. Found they
Speaker 7: could go shopping for small luxuries a comb or a mirror,
Speaker 7: a sparse out of underwear, a pillow, some thicker boots
Speaker 7: or a towel. Their expenditure created a virtuous economic cycle.
Speaker 7: The more they spent, the more businesses grew, the more
Speaker 7: wages rose. By the middle of the eighteenth century, observers
Speaker 7: recognized that they were living through a period of epochal
Speaker 7: change that historians have since described as the world's first
Speaker 7: consumer revolution. It was in Britain where the changes were
Speaker 7: most marked. Enormous new industries sprang up to cater for
Speaker 7: the widespread demand for goods that had once been the
Speaker 7: preserve of the very rich.
Speaker 3: Alone.
Speaker 7: In England cities, you could buy furniture from Chippendale, Heppelwhite
Speaker 7: and Sherton, pottery from Wedgewood and Derby, cutlery from the
Speaker 7: smitheries of Sheffield, and hats, shoes and dresses featured in
Speaker 7: the best selling magazines like The Gallery of Fashion and
Speaker 7: The Ladies Magazine. Styles for clothes and hair, which had
Speaker 7: formerly gone unchanged for decades, now altered every year, often
Speaker 7: in extremely theatrical and impractical directions. In the early seventeen seventies,
Speaker 7: there was a craze for decorated wigs so tall that
Speaker 7: tops could only be accessed by standing on a chair.
Speaker 7: It was fun for the cartoonists, so vivid and numerous
Speaker 7: with the consumer novelties that the austere doctor Johnson Riley
Speaker 7: wandered where the prisoners were also soon to be hanged
Speaker 7: in a new way. The Christian Church looked on and
Speaker 7: did not approve. Up and down England, clergymen delivered bitter
Speaker 7: sermons against the new materialism. They called it vanity, which
Speaker 7: was a sin. Sons and daughters were to be kept
Speaker 7: away from shops. God would not look kindly on those
Speaker 7: who paid more attention to household decoration than the state
Speaker 7: of their souls. But there now emerged an intellectual revolution
Speaker 7: that sharply altered the understanding of the role of vanity
Speaker 7: in an economy. In seventeen twenty three, a London physician
Speaker 7: called Bernard Mandeville published an economic tract titled The Fable
Speaker 7: of the Bees, which proposed that, contrary to centuries of
Speaker 7: religious and moral thinking, what made countries rich and therefore safe, honest, generous, spirited,
Speaker 7: and strong was a very minor, unelevated, and apparently undignified
Speaker 7: activity shopping for pleasure. It was the consumption of what
Speaker 7: Mandeville called fripperies, hats, bonnets, gloves, butter dishes, soup treenes,
Speaker 7: shoehorns and hair clips that provided the engine for national
Speaker 7: prosperity and allow now the government to do in practice
Speaker 7: what the Church only knew how to sermonize about in theory,
Speaker 7: make a genuine difference to the lives of the week
Speaker 7: and the poor. The only way to generate wealth, argued Mandeville,
Speaker 7: was to ensure high demand for absurd and unnecessary things.
Speaker 7: Of course, no one needed embroidered handbags, silk line slippers,
Speaker 7: or ice creams, but it was a blessing that they
Speaker 7: could be prompted by fashion to want them for. On
Speaker 7: the back of demand for such trifles, workshops could be built,
Speaker 7: apprentices trained, and hospitals funded. Mandeville shocked his audience with
Speaker 7: the starkness of the choice he placed before them. A
Speaker 7: nation could either be very high minded, spiritually elevated, intellectually
Speaker 7: refined and dirt poor, or a slave to luxury, in
Speaker 7: idle consumption and very rich. Manderville's dark thesis went on
Speaker 7: to convince almost all the great Anglophone economists and political
Speaker 7: thinkers of the eighteenth century. There were nevertheless, some occasional
Speaker 7: departures from the new economic orthodoxy.
Speaker 2: So I gotta say, just on the onset here, I
Speaker 2: don't inherently disagree with the theories here that Jesus I
Speaker 2: can't speak the thesis itself. I'm not saying that it's
Speaker 2: a one hundred percent fact, but I at least can
Speaker 2: understand the platform that these gentlemen were speaking from when
Speaker 2: it came to how they were looking at how society
Speaker 2: was drifting and consumerism and material possessions were.
Speaker 3: On the rise. I can at least appreciate the standpoint.
Speaker 4: I do agree though, that without making the least country rich,
Speaker 4: he's providing more jobs and having at least providing more
Speaker 4: income for a lot of people that had nothing. So
Speaker 4: it sucks that it was kind of in the way
Speaker 4: of consumerism. But I mean, at that point, what else
Speaker 4: are you going to do?
Speaker 3: I mean, but that's the thing.
Speaker 2: Once somebody has disposable income, more often than not, they're
Speaker 2: going to spend it. It's essentially the early form of Reaganomics, right,
Speaker 2: trickle down economics.
Speaker 3: If you will.
Speaker 2: If the wealthy have more money, they're to buy more shit,
Speaker 2: which gives more companies money, which pays their employees more money.
Speaker 2: And I mean that's literally the backbone of what has
Speaker 2: led the American economy since the Great Depression onward. I
Speaker 2: would argue since before, but realistically since like the end
Speaker 2: of World War Two. So I mean, I get what
Speaker 2: he's saying now as far as the whole morality clause
Speaker 2: of it, again, I don't inherently agree with it, but
Speaker 2: I can at least appreciate the standpoint that they're coming from.
Speaker 2: They're talking about basically, for you to be a moral
Speaker 2: and upright person, you shouldn't be concerned with consumerism and
Speaker 2: material wealth. But that doesn't necessarily mean that everybody who
Speaker 2: has material wealth is a immoral person either, But per
Speaker 2: the day and age, I could at least appreciate where
Speaker 2: they're coming from.
Speaker 3: But anyway, let's continue.
Speaker 7: One of the most spirited and impassioned voices was that
Speaker 7: of Switzerland's greatest philosopher, Jeanjacques Russo. Shocked by the impact
Speaker 7: of the consumer revolution on the manners an atmosphere of
Speaker 7: his native Geneva, he called for a return to a simpler,
Speaker 7: older way of life, of the sort he had experienced
Speaker 7: in alpine villages or read about in traveler's accounts of
Speaker 7: the native tribes of North America.
Speaker 3: That also is kind of remnant to how many people
Speaker 3: you see that are starting subsistence farms to like go
Speaker 3: off grid, even though they are in the country where
Speaker 3: we have everything we could ever want. More and more
Speaker 3: people are working.
Speaker 2: Their ass off to get as off grid as possible.
Speaker 2: So I think again, some of these people were just
Speaker 2: way ahead of their time, honestly.
Speaker 3: But yeah, anyway, let's continue.
Speaker 7: In the remote corners of Appenzell or the vast forests
Speaker 7: of Missouri, there was blessedly no concern for fashion and
Speaker 7: no one upmanship around hair extensions. Russeau recommended closing Geneva's
Speaker 7: borders and imposing crippling taxes on luxury goods so that
Speaker 7: people's energies could be redirected towards non material values. He
Speaker 7: looked back with fondness to the austere martial spirit of Sparta. However,
Speaker 7: even if Russo disagreed with Mandeville, he did not seek
Speaker 7: to deny the basic premise behind his analysis. It truly
Speaker 7: appeared to be a choice between decadent consumption and wealth
Speaker 7: on the one hand, and virtuous restraint and poverty on
Speaker 7: the other. It was simply that Russo unusually preferred virtue
Speaker 7: to wealth. The parameters of this debate have continued to
Speaker 7: dominate economic thinking ever since. We re encounter them in
Speaker 7: ideological arguments between capitalists and communists, and free marketeers and environmentalists.
Speaker 7: But for most of us, the debate is no longer pertinent.
Speaker 7: We simply accept that we will live in consumer economies
Speaker 7: with some very unfortunate side effects to them. Crass advertising,
Speaker 7: foodstuffs that are unhealthy for us, products that are disconnected
Speaker 7: from any reasonable assessment of our needs. All this in
Speaker 7: exchange for economic growth and high employment.
Speaker 4: Okay, side note though, Oh no, Mina already spend like
Speaker 4: forty five minutes to an hour to take a shit,
Speaker 4: which is absolutely ridiculous. You want to give them golf
Speaker 4: little tank golf set up, yo. You guys, You guys
Speaker 4: would just live on the twilet. You guys would die
Speaker 4: on the toilet, Yeah.
Speaker 3: On something just like Elvis. Ridiculous, I'll die like the King.
Speaker 4: Okay, but also ridiculous thing I've ever seen. I knew
Speaker 4: you were gonna stop and say something about it. As
Speaker 4: soon as I saw. As soon as I thought, I
Speaker 4: was like.
Speaker 3: This mother, like, so all right, real quick.
Speaker 2: For anybody who's just listening and not on Patreon, first
Speaker 2: of all, what are you doing right?
Speaker 3: You need to be on Patreon to see.
Speaker 4: What we're talking about here.
Speaker 2: But secondly, uh, the product that he was talking about,
Speaker 2: it's basically you could see a dude on the toilet.
Speaker 2: You just see him from the knees down, and there's
Speaker 2: like a putting green around his feet, and he's got
Speaker 2: a little miniature putter and a couple of golf balls.
Speaker 2: So like, while you're while you're dropping a douche, you
Speaker 2: can go ahead and try to, you know, work on
Speaker 2: your stroke game with a golf club.
Speaker 3: And obviously there's no zero practical reason.
Speaker 5: It was ridiculous thing I've ever seen in my life.
Speaker 3: I now want one so bad.
Speaker 4: There you go, You've you've fallen into the trap of consumers.
Speaker 3: Them they got me by the balls. They know what
Speaker 3: makes me go, Yes, that's a really good idea. I'm sorry, Okay,
Speaker 3: I'm a product ovid. I suppose I do.
Speaker 4: When we were watching that, though I do agree with
Speaker 4: both of them that the simpler way of life of
Speaker 4: at least enjoying your family, your community and doing that
Speaker 4: kind of stuff is definitely more beneficial for humans overall
Speaker 4: than consuming things because you'll see later on with the
Speaker 4: what it does to your brain and like the dopamine
Speaker 4: dumps and stuff like that. But there's actually an argument
Speaker 4: to be had in science behind it that, for example,
Speaker 4: having a community garden actually benefits people mentally and emotionally
Speaker 4: better than when they are gardening alone first off, and
Speaker 4: when they're garden and when they're just not gardening at all.
Speaker 5: So going back to your roots and being.
Speaker 4: Able to share some type of community and gardening and
Speaker 4: stuff like that outside is more beneficial than getting the
Speaker 4: dopamine highs you're getting from spending money.
Speaker 2: Well, that's also a double edged sword, right, talking about
Speaker 2: eating unhealthy foods for instance, Right, a community garden a
Speaker 2: puts real nutrition back into your body and b you
Speaker 2: get more of a sense of community from it, and
Speaker 2: that's excellent as opposed to the more consumeristic way of things.
Speaker 2: And like, yeah, you now can go to a factory
Speaker 2: and get a job, or pick up a craft and
Speaker 2: get a job, and that's excellent and you'll have more income,
Speaker 2: but you won't grow your own food as a result
Speaker 2: of that. So now you are left basically at the
Speaker 2: whim of whatever the company that's making the food puts
Speaker 2: in there. And of course they're a company that's trying
Speaker 2: to make more money, so they're going to cut cost
Speaker 2: and put more cheaper filling materials into their food, which
Speaker 2: means that your health is going to suffer as a result.
Speaker 3: So on the one hand, it is either a you
Speaker 3: can be.
Speaker 2: Relatively poorer and work a farm and your family can
Speaker 2: eat or b you'll be relatively more wealthy and your
Speaker 2: family will eat whatever is available at the store.
Speaker 4: It actually lowers crime too. I think that's one of
Speaker 4: my I think that's one of the most interesting aspects
Speaker 4: of a community garden, as it actually statistically lowers crime.
Speaker 4: And they put one of the first community gardens they
Speaker 4: actually did a study on was in Detroit. Really mm hmm,
Speaker 4: there's there, and they have one in Chicago too. They
Speaker 4: have they have some in certain areas that are inherently
Speaker 4: filled with crime, and they actually didn't destroy the gardens.
Speaker 4: They continuously built them up and help the community. And
Speaker 4: it actually a lot of the people that had criminal
Speaker 4: backgrounds ended up working in the gardens and it gave
Speaker 4: them a sense of purpose and it helped them not
Speaker 4: want to go back to jail or committed crime.
Speaker 2: See, I thought you were going a different direction with
Speaker 2: that at first. When you say the lowers crime, I'm thinking, yeah,
Speaker 2: because who's going to rob.
Speaker 3: A poor farmer like you?
Speaker 2: No, no, as cabbages, Like what's up? Like you're gonna
Speaker 2: go rob the dud with a flat screen. But you're
Speaker 2: talking about actually putting community gardens into poverty and crime
Speaker 2: stricken cities and they actually helps reduce crime.
Speaker 3: And that's a statistic that's been proven.
Speaker 4: Yes, I actually did a huge project on this. This
Speaker 4: was my one of my big final projects for graduating.
Speaker 4: I was I really wanted to do a community garden
Speaker 4: here and I actually got approved by the HUA and
Speaker 4: was moving forward to building it. There is a lot
Speaker 4: of benefits to community gardens, and actually they're not that
Speaker 4: difficult to really start up. You can find a community
Speaker 4: applaud a land and there's a lot of amazing companies
Speaker 4: in America that will actually donate product to you as
Speaker 4: long as you have a business plan to show. And
Speaker 4: it's amazing because people will actually inherently they don't want
Speaker 4: to do the startup work because they're.
Speaker 5: Kind of like, eh, this is going to get ruined,
Speaker 5: the teenagers going to ruin it.
Speaker 4: But then once people start actually going to it, it's
Speaker 4: the science behind. It's quite fascinating how it helps bring
Speaker 4: back the old ways of community, even in places where
Speaker 4: you think that no one would have it any longer.
Speaker 3: Fascinating.
Speaker 4: Wow, super side ten agent, But.
Speaker 2: Now I'm here for it. Abs fucking lutely. All right,
Speaker 2: let's get back to the video.
Speaker 7: We have chosen wealth over virtue. An irony laden acceptance
Speaker 7: of this dichotomy is what underpins the approach of many
Speaker 7: pop artists in mid twentieth century America. For example, Klaiss
Speaker 7: Oldenburg developed a reputation for taking modest consumer items, many
Speaker 7: of them food related, and reproducing them enormous scale, usually
Speaker 7: in outdoor settings in vibrant polyester l vinyl. In city
Speaker 7: squares where one might once have expected to find statues
Speaker 7: in honor of political leaders or religious saints, one now
Speaker 7: came across outsize Hamburger's giant cheesecakes, huge fries decked with ketchup,
Speaker 7: or perhaps Oldenburg's most famous work, a twelve meter high
Speaker 7: stainless steel inverted ice cream cone. Oldenburg's vast versions of
Speaker 7: small things playfully directed our attention to the peculiar dependence
Speaker 7: of modern economies on the mass consumption of what are,
Speaker 7: in human terms, some deeply negligible products. Yet the scale
Speaker 7: of Oldenburg's objects was only superficially absurd because it rather
Speaker 7: precisely reflected that actual importance in our collective economic destinies. Nevertheless,
Speaker 7: as Oldenburg seemed to concede, it was peculiar to be
Speaker 7: living in a civilization founded on the back of buns
Speaker 7: and sweetened tomato paste, a bathos hinted at by the deflated,
Speaker 7: detO mescent appearance of many of the giant burghers, hot dogs,
Speaker 7: and pizzas. The one question that's rarely been asked is
Speaker 7: whether there might be a way to attenuate a dispiriting choice,
Speaker 7: to draw on the best aspects of consumerism on the
Speaker 7: one hand and high mindedness on the other, without suffering
Speaker 7: there were sides, moral decadence and profound poverty. Might it
Speaker 7: be possible for a society to develop that allows for
Speaker 7: consumer spending and therefore provides employment and welfare? Yet of
Speaker 7: a kind directed at something other than vanities and superfluities.
Speaker 7: Might we shot for something other than not? In other words,
Speaker 7: might we have wealth and a degree of virtue. It
Speaker 7: is this possibility of which we find some intriguing hints
Speaker 7: in the work of Adam Smith, an eighteenth century economist,
Speaker 7: too often read as a blunt apologist for all aspects
Speaker 7: of consumerism, but in fact one of its more subtle
Speaker 7: and visionary analysts. In his book The Wealth of Nations,
Speaker 7: published in seventeen seventy six, Adam Smith seems at points
Speaker 7: willing to concede to key aspects of Manderville's argument consumer
Speaker 7: societies do help the poor by providing employment based around
Speaker 7: satisfying what are often rather suboptimal purchases. Smith was as
Speaker 7: ready as other economists to mock the triviality of some
Speaker 7: consumer choices while admiring their consequences. All those embroidered lace handkerchiefs,
Speaker 7: duel snuff boxes, and miniature temples made of cream for dessert.
Speaker 7: They were flippant, he conceded, but they encouraged trade, created employment,
Speaker 7: and generated immense wealth, and could therefore be firmly defended
Speaker 7: on this score alone. However, Smith held out some fascinating
Speaker 7: hopes for the future. He pointed out that consumption didn't
Speaker 7: invariably have to involve the trading of frivolous things. He
Speaker 7: had seen the expansion of the Edinburgh book trade and
Speaker 7: knew how large a market higher education might become. He
Speaker 7: understood how much wealth was being accumulated through the construction
Speaker 7: of Edinburgh's extremely handsome and noble new Town. He understood
Speaker 7: that humans have many higher needs that require a lot
Speaker 7: of labor in intelligence and work to fulfill, but that
Speaker 7: lie outside of capitalist enterprise as conceived of by realists
Speaker 7: like Bernard Mandeville. Among these on need for education, for
Speaker 7: self understanding, for beautiful cities, and for rewarding social lives.
Speaker 2: You know, I think there's something to be said for
Speaker 2: that as well. To the point of mister Smith here,
Speaker 2: think of even Gutenberg with his printing press. That was
Speaker 2: an innovation that was spurred on by consumerism in a sense,
Speaker 2: but it was also spurred on by the need of
Speaker 2: the people to get more literature in their hands. So
Speaker 2: there is a positivity towards at least a fraction of
Speaker 2: the consumerism conversation. But there are also so many downsides,
Speaker 2: and there are so many people that are willing to
Speaker 2: go to the worst possible aspects of it and just
Speaker 2: kind of wallow there. So I can understand that too.
Speaker 4: I agree with him too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's got to be a happy balance, otherwise you
Speaker 2: become well like your stereotypical American in today's day in age,
Speaker 2: I suppose.
Speaker 3: But yeah, anyway, let's continue.
Speaker 7: The ultimate goal of capitalism, in Adam Smith's view, was
Speaker 7: to tackle happiness in all its complexities, psychological and not
Speaker 7: just merely material. The capitalism of our times still hasn't
Speaker 7: entirely come round to resolving the awkward choices that Bernard
Speaker 7: Mandeville and Joshaques Russau circled. But the crucial hope for
Speaker 7: the future is that we may not forever need to
Speaker 7: be making money of rather exploitative, silly or vain consumer appetites.
Speaker 7: That we may also learn to generate enormous profits from
Speaker 7: helping people as consumers and producers in the truly important
Speaker 7: and ambitious aspects of their lives. The reform of capitalism
Speaker 7: hinges on an odd sounding but critical task, a new
Speaker 7: kind of consumerism, the conception of an economy focused around
Speaker 7: buying and selling services and goods focused on our higher needs.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, we will circle back to that in a little bit.
Speaker 4: But there is a new wave of thinking actually coming
Speaker 4: into twenty twenty five verse how it has been in
Speaker 4: the last decade for consumerism. Okay, okay, where it plays
Speaker 4: in with Black Friday. There is a lot of different
Speaker 4: aspects that are happening with that.
Speaker 2: Okay, So now let's dive into fastercapital, dot com consumerism,
Speaker 2: basically consumerism in the US, a closer look at the phenomenons.
Speaker 2: We are going to start off right here in section one,
Speaker 2: Understanding Consumerism in the US ravenly do you want to
Speaker 2: read this one?
Speaker 4: Yeah? I actually have in my phone because I'm blind, people,
Speaker 4: so I need it to where I can actually see it.
Speaker 4: It says, Understanding consumerism in the US. Consumerism is a
Speaker 4: term that has become deeply in green in the fabric
Speaker 4: of American society. It refers to the culture of excessive
Speaker 4: consumption and the constant desire for material possessions. In the
Speaker 4: United States, consumerism is not just a way of life,
Speaker 4: but it is also an economic and social phenomenon that
Speaker 4: has shaped the country's identity. To truly understand consumerism in
Speaker 4: the US, we must do dive into origins, explore impact
Speaker 4: on individuals in society, and examine the various perspectives surrounding
Speaker 4: the complex issue. So this is actually kind of a
Speaker 4: little bit late fee of different stuff, but it is
Speaker 4: actually all really important. So the number one thing is
Speaker 4: historical contexts consumerism in the US can we trace back
Speaker 4: to the post World War two era, when the country
Speaker 4: experienced a period of rapid economic growth and prosperity. This
Speaker 4: gave rise to the middle class with this sorry dispose
Speaker 4: sorry by that I lost my place, disposable income, and
Speaker 4: an inclination to spend. The introduction of new technologies and
Speaker 4: innovations such as the television and advertising also played a
Speaker 4: significant role in fueling consumerism. The desire for material possessions
Speaker 4: became deeply ingreened in the American psyche, and the mindset
Speaker 4: has sorry making persisted to this day.
Speaker 3: And that's the thing that we said.
Speaker 2: The post World War two era in America, basically all
Speaker 2: the big manufacturing facilities around the world just got the
Speaker 2: ship bombed out of them for the past few years.
Speaker 2: So post World War two, America was one of the
Speaker 2: only real dominant players in the world that had a
Speaker 2: strong manufacturing backbone that was all ready to go, that
Speaker 2: wasn't damaged, and the workforce just got home and they
Speaker 2: were looking to get back to work. So we were
Speaker 2: kind of like the one stop shop for so many things.
Speaker 2: That's why the fifties were seen as like the ultimate
Speaker 2: era of prosperity in America. But then when you cut
Speaker 2: into the propagandization of everything with your boy Bernese, we
Speaker 2: did an episode on him, I feel like two months ago.
Speaker 2: Probably it all tied together to make American consumerism what
Speaker 2: it is today, for sure.
Speaker 4: Yeah, there's a whole article actually tied to Black Friday.
Speaker 4: How the title read the nineteen fifties destroyed America as
Speaker 4: we know it.
Speaker 3: I agree, yep.
Speaker 4: And it talked all about consumerism and how your old
Speaker 4: boy did all sorts of stuff, and about how they
Speaker 4: pushed propaganda and how they pushed the narrative of consumerism.
Speaker 4: That's actually when they changed how they manufactured a lot
Speaker 4: of a lot of products. They started to shift out
Speaker 4: of making it to where it would last a long
Speaker 4: time to making it to where it broke.
Speaker 2: So that way bought that too. Was it an engineered obsolescence?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 2: The Phoebus Cartel with their light bulbs that were guaranteed
Speaker 2: to burn out after like a thousand hours of use,
Speaker 2: regardless if they could make something last longer, but they're
Speaker 2: not going to make money that way, you know.
Speaker 4: Yeah, there's a video that I was looking for that
Speaker 4: I actually took a class on this, and it was
Speaker 4: an awesome video.
Speaker 5: It broke it down really simply.
Speaker 4: It was kind of cartooning, but it broke it down
Speaker 4: really simply, and it showed you the different products that
Speaker 4: lasted for you know, seventy years prior to the nineteen fifties,
Speaker 4: and then what they did to change even just a small.
Speaker 5: Component inside of it.
Speaker 4: But you couldn't replace that component because there was no
Speaker 4: way no one was manufacturing that component any longer.
Speaker 5: So you had to buy an entire new thing.
Speaker 4: And then the information about how to replace a lot
Speaker 4: of the little components was just obsolete and gone, and
Speaker 4: so people were just like, well, now what do I do?
Speaker 4: I had to buy a new one, and then they
Speaker 4: have to work harder to be able to buy more.
Speaker 5: And then it's this whole cycle.
Speaker 4: That they created to make sure that people continuously bought
Speaker 4: product that will break like even even our generation. I know,
Speaker 4: I've said it a million times. Man, this used to
Speaker 4: be awesome. Why do I need to replace this? Like
Speaker 4: my Apple laptop that's sitting in front of me, I've
Speaker 4: had it seven years, but I can no longer upgrade
Speaker 4: it anymore, and so now I need a new laptop
Speaker 4: if I want to use all these different systems, because
Speaker 4: they purposely made it to where I have to buy
Speaker 4: a brand new laptop every couple of years. And it's
Speaker 4: it's it's very intelligent, and it's very decidiate.
Speaker 2: It's just yeah, no, it's I understand why the companies
Speaker 2: are doing it, but it also screws the consumer. But
Speaker 2: it's another double edged sword. So like, for instance, your
Speaker 2: average everyday handyman repair man, that used to be a
Speaker 2: really good craft to get into. You could fix a
Speaker 2: wash machine, you could fix a dryer, you could fix
Speaker 2: a stove, you could you know, fuck with the electronics
Speaker 2: in a television set.
Speaker 3: You were the guy. If you were the repairman.
Speaker 2: That is something that has gone by the wayside because
Speaker 2: now even if you call the repairman to come to
Speaker 2: your house, first of all, you're paying the up charge
Speaker 2: for them just to show up. Secondly, they're gonna look
Speaker 2: at it and say, yeah, there's this one little component.
Speaker 2: I could change it, but I'm gonna have a hard
Speaker 2: time even finding that. It'll be a whole lot easier
Speaker 2: for you to just replace the whole thing. So now
Speaker 2: what would have been a forty dollars repair plus the
Speaker 2: surcharge of him coming out, is now you having to
Speaker 2: replace the entire dryer. And it's I remember working with
Speaker 2: my dad. He used to own laundromats around LSU, right,
Speaker 2: and so he got a very decent understanding of how
Speaker 2: washing machines and dryers worked, and he can repair a
Speaker 2: lot of them up.
Speaker 3: Until about the late nineties.
Speaker 2: After that, when everything got smart and everything got overly
Speaker 2: computerized to the level to where you have to be
Speaker 2: some sort of a certified service tech to do anything.
Speaker 2: It's like, no, no, we're just gonna have to buy
Speaker 2: a whole new one. It's a pain in the ass.
Speaker 2: And you could take that to your refrigerator, you can
Speaker 2: take that to your TV. Hell, you could take that
Speaker 2: to your car.
Speaker 4: M there's a lot of vehicles that they've purposely changed
Speaker 4: to where you can't actually replace stuff and do it yourself,
Speaker 4: and you have to go in because it's computerized, and
Speaker 4: if you mess up one sensor, it throws off all
Speaker 4: the sensors.
Speaker 3: Yep.
Speaker 4: And I think my favorite example is refrigerator, because there's
Speaker 4: a fridge that was made that can hold so much
Speaker 4: it's like it's deemed like the best refrigerator in history,
Speaker 4: and you can actually buy one. Still to this day,
Speaker 4: it's hard to get them. They're like seven thousand plus
Speaker 4: dollars because there's only so many left at this point.
Speaker 4: But they hold, they like never break, and they hold
Speaker 4: a massive amount versus the new refrigerators, where they last
Speaker 4: what maybe five seven years if you're lucky, something will
Speaker 4: go wrong in it, some kind of component, and most
Speaker 4: of them don't hold as much food as those refrigerators did,
Speaker 4: and so it's just it's little things. But those little
Speaker 4: things have added up over time to where now you're
Speaker 4: consistently having to replace everything in your house all the time.
Speaker 2: Why do I feel like that for refrigerator, that's like
Speaker 2: the everlasting fridge. Why do I feel like that was
Speaker 2: built in the seventies.
Speaker 4: It wasn't. It was built in the fifties, in them
Speaker 4: before before it started to change and shift. It is
Speaker 4: a really cool I want one, so about it's a
Speaker 4: really cool refrigerator. I actually, that's why I know how
Speaker 4: much it costs, because I've found them, and I may
Speaker 4: or may not be like, you know, watching it and
Speaker 4: wanting to get.
Speaker 3: One one day, but absolutely wow.
Speaker 4: So Number two materialism and identity. Consumerism in the US
Speaker 4: is closely tied to the concept of materialism, which is
Speaker 4: a belief that material possessions are essential for happiness and
Speaker 4: self worth. Many many individuals in American society measure their
Speaker 4: success in social status based on the things that they own.
Speaker 4: This emphasizes on the material wealth has that doesn't see,
Speaker 4: I might mess that up. Has led to a cultural
Speaker 4: constant consumption where individuals are always seeking the latest gadgets,
Speaker 4: fashion trends, luxury goods to validate their identity and social standings.
Speaker 4: Oh wow, that's been around though, for I mean, that's
Speaker 4: even the Romans did that though.
Speaker 3: Keeping up with the Jones is nothing new. That's for
Speaker 3: damn sure.
Speaker 5: That's been around forever.
Speaker 3: Like yeah.
Speaker 4: Number three economic implications. The US economy relies heavily on
Speaker 4: consumer spending, and the consumerism plays a crucial role in
Speaker 4: driving economic growth. The concetant demand for goods and services
Speaker 4: stimulates production and creates jobs. However, this reliance on consumer
Speaker 4: spinning also leaves the economy vulnerable for fluctuations in consumer
Speaker 4: confidence and spinning habits. The two thousand and eight financial
Speaker 4: crisis serves as a stark reminder of the risks associated
Speaker 4: with an overly consumer driven economy.
Speaker 3: That's a very fair point.
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely, I don't even remember what happened in two
Speaker 4: thousand and eight, to be honest with him.
Speaker 2: Let's see, that was the end of Bush's term. He
Speaker 2: was that wasn't a housing bubble.
Speaker 3: Maybe it was.
Speaker 5: Maybe I'm not even sure actually, but either way.
Speaker 3: It goes That's true.
Speaker 2: A consumerist nation is completely reliant on the fluctuations of
Speaker 2: the world economy. At that point, if the price of
Speaker 2: oil goes up, everything in your supermarket just went up.
Speaker 2: The farmer who's growing his own shit, Yeah, the price
Speaker 2: of oil going up might mean that it costs more
Speaker 2: to fill his tractor, but his family's gonna eat regardless, right.
Speaker 2: The bee farmer is gonna get the grain that he needs,
Speaker 2: to do what he has to do, and he's gonna
Speaker 2: everything's gonna be fine. It might cost a little bit more,
Speaker 2: but it's not gonna hit him as much as it
Speaker 2: hits the person who's a complete consumer start to finish.
Speaker 3: So I mean, I get it.
Speaker 5: Yes, I agree with you.
Speaker 4: There's actually a when I was talking about how people
Speaker 4: are shifting in their spending habits now versus before, there
Speaker 4: is a whole thing about I read this. I didn't
Speaker 4: even mean to, but I read this giant article. It
Speaker 4: was like twenty five pages long, but it was actually
Speaker 4: made for companies and how they can use target marketing
Speaker 4: and different marketing strategies to try and bridge the gap
Speaker 4: pretty much, because we're shifting into more sustainable wants and
Speaker 4: desires instead of a more personalization. Instead of just want,
Speaker 4: won't want I want like bulk of everything. No, I
Speaker 4: want it to be more personalized. I want it to
Speaker 4: be sustainable, I want it to be environmental friendly. And
Speaker 4: so now companies are having to shift their marketing strategies
Speaker 4: to try and compensate for the quote unquote loss because
Speaker 4: they're not as personalized to the consumers at this point.
Speaker 2: But the downside of that is that usually the consumer
Speaker 2: is the one that's eating the costs of all the
Speaker 2: those changes in innovations. Right, if a company goes a
Speaker 2: little more green, the price of their goods even if
Speaker 2: it's not needed, just seems to go up a little
Speaker 2: bit each time there's a new iteration of things.
Speaker 3: Same thing could be said for the geopolitical side of shit.
Speaker 2: When a tariff gets put down, right, the company should
Speaker 2: eat that cost, but they're not gonna.
Speaker 3: They're gonna put it on the people buying their shit.
Speaker 2: So when it really comes down to it, it comes
Speaker 2: down to the consumer, and they're they're just taking money
Speaker 2: every which way they can.
Speaker 3: That's the name of the game.
Speaker 4: M hm. So number four is environmental impact. Consumerism in
Speaker 4: the US has significant environmental consequences. The constant production and
Speaker 4: disposable of goods contributes to resource depletion, pollution, and waste accumulation.
Speaker 4: From the extraction of raw materials to the manufacturing process
Speaker 4: and the eventual disposal product products, each stage of consumer
Speaker 4: life cycle has an environmental footprint. The concept of sustainable
Speaker 4: consumption has gained traction in recent years as a response
Speaker 4: to these concerns, advocating for responsible and conscious consumer choices.
Speaker 4: Kind of just what I was just saying, that people
Speaker 4: are moving towards wanting to limit their carbon footprint, which
Speaker 4: I've kind of talked on before, that every person every
Speaker 4: household in America has quite a large significant carbon footprint
Speaker 4: and kind of waste footprint of what they're actually throwing away.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't like the term carbon footprint, but I
Speaker 2: do agree that we need as a whole, we need
Speaker 2: to create less trash. I don't think that's like a
Speaker 2: crazy hot take like the single use plastic water bottles.
Speaker 2: I'm not exactly a massive green person, but at the
Speaker 2: same time, I do believe we should take care of
Speaker 2: this earth as best we can to leave something good
Speaker 2: for our great grandchildren one day. Right that being said,
Speaker 2: if you have the ability to not use as much trash,
Speaker 2: like using stuff that's reusable, something you could wash, something
Speaker 2: you could repair, whatever else, that's just an inherent good
Speaker 2: across the board. I feel like more people are going
Speaker 2: in that direction, but it's kind of it's fighting an
Speaker 2: uphill battle at this point because our society was built
Speaker 2: off of single use items.
Speaker 4: It's not even that it's literally based on conveniency. That
Speaker 4: is what that is what's driving the market mainly now
Speaker 4: at this point.
Speaker 5: It even states that there was an article I was
Speaker 5: reading that.
Speaker 4: Stated tim that people will eat that extra ten percent
Speaker 4: discount just for the sake of conveniency that.
Speaker 5: It's it's not even about so like.
Speaker 4: Uber eats, for example, you know you're paying at least
Speaker 4: twenty dollars to have that food delivered to you, regardless
Speaker 4: of how much it is you're paying the delivery fee,
Speaker 4: the service fee, the tip, all of these things, but
Speaker 4: it's all about convenience, and they have hyper fixated and
Speaker 4: marketed on convenience.
Speaker 5: So now you're.
Speaker 4: Fighting even more of a battle because it's more convenient
Speaker 4: to have single serve product than it is to have
Speaker 4: bulk package because like, who has realistically, who has that
Speaker 4: much time in your day is as Americans to try
Speaker 4: to cut everything up, wash everything, put everything in containers,
Speaker 4: and do all the things yourselves. So they've marketed on
Speaker 4: us not having time the conveniency factor, and now we're
Speaker 4: kind of just battling this whole system and it's a
Speaker 4: vicious cycle of consumerism and conveniency and waste products. And
Speaker 4: then you have you know, states like here where they
Speaker 4: don't even have a good recycle program.
Speaker 5: It's absolutely appalling that there is.
Speaker 4: I've lived here over a decade and I have tried
Speaker 4: so hard to implement like recycling things that I've called
Speaker 4: companies and like, yeah, we totually do recycling. I'm like, okay,
Speaker 4: well do you have boxes to set up?
Speaker 5: Oh?
Speaker 4: No, you just kind of like throw it in a
Speaker 4: bag and we'll separate. And I was like, well, that's
Speaker 4: not how that works. I was like, do you want
Speaker 4: it in a clear plastic bag, because like normally, even
Speaker 4: in some places, you put it in a clear classic
Speaker 4: passic bag.
Speaker 5: You set it out front, and they're like, no, you.
Speaker 4: Just just put it in there. We're gonna we're gonna
Speaker 4: cycle through it. We're gonna go through And I'm like, no,
Speaker 4: you're not. You were no.
Speaker 2: I had a whole episode on that the recycling industry
Speaker 2: as a whole. I'm not saying the recycling is bad,
Speaker 2: but the quote unquote what's labeled as contaminated basically everything
Speaker 2: that the vast majority. I was like, ninety five percent
Speaker 2: of what you recycle actually just goes to a landfill
Speaker 2: because if it's let's say you have like a greasy
Speaker 2: pizza box happens to accidentally fall into the section for glass,
Speaker 2: now the entire truck has to be thrown away. Like
Speaker 2: nobody's nobody's like policing that it's and that's like a
Speaker 2: part of the recycling industry. It's not just like my
Speaker 2: hot take. There's articles and articles about this type of shit.
Speaker 2: But uh yeah, to your point, I wish that recycling
Speaker 2: was better and more efficient.
Speaker 3: It's just not.
Speaker 2: And I mean in Louisiana you'll have in the big cities,
Speaker 2: you'll have that. When we used to live in bad
Speaker 2: and Rouge growing up, we had a recycling bin, but
Speaker 2: we filled it and there was a recycling truck that
Speaker 2: would come by, the same way a trash truck comes
Speaker 2: by once a week and take your recyclables. That's only
Speaker 2: in cities though, that's out here in the rural areas.
Speaker 2: I mean, hell, the fact that we have a garbage
Speaker 2: truck come by instead of everybody burning their trash in
Speaker 2: the backyard is fucking great.
Speaker 3: Like that's that's insane, yep. And I mean we're all
Speaker 3: guilty of it.
Speaker 2: Even as I'm talking about how we need to make
Speaker 2: less trash, I'm guilty of it. For instance, paper plates,
Speaker 2: we get down on some paper plates. In my house,
Speaker 2: we have porcelain plates. We have you know, reusable and
Speaker 2: re washable plates and all that stuff. Like you said,
Speaker 2: it's the convenience it's so much easier to just throw
Speaker 2: that away and just not worry about more dishes.
Speaker 4: And the big one too, Yeah, exactly, little like reusable
Speaker 4: snack bags for kids, Like those are a big one
Speaker 4: because they're they're easy. But then either kids a lot
Speaker 4: of times throw them away, or like they get left
Speaker 4: places and people are just like I don't want to
Speaker 4: deal with it, or you know, trying to use glass containers.
Speaker 4: You know what if they get broken, you know, using
Speaker 4: metal containers, so they're gonna get lost or they can't
Speaker 4: they're not allowed in schools now or something like that.
Speaker 4: Like is definitely it is a double edged sword in
Speaker 4: so many ways of trying to do better and also
Speaker 4: still trying to live and manage all of the things
Speaker 4: that we've put on our plates, and how we are
Speaker 4: just kind of spread, all of us are spread so thin.
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, okay, Number.
Speaker 4: Five Katrinques in Alternatives. Consumerism in the US is not
Speaker 4: without its critics. Some argue that the relentless pursuit of
Speaker 4: material possessions leads to a shallow and unfulfilling existence, as
Speaker 4: happiness and well being cannot be solely root that sorry,
Speaker 4: be silly derived from material wealth. Others highlight the growing wealth, inequity,
Speaker 4: and social divisions perpetrated by consumerism, with the affluent of
Speaker 4: minority gaining more.
Speaker 2: Nope, yeah, the affluent, Now you're good. The affluent minority
Speaker 2: gaining more while the majority struggles.
Speaker 3: To keep up.
Speaker 4: Alternatives to consumerism, such as minimalism and the sharing economy
Speaker 4: have emerged as a response to the critics, advocating for
Speaker 4: a simpler and more sustainable way of life. Understanding consumerism
Speaker 4: in the US requires an examination of all historical contexts,
Speaker 4: its impact on individuals in society, and the various perspectives
Speaker 4: surrounding the phenomenon. While consumerism has undoubtedly shaped American society
Speaker 4: and the economy, it is essential to critically evaluate its
Speaker 4: implications and explore alternative approaches to consumerism consumption. Only through
Speaker 4: a deeper understanding can we navigate the complexities of consumerism
Speaker 4: and strive for a more balanced and sustainable future.
Speaker 3: I think there's a lot of very great points that
Speaker 3: were made during that. As a matter of fact.
Speaker 4: I absolutely hate reading out loud, and I'm sorry to
Speaker 4: everyone that just had it is suffer through that.
Speaker 3: It's all good. It's all good.
Speaker 2: So I'm going to read the next section here, as
Speaker 2: we are talking about Black Friday, which is nothing more
Speaker 2: than a consumerism mecha, I can't even think of a
Speaker 2: better term to put onto it. This is as prime
Speaker 2: time as it gets for American consumerism and to see
Speaker 2: a bleed through to other countries. That's why we're looking
Speaker 2: into consumerism in the way that it is. So now
Speaker 2: let's go into this next one exploring the psychology behind consumption.
Speaker 2: Understanding consumer behavior is crucial for businesses seeking to thrive
Speaker 2: in today's competitive market. By delving into the psychology behind consumption,
Speaker 2: we can gain valuable insights into why individuals make specific
Speaker 2: purchasing decisions.
Speaker 3: This section aims.
Speaker 2: To shed light on the various factors that influence consumer behavior,
Speaker 2: for cultural and social influences to individual motivations and emotions.
Speaker 2: So now let's start off here with the cultural and
Speaker 2: social influences. Consumer behavior is heavily shaped by cultural and
Speaker 2: social factors. Culture encompasses the values, beliefs, and customs shared
Speaker 2: by a specific group of people, while social influences are
Speaker 2: the interactions and relationships individuals have with one another. Cultural
Speaker 2: factors such as language, religion, and social norms play a
Speaker 2: significant role in shaping consumer behavior. For example, in some cultures,
Speaker 2: it is customary to exchange gifts during specific holidays i e. Christmas,
Speaker 2: leading to increased consumer spending during those periods. Social influences,
Speaker 2: on the other hand, can be seen through the impact
Speaker 2: of reference groups such as family, friends and celebrities, or
Speaker 2: consumer choices. People often seek.
Speaker 3: Conformity or approval from their reference groups, which can drive
Speaker 3: their purchasing decisions, which again that all ties in. It's
Speaker 3: a little.
Speaker 2: Bit of keeping up with the joneses when it comes
Speaker 2: to the social side of things, but not necessarily always.
Speaker 2: Even if it is a gift giving thing, right, if
Speaker 2: somebody gave you a gift that's super expensive, you feel
Speaker 2: almost obligated to try and give them something super nice
Speaker 2: to try to match that level of giving, which is
Speaker 2: also something that drives the purchasing decision for sure.
Speaker 4: Also, when the site of crowds along lines and social
Speaker 4: social statles like everybody together, it pretty much drives the
Speaker 4: bandwagon effect to where everyone wants to join the bandwagon
Speaker 4: of all their peers around them, like, oh, hey, I
Speaker 4: don't need those socks, but everyone else is buying those
Speaker 4: socks at that deskcount and price, so socially, I want
Speaker 4: to be accepted into the bandwagon, so I'm going to
Speaker 4: buy socks too, and like, hey, look I got some too.
Speaker 4: So that's actually a huge part of it as well.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, even the sneaker heads will say you when the
Speaker 2: new Jordans are about to drop or whatever, there will
Speaker 2: be a line waiting outside.
Speaker 3: The door of these retail outlets to get their hands
Speaker 3: on some. But also online shopping has completely shifted the
Speaker 3: game as far as that's concerned, but there are still
Speaker 3: people that are willing to wait outside out in a
Speaker 3: line for the or even I remember multiple times when
Speaker 3: with my first marriage, as a matter of fact, the
Speaker 3: new Call of Duty was about to drop or the
Speaker 3: new Battlefield game was about to drop, so we would
Speaker 3: be in line and we had to get a ticket
Speaker 3: to make sure that we got our spot secure so
Speaker 3: we could be one of the first people.
Speaker 2: To go home and play a video game. Nowadays, you
Speaker 2: just downloaded at a certain time.
Speaker 4: There's actually the same thing online though, like as we
Speaker 4: read on it will talk even more about the online
Speaker 4: presence as well. It's actually they've figured out how to
Speaker 4: get that scene drive by clicking by the clickbait, So
Speaker 4: like being able to like, oh, you know, for example,
Speaker 4: if I don't know if people have ever heard of
Speaker 4: this app, but it's called Whatnot and so little Boo
Speaker 4: Boos are a huge thing, right, So this app is
Speaker 4: just it has a million different things, but it's an
Speaker 4: auctioning app, and you're live auctioning while they're holding up
Speaker 4: their little thing.
Speaker 5: Is like it's going to go to auction in.
Speaker 4: Three two one, And then you're competing with however many people.
Speaker 4: You can do it on TikTok too. You're competing with
Speaker 4: however many people, and half the time you don't even
Speaker 4: need it. You're just like, you know what, I want
Speaker 4: to click on it, and sometimes you end up with
Speaker 4: the item and you're like, well crap, I didn't actually
Speaker 4: want that, but here I am because I had the
Speaker 4: impulsivity of wanting to click on it. So a lot
Speaker 4: of it is, and I'm sure it's going to talk
Speaker 4: about it is emotionally driven. That's what the big thing
Speaker 4: about Black Friday is is an emotionally driven thing instead
Speaker 4: of an intellectual driven like need and want.
Speaker 2: I'm I guarantee we're gonna get more into it here.
Speaker 2: But Black Friday is a the fear missing out. It's
Speaker 2: the emotional connection to it. It's the dopamine dump of
Speaker 2: going and getting these deals and like you got all
Speaker 2: your Christmas shopping done in one day, which is also
Speaker 2: an insane piece of mind, so to speak. It's Black
Speaker 2: Friday itself is kind of an all encompassing of what
Speaker 2: makes the consumerist mindset tick.
Speaker 3: Mm hmm. Absolutely.
Speaker 2: It's next section, Motivations and needs. I love how that's
Speaker 2: the thing. It's not just the want of something. They
Speaker 2: want you to feel like. This is a need, it's
Speaker 2: a necessity. Consumer behavior is driven by underlying motivations and needs.
Speaker 2: Maslow's hierarchy of needs provides a useful framework to understand
Speaker 2: these motivations. According to Maslow, individuals have a hierarchy of needs,
Speaker 2: starting from the basic psychological needs ie food, shelter, water,
Speaker 2: and progressing to higher level needs such as esteem and
Speaker 2: self actualization. Understanding which needs consumers are seeking to fulfill
Speaker 2: through their purchases can help businesses tailor their marketing strategies.
Speaker 2: For instance, a luxury car brand might emphasize the sense
Speaker 2: of status and self esteem associated with their products, appealing
Speaker 2: to consumers at higher levels of needs one hundred percent
Speaker 2: and That's a great example of that. A car, as
Speaker 2: far as the oversimplification of it, a car is a
Speaker 2: car is a car.
Speaker 3: It moves you.
Speaker 2: From point A to point being as long as it
Speaker 2: gets you there relatively safely.
Speaker 3: It doesn't matter.
Speaker 2: But the luxury car brand wants to make you feel like, well,
Speaker 2: you know, bosses drive this brand. The employees might drive
Speaker 2: this brand, but the bosses they drive Alexis, they drive
Speaker 2: the Beamer. You see what I'm saying. That's absolutely a
Speaker 2: perfect example of this.
Speaker 5: I mean perfect example is down here with the suburbans.
Speaker 3: Suburban moms are a thing.
Speaker 4: The suburbans man.
Speaker 5: It is a It is a whole status quo down here.
Speaker 2: I didn't realize that my car, the Nissan Armada I have,
Speaker 2: I didn't realize that that was also a status not
Speaker 2: as much as a suburban.
Speaker 3: I'll be very honest about that.
Speaker 4: But that shit, the suburban is shit, I will like.
Speaker 4: The only good thing about that car is a space.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I can say this because I actually own one, people,
Speaker 4: and I can't wait to get rid of it. But
Speaker 4: the only good thing about it is a space. Like,
Speaker 4: it has a lot of space. I'll give it that.
Speaker 5: That, like the gas maleage crap.
Speaker 4: The seats suck, like there's not a lot of like oooho.
Speaker 3: This is great, And I think I keep having manufacturing
Speaker 3: things come up that you've got to go to the
Speaker 3: dealership and get fixed too.
Speaker 5: Mm hmm I have.
Speaker 4: I've owned it for one year and it's how to
Speaker 4: be had seven manufacturer replacements. It's a year one year
Speaker 4: old and it's a twenty twenty four. So like, yeah,
Speaker 4: I personally, for me, I want that wagoneer. Why do
Speaker 4: I want the wagonear because it's boss status, but also it.
Speaker 3: Has like so what point we're making to the point
Speaker 3: we're making right now.
Speaker 5: Raven To be fair, it's just a really nice luxury car.
Speaker 5: If I'm going to drive something, damn it.
Speaker 4: I want to drive something good, okay, and that's to
Speaker 4: be now driven sucks But no, I just you know,
Speaker 4: I get it. It's definitely all about, you know, appealing
Speaker 4: to your masses and knowing your target audience, which comes
Speaker 4: into play with clicking on things and how they interact
Speaker 4: with things and how they actually use the models to
Speaker 4: track what you're actually scanning, what you're clicking on, how
Speaker 4: long you're staying on certain sections, what colors are drawing
Speaker 4: you in. It is so intense about how much they
Speaker 4: use psychology against us to be able to market to us,
Speaker 4: especially children. Oh Man, that we could do an entire
Speaker 4: episode just on the marketing aspect. It's crazy, and not.
Speaker 2: Even just on the marketing, but even off of watching
Speaker 2: your specific algorithm. There's been so many stores and I'm
Speaker 2: sure we're gonna get to it later as we talk
Speaker 2: about Black Friday and the tag price versus actual price
Speaker 2: and all these things. There has been so many cases
Speaker 2: of a person walking into a store and seeing, I'm
Speaker 2: just gonna throw out an arbitrary example, here a gallon
Speaker 2: of milk for five dollars, and then when they go
Speaker 2: to ring up, it's actually bringing up at eight point fifty,
Speaker 2: even though the person behind them it rang up at
Speaker 2: five dollars. The store knows that this person has more dispose,
Speaker 2: will income in this person, so they will on slick
Speaker 2: levels change the price when you go to check out
Speaker 2: and act like it didn't just happen. There's been so
Speaker 2: many stores caught with that. And then there's all these
Speaker 2: new stores that have the little prices on the shelf
Speaker 2: is digitized. It's not a paper thing that will change
Speaker 2: depending on who's standing in front of it. Really, the
Speaker 2: store is pinging your phone, and that means that they
Speaker 2: have access to see what your expenditures have been for
Speaker 2: the last couple of times you've gone to that store,
Speaker 2: and they know that you are more likely to drop
Speaker 2: an extra hundred dollars at the target as opposed to
Speaker 2: this other person. There's been so many Yeah, people are
Speaker 2: getting fucking pissed about it, but there's nothing they could
Speaker 2: do because the store could.
Speaker 3: Oh, I'm sorry, that must have been a glitch here.
Speaker 3: I'll fix it for you right quick.
Speaker 2: Unless you're watching your swipes and watching you scanning to
Speaker 2: see what's happening next, you're not paying attention.
Speaker 4: Mm hmm. I have been one of those people to
Speaker 4: take pictures of the of the keep on price because
Speaker 4: I just like, you know, let's just do this, and
Speaker 4: then I have to show them and I'm like, look,
Speaker 4: here is the actual picture, like it's right there, and
Speaker 4: then like you'll actually get the price that it was
Speaker 4: originally for. I actually didn't know that though. I'll have
Speaker 4: to look into that more because I've never heard of it.
Speaker 3: It's really fucked up.
Speaker 4: That is extremely fucked up.
Speaker 2: Now there's those that argue that it actually hooks up
Speaker 2: the poorer people out there because they're paying as low
Speaker 2: a price as humanly possible. But that's not how a
Speaker 2: fair and open market exists. The keyword on that will
Speaker 2: be fair. Yeah, you shouldn't be predatory based off of
Speaker 2: people who are making a little more just to make
Speaker 2: a little more off of them. That's completely fucked up.
Speaker 2: But yeah, that's becoming more and more of a thing.
Speaker 2: So basically, good cult members. If you're at a store
Speaker 2: and you notice that all the prices on these items
Speaker 2: are the little LCD screens and this digitized watch it
Speaker 2: as you go to your self checkout, do that just
Speaker 2: as an experiment. Shop of the store three or four
Speaker 2: times as you normally would go to self check out,
Speaker 2: and just pay attention to some of those prices as
Speaker 2: they appeared on the shelf versus what they look like
Speaker 2: when your receipt when you leave, you do with that
Speaker 2: information what you want.
Speaker 4: I turned off my phone at that point.
Speaker 2: Yep, I'm telling you when need to turn these phones off.
Speaker 2: And I know that I'm also a complete hypocrite as
Speaker 2: I'm saying this. Our entire job is based off of
Speaker 2: Internet and based off of these screens. I get it,
Speaker 2: but also we really need to make more of a
Speaker 2: conscious effort to unplug more frequently in our lives.
Speaker 3: Books. Books.
Speaker 4: For those of you that couldn't see, I have shelves
Speaker 4: of books behind me. This is just one of four bookshelves,
Speaker 4: five bookshelves that I have that are stacked full. I
Speaker 4: have a thing for books. But to plans that I'm
Speaker 4: also a consumer. You can tell by my shelves that
Speaker 4: I like nick.
Speaker 5: You can. I can't even say that.
Speaker 4: I can't because, like I also got brought up in
Speaker 4: the whole nick knack you know, things by Migraine parents
Speaker 4: and by my mom and says like that.
Speaker 5: So I like my little knickknacks.
Speaker 4: It's all it's a vibe.
Speaker 3: You're a white woman. You can't help it. It's it's
Speaker 3: within your DNA code.
Speaker 5: It has nothing to do with being a white woman. Nothing.
Speaker 5: But it does not at all.
Speaker 4: It has nothing to do that. Men collect all sorts
Speaker 4: of random shit too. Look at y'all's garages. Half the time,
Speaker 4: nothing is even needed in that garage, but it just
Speaker 4: randomly sits there.
Speaker 3: Well, well, now, tools are different than nickknacks.
Speaker 4: There's also a lot of guys that collect all sorts
Speaker 4: of things, all sorts of things.
Speaker 5: Shoes, for example, there are lots of men that have
Speaker 5: like fifty pairs of shoes, because that blows my minds.
Speaker 4: Like they collect, you know, certain glasses, or you collect coins.
Speaker 3: Yeah, because that's an investment. They're worth money.
Speaker 5: I'm just saying, like people collect things.
Speaker 2: And like flannels because I wear them. I're pragmatic with these.
Speaker 2: I collect medieval weapons, but I also use them, like,
Speaker 2: you know, I don't know, I would like to have
Speaker 2: more of a collection of just ridiculous things. Oh to
Speaker 2: your point, Like I would love to up my gun collection,
Speaker 2: guns that I will probably never look at but once
Speaker 2: or twice a year. But I would just like to
Speaker 2: have so Like to your point, fine, we all have
Speaker 2: our thing, you know, I get it specifically, just the
Speaker 2: knickknack thing, not just you buying shit that's a that's
Speaker 2: a human thing.
Speaker 5: What are you talking about?
Speaker 4: Asians collect the tons of different Asians collect nick knacks. Hell,
Speaker 4: half the ship I bought was from the Chinese market,
Speaker 4: to like, come at me with being a white woman.
Speaker 3: The Asian market, to appeal to your white woman consumerisms
Speaker 3: in Chinatown. In Chinatown, that's fair.
Speaker 2: I guess I don't know much about the yes for one,
Speaker 2: and for two, I guess I don't really know the
Speaker 2: consumeristic practices of people of Southeast Asian descent to your point.
Speaker 4: Even that, but like tons of cultures collecting sh But
Speaker 4: we're here with white women. Shit, I'm over your crap,
Speaker 4: white male.
Speaker 3: Moving on to the next section, Emotional influences.
Speaker 4: Let's go there, Yeah, emotional.
Speaker 2: Oh man, as I continuously just shove my foot down
Speaker 2: my mouth. Let's just get into it here. Emotions play
Speaker 2: a significant role in consumer behavior. Studies have shown that
Speaker 2: emotions can influence decision making processes, leading to both positive
Speaker 2: and negative outcomes. Positive emotions, such as happiness and excitement,
Speaker 2: can create a desire for immediate gratification, leading consumers to
Speaker 2: make impulsive purchases. On the other hand, negative emotions, such
Speaker 2: as fear or guilt can trigger a desire for comfort
Speaker 2: or relief, prompting consumers to seek products or services that
Speaker 2: alleviate these emotions. For example, a consumer who feels guilty
Speaker 2: about not spending enough time with their children may be
Speaker 2: more likely to purchase a family vacation package to create
Speaker 2: positive memories. I think that's very accurate too. I feel
Speaker 2: like people, at least our listeners know that fear is
Speaker 2: a tactic that the elites are using on a daily basis.
Speaker 3: But I feel like a lot of people don't understand
Speaker 3: that either.
Speaker 2: Yes, the dopamine dump of it, the immediate gratification that's
Speaker 2: a thing for sure, for like why you would buy
Speaker 2: a certain thing. I get it to the point the
Speaker 2: knickknack conversation, that's an immediate gratification thing. It brings you
Speaker 2: joy every time you look at it. That's awesome, that's good.
Speaker 2: But at the same time, fear is absolutely a tactic
Speaker 2: that will make people buy stuff or not just the
Speaker 2: fear of missing.
Speaker 3: Out, but like.
Speaker 4: Thrilling fear of it.
Speaker 3: Well not even that, let's say like there's impending doom
Speaker 3: that they want you to feel like if you don't
Speaker 3: have this item in your house, then what are you
Speaker 3: gonna do when X, Y or Z happens? What will
Speaker 3: you do? It's it's all a part of it.
Speaker 4: I do like the because, like so patriot patriot Emeris,
Speaker 4: there's a couple of them. They they have a very
Speaker 4: intense fear market scheme that they do. I don't want
Speaker 4: I don't want to say scheme because I actually own
Speaker 4: quite a bit of their products and stuff, Because I
Speaker 4: will say, there is a couple of companies that actually
Speaker 4: have dairy and gluten free products that you can get
Speaker 4: as MRIs and shelf Life.
Speaker 5: Really, yes, yes, there is actually.
Speaker 4: Uh US based companies that are operating owned in the
Speaker 4: US that have gluten and dairy free options and also
Speaker 4: regular Emris cans they sell, They sell generator stuff, they
Speaker 4: sell water stuff, they sell all sorts of stuff for
Speaker 4: like any kind of apocalyptic situation, just as super sid.
Speaker 4: But their actual like motto sometimes is super heavy and
Speaker 4: fear based, the way that they use their graphics, the
Speaker 4: way that it's like super red, and like you're like, well,
Speaker 4: fuck if I don't get this right now, what happens
Speaker 4: if tomorrow there's a hurricane and I'm left without all
Speaker 4: of this. I need this right now, and look at
Speaker 4: this great deal. I will say, though, they do you
Speaker 4: have really good deals. Actually they're not just like trying
Speaker 4: to screw you over. They actually have really good deals.
Speaker 2: Right, And I mean for a company that's selling survival
Speaker 2: gear for lack of better words, it would make sense
Speaker 2: that they're trying to appeal to more of the fear
Speaker 2: based sales tactic. And I'm not saying that that that's
Speaker 2: predatory of them by any means. No, no, no, in that market,
Speaker 2: that would make perfect sense to me as opposed to
Speaker 2: you know, you're not gonna get a fear based sales
Speaker 2: tactic when it comes to like buying a craftsman tool.
Speaker 2: You know, it might be an annoyance fear like what
Speaker 2: happens when you're reaching for this one part of this
Speaker 2: motor and you can't reach it because you don't have
Speaker 2: this specific craftsman tool. It's not a fear thing. It's
Speaker 2: more of like a like you said, it's the ease thing.
Speaker 2: It's a comfort thing.
Speaker 4: But I would love to base like I would love
Speaker 4: to get with them and be able to like help
Speaker 4: them spread the word because they're actuallyually a veteran owned
Speaker 4: company too.
Speaker 3: Shit, we might reach out to them, we might work
Speaker 3: out awesome.
Speaker 4: That'd be so awesome.
Speaker 3: I have talked about this for a while.
Speaker 2: I would love to do a Cult of Conspiracy survival
Speaker 2: implement that could fit in your wallet. And I've actually
Speaker 2: got a couple of blueprints drawn out of like a
Speaker 2: pretty much the only thing this thing won't provide for.
Speaker 3: You is shelter.
Speaker 4: That's actually pretty cool.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know what, good cult members. Keep your eye
Speaker 3: out for that one.
Speaker 2: It won't be ready for this Christmas season, but hopefully
Speaker 2: for Christmas the twenty twenty six, we'll have some survival
Speaker 2: let's just call it a survival.
Speaker 3: Card and we'll leave it at that.
Speaker 2: But this thing, we'll have fishing line, snares, fishing hooks,
Speaker 2: a blade, a firestarter, and baking bags, which, believe it
Speaker 2: or not, you can actually boil water in up to
Speaker 2: five times before the toxins from the plastics start to
Speaker 2: leach into the water. So pretty much this thing will
Speaker 2: be a one stop shop for getting you out out
Speaker 2: of a jam if you find yourself in one.
Speaker 3: Except for shelter, you're going to be on your own
Speaker 3: for that one.
Speaker 2: I can't fit that into a wallet, I'm sorry, but anyway,
Speaker 2: keep your eye for that one. Moving on, the cognitive processes,
Speaker 2: Consumer behavior is influenced by cognitive processes, including perception, learning,
Speaker 2: and memory. Perception refers to how individuals interpret and make
Speaker 2: sense of the world around them. Marketers often utilize sensory cues,
Speaker 2: such as appealing visuals or catchy jingles to shape consumers' perceptions.
Speaker 3: On their products or brands.
Speaker 2: Learning refers to the process of acquiring knowledge and skills
Speaker 2: through experience, which can influence future purchasing decisions. Memory, both
Speaker 2: short and long term, plays a role in consumer behavior
Speaker 2: by affecting brand recall and recognition. Advertisements that create memorable
Speaker 2: experiences or utilized repetition can enhance brand memory and influence
Speaker 2: purchasing decisions. Yeah, no doubt, no doubt, I guarantee there's
Speaker 2: a catchy jingle that you remember from a commercial growing
Speaker 2: up that is still stuck in your head to this day.
Speaker 2: Even the ones that are really bad, purposely bad, like
Speaker 2: what's that one head on had on applied directly to
Speaker 2: the forehead.
Speaker 3: It was a horrible commercial.
Speaker 2: And they even made a commercial to goof on how
Speaker 2: bad of a commercial it was. Because it was so simplistic,
Speaker 2: you like would always remember what it was.
Speaker 4: I'm not gonna lie to you. We were QVC people.
Speaker 3: I don't know what that is.
Speaker 5: You don't know what QBC is.
Speaker 3: What's happening?
Speaker 5: You don't remember the change? They still have it today.
Speaker 4: They have a channel on regular cable TV that nothing
Speaker 4: all day long. All it is is consumerism, Like it
Speaker 4: literally is the shopping channel. The shopping channel.
Speaker 3: Do you want to give me about your knickknack purchases?
Speaker 2: Saying it's not a white woman thing and y'all grew
Speaker 2: up on the QVC channel.
Speaker 3: I want to hear your shit, Raven.
Speaker 4: Oh my dad loved it, Okay, why because we got
Speaker 4: some really cool shit off of it up.
Speaker 3: Oh my god.
Speaker 4: We had these really cool tables to like, you know,
Speaker 4: his little pop up tables to eat, like if you're
Speaker 4: watching TV, like tea trade tables.
Speaker 5: But they had like cool cup holders.
Speaker 4: They were legit.
Speaker 5: We had them, no joke for like twenty years.
Speaker 4: They're great.
Speaker 3: Don't grew up very different? You and I? We we
Speaker 3: I know what the channel you're talking about.
Speaker 2: I never watched it because it was shit that either
Speaker 2: A I couldn't afford or be my parents weren't gonna
Speaker 2: buy for me. So it was that was not a
Speaker 2: thing when we wanted to watch stuff that we could
Speaker 2: never afford, but we like wanted to dream about.
Speaker 3: We'd watched the Barrett Jackson auction.
Speaker 4: You know that was our care Yeah, I've seen that. No,
Speaker 4: I mean we didn't buy often from there. We did
Speaker 4: buy like here and there, things, and they had like
Speaker 4: those super flash sales again appealing to people like you're
Speaker 4: only a limited amount of time. People like, let's go,
Speaker 4: let's go, let's go. And that got people really like
Speaker 4: jazz that to want to buy.
Speaker 5: And you're on the phone old school like typing on
Speaker 5: the phone, what's the what's the code?
Speaker 4: Okay, you got a tape and like one of somebody's
Speaker 4: watching TV to yell over to the person that's hooked
Speaker 4: up to the wall on the phone like oh oh yeah,
Speaker 4: Like it was a whole thing, had your pin ready,
Speaker 4: Like it was a whole thing.
Speaker 5: And we only I can only think of like maybe ten.
Speaker 4: Things totally ever bought, but that like intense because it
Speaker 4: was like it was all three of us were like,
Speaker 4: oh my god, we got it. Looking back, maybe I
Speaker 4: fell victim to the consumerism as I was growing up.
Speaker 2: I think there was one thing that I can remember.
Speaker 2: It was on the shopping channel.
Speaker 3: It was a commercial that played on Nickelodeon and Cartoon
Speaker 3: Network all the time.
Speaker 2: It was these shoes that had these pop out skates
Speaker 2: out of the toe and out of.
Speaker 4: The You never got one.
Speaker 2: You didn't miss much because those shoes were heavy as
Speaker 2: fuck and it was basically platform shoes, Like it gave
Speaker 2: you an extra three inches of height because that's the
Speaker 2: only way the little mechanism could swing in. And like, yeah,
Speaker 2: you're walking around with these odd hoppers on and then
Speaker 2: you try to pump out the little wheels. They weren't
Speaker 2: the best, Like I had roller blades that were way
Speaker 2: better than this. But yeah, when I was let's see,
Speaker 2: I was still living in bad Rouge at the time,
Speaker 2: so we're talking about when I was like six, Yeah,
Speaker 2: something like that. These shoes were the shit for all
Speaker 2: of about a week, and then I went in the
Speaker 2: mud with them one day because I was like, bro,
Speaker 2: these are basically boots. These are basically boots. So I
Speaker 2: went in the mud with them. The wheels never worked
Speaker 2: again after that. My parents were so pissed, and that
Speaker 2: was the only time that I was ever able to
Speaker 2: convince them to buy something off.
Speaker 3: The TV with the one eight hundred number and the
Speaker 3: whole nine. Yeah, it was a.
Speaker 2: Short lived glory with those shoes. But anyway, anyway, so
Speaker 2: now let's go to decision making strategies. Consumers employed different
Speaker 2: decision making strategies when making purchases. Some consumers are more
Speaker 2: rational and deliberate, carefully evaluating the available options before making
Speaker 2: a decision. Others may rely on I don't even know
Speaker 2: that word. I don't want to mispronounce it and say,
Speaker 2: houristic heuristic?
Speaker 3: Is that supposed to be? I don't know h E
Speaker 3: U R I S T I C S heuristic.
Speaker 4: I'm dyslexic. I can't he with you?
Speaker 3: Maybe heuristic? I don't. I don't know.
Speaker 2: Sure, mental shortcuts. There we go. Now, now that's gonna
Speaker 2: fuck with me. I'm gonna have to look up what
Speaker 2: that word means, because that's that's great. That sounds like
Speaker 2: a very elevated word. It's probably not. It's probably very
Speaker 2: plebe and I'm just retarded, but whatever. Others may rely
Speaker 2: on mental shortcuts to simplify the decision making process. Understanding
Speaker 2: these strategies can help businesses tailor their marketing messages accordingly.
Speaker 2: For example, offering detailed product descriptions and comparisons can appeal
Speaker 2: to consumers who prefer a rational decision making approach, while
Speaker 2: emphasizing simplicity and convenience can attract consumers who rely on heuristics.
Speaker 2: I think that might be pronouncing in that correctly.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 2: Consumer behavior is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon. By exploring
Speaker 2: the psychology behind consumption, we can gain valuable insights into
Speaker 2: factors that influence consumer decision making. Cultural and social influences,
Speaker 2: motivations and needs, emotional influences, cognitive processes, and decision making
Speaker 2: strategies all play a significant role in shaping consumer behavior.
Speaker 2: By understanding these dynamics, businesses can better understand their target
Speaker 2: audience and develop effective marketing strategies that resonate with consumers
Speaker 2: on a deeper level.
Speaker 3: Now, couple that with all the shit that goes on
Speaker 3: during Black Friday.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I actually have I actually have a like two
Speaker 4: more other things to add to that.
Speaker 5: Okay, so there is a few.
Speaker 4: This article I'm going to read from I actually didn't
Speaker 4: have us pool up because it's massive. But it's called
Speaker 4: Black Friday consumer Behavior, what's today's shoppers want? And how
Speaker 4: brands should respond? And it's from twenty twenty five, and
Speaker 4: it was just written a few days ago. And this
Speaker 4: giant article is actually based on how to use all
Speaker 4: the digital information and to shift into getting better results
Speaker 4: for consumerism. Right now, this wasn't made for like normal
Speaker 4: people to just read. This is actually for companies, but
Speaker 4: I found this part to be really interesting. It breaks
Speaker 4: down gen Z millennials and boomers and how they are
Speaker 4: different coming into this holiday season versus how it's ever
Speaker 4: been before.
Speaker 2: I'm actually very interested to hear what this article has
Speaker 2: to say about that, because every time I've read something
Speaker 2: where it's like, uh, here's what millennials like, it's like
Speaker 2: completely off base. You remember those Chevy Equinox commercials where
Speaker 2: it was like supposed to be geared towards millennials and
Speaker 2: you had that it was like a spoof video that
Speaker 2: this guy was just talking shit on them the entire time,
Speaker 2: the Chevy Cruise and all that.
Speaker 4: No, I don't think I watched it, but oh.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna have to find that continue.
Speaker 4: So it says as gen Z approaches the season as
Speaker 4: a social and digital ex experience, they follow trends on TikTok,
Speaker 4: compare products through influencer reviews, and rely heavily on peer
Speaker 4: review recommendations before making purchases. From this group, authenticity matters
Speaker 4: more than aggressive discounts. They buy from brands that are
Speaker 4: aligned with their identity and communicate with transparency. For millennials,
Speaker 4: we are value driven and practical. They tend to research
Speaker 4: more deeply before buying, balancing quality, prices and ethics. They
Speaker 4: appreciate personalized recommendations, loyalty rewards, and flexible payment options. To
Speaker 4: win them over, brands need to show consistency, not gimmicks.
Speaker 4: For boomers, on the other hand, they still enjoy the
Speaker 4: traditional shopping experience but have increasingly embraced e commerce conveniency.
Speaker 4: They look for trust, reliability, and straightforward communication. They respond
Speaker 4: well to clear pricing, simple navigation, and accessible customer support.
Speaker 4: Knowing how each of the generation makes decisions will help
Speaker 4: you adapt, adopt and adapt to your tune and creative approach,
Speaker 4: and even police placement of connective and more effective shopping.
Speaker 5: And so pretty much like this whole article breaks down.
Speaker 4: It's like it's breaks down everything you need to know
Speaker 4: about how to get this twenty twenty five's consumers to
Speaker 4: buy Verse, how it's ever been before.
Speaker 3: I think there's yes, that's a thing for sure.
Speaker 2: A lot of millennials are looking for what like the
Speaker 2: influencer is saying about this new vehicle before they buy,
Speaker 2: or this new product or this new restaurant or whatever else.
Speaker 2: They're like watching the TikTok to see what it says,
Speaker 2: yea even than not, though that is incorrect.
Speaker 4: TikTok can be lyon.
Speaker 2: So does the instagrams, so does the facebooks and all
Speaker 2: the things to that point. Actually, I'm gonna go ahead
Speaker 2: and show this commercial. It is, Uh, it's amazing.
Speaker 3: This guy, this guy right here, he's like, he's my
Speaker 3: whole soul. I'm gonna be honest, if quote.
Speaker 2: Unquote real people, commercials were real life the Chevy millennials,
Speaker 2: so this was and this is a real commercial. This
Speaker 2: guy super imposed himself into it and was answering all
Speaker 2: the dumb shit. So they basically got this whole group
Speaker 2: of millennials in here to see if this car resonated
Speaker 2: with them, and this guy, who's also a millennial, basically
Speaker 2: just shit on everyone the entire time.
Speaker 3: It's phenomenal. Check this out. Welcome.
Speaker 1: Hey, yeah, god, I wish you would have busted your
Speaker 1: ass right there. Let's me let me see it so
Speaker 1: I can already tell I'm gonna hate this.
Speaker 8: Hi guys, thanks for coming. Since you guys are millennials.
Speaker 1: MTA stop you right there, patch, I am not a millennial.
Speaker 1: I mean no offense. I love the Peppy Lebew.
Speaker 3: Look, yeah, you.
Speaker 1: See what I mean, Potch. They don't even know who
Speaker 1: Pepe Lapew is. Yeah, he's a cartoon rapist. Dollar.
Speaker 9: We want to get your honest reactions to a possible
Speaker 9: TV ad we might use to introduce the all new
Speaker 9: twenty sixteen Chevy Crews.
Speaker 8: It's designed specifically for you, guys, So.
Speaker 1: What does that mean? It gets easily offended and complains
Speaker 1: about everything.
Speaker 9: First of all, the commercial will be about a bunch
Speaker 9: of free spirited millennial who all have beards and tattoos.
Speaker 1: Too cliche.
Speaker 9: Not everybody has tattoos, not everybody's peers, Not everybody has
Speaker 9: a beard.
Speaker 1: Have you looked in the mirror lately? Because you have
Speaker 1: all three of those things? Nice tic tac toe tattooed
Speaker 1: there By the way, I guess I'll take exit.
Speaker 8: Since you got is see an open field?
Speaker 1: You gotta dance.
Speaker 3: It's a little weird.
Speaker 8: That's not what you do. Do you even say this
Speaker 8: image is on flee?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 1: I would say I hate you for using that word.
Speaker 8: Not it okay? At an impromptu beach party?
Speaker 1: No no, no, no no, don't act like you guys.
Speaker 1: Don't go to a drum circle every week.
Speaker 8: How were you not doing this every day all day?
Speaker 4: Look, I work like six days a week.
Speaker 1: I mean, someone's gonna make that Lotte, right.
Speaker 3: We all got to go to work at some point.
Speaker 8: Oh.
Speaker 1: I always wonder what happened to Jimirokwai. It's good to
Speaker 1: know you still find a word. You're like a DJ
Speaker 1: now or something.
Speaker 4: Is this what everyone thinks of our generation?
Speaker 1: Yes?
Speaker 8: I find that insulted.
Speaker 1: It's making us all look the same and we're all
Speaker 1: unique individuals. Oh my god, look at these two fresh
Speaker 1: off the mountain with the broken back. I see Hey,
Speaker 1: look everybody, it's why a dirping car call and a.
Speaker 8: That's so like jumping in lakes?
Speaker 1: Why?
Speaker 8: This is a typical day in the life of a millennium.
Speaker 1: But so again, I'm not a millennial. I'm a generation y. Like,
Speaker 1: why am I here right now? Oh my god, I
Speaker 1: just looked it up. I am a millennial. I hate
Speaker 1: myself now, Oh my god, Well have been a generation.
Speaker 9: Y com merciall ends with an epic millennial breakdance party
Speaker 9: in a gritty inner city alley.
Speaker 8: This is not a thing. No, I wouldn't say why not?
Speaker 3: It's offensive. It's a little contrived to me.
Speaker 1: You know what I like it?
Speaker 4: Not every single person has to have a beer.
Speaker 8: No, no, I have to take off my tattoos now.
Speaker 1: Yes, especially the one to enact that looks like a
Speaker 1: limp penis.
Speaker 3: The car should be the star.
Speaker 1: It's not about the people on then what's the price?
Speaker 3: What are the options? What are the features?
Speaker 9: What you're saying is you don't want us to build
Speaker 9: an ad that appeals to you.
Speaker 8: You want us to build a car that appeals to you.
Speaker 1: Know what we like is for you to build a
Speaker 1: car that's not a complete piece of trash. Don't check
Speaker 1: it out, big giant door. Let make there's a shitty
Speaker 1: car behind it.
Speaker 8: Yeah, this is the only twenty sixteen Chevy Cruise.
Speaker 1: No you don't.
Speaker 8: The Cruz lets you.
Speaker 9: Easily connect your iPhone and access your music, select apps, maps,
Speaker 9: and more with Applecarplay compatibility.
Speaker 1: So if you have Android, you just screwed.
Speaker 9: It also has available built in for Gltypely.
Speaker 4: What does what doesn't this car have?
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what this car doesn't have. Reliability, lasting quality, style, speed, safety, comfort,
Speaker 1: a good price, a good marketing team, consumers, any redeeming
Speaker 1: features at all. Really, I guess.
Speaker 3: Okay again, mock is kind of my spirit animal.
Speaker 4: I love that he's just like actually photoshopped in that
Speaker 4: because like not one of them heard him actually talking
Speaker 4: shit like that.
Speaker 2: No, no, God, that would have been horrible. And as
Speaker 2: like none all millennials are like that. It's like have
Speaker 2: you looked in a mirror lately?
Speaker 4: Bro, Like, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2: But to that point, that's that is what I think
Speaker 2: whenever for people, like we're marketing to millennials, it's like, oh,
Speaker 2: are you let's let's see what you think about our
Speaker 2: grouping here. Okay, that's gonna be it's gonna be great.
Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, well I'll let you. I was gonna
Speaker 4: do the endowment effect, but I don't. This is more
Speaker 4: or less put like, it's about digital and like how
Speaker 4: you pretty much put something in your digital cart and
Speaker 4: how it feels you imagine it.
Speaker 5: So this effect that people have so you like put
Speaker 5: something in your well, you don't have Amazon, but.
Speaker 4: However, you like had you I guess, go and scope
Speaker 4: something out of the pawn shop and you're like, I'm
Speaker 4: gonna get that next paycheck.
Speaker 5: And you go back and you're like, man, I can't.
Speaker 4: Get it yet. But I'm gonna do it again, and
Speaker 4: you keep you keep imagining, you start to imagine.
Speaker 5: Yourself with it. So this this effect.
Speaker 4: Actually is a part of consumerism, but like it's a
Speaker 4: weird underbelly because the cart itself for online stuff. You
Speaker 4: put it in your cart and you're like, hm, I
Speaker 4: get that warm, little fuzzy feeling, but hey, I'm not
Speaker 4: gonna buy it just yet. But then you start to
Speaker 4: think about it and like you kind of go back
Speaker 4: and look at it in a stage in your car,
Speaker 4: and you kind of look at it again, and like,
Speaker 4: over time you start to have the effect of like, well,
Speaker 4: I can already picture where it's gonna go in my house,
Speaker 4: Like I've already I've already pictured that, I've already I
Speaker 4: know what I'm gonna We're with it, and even though
Speaker 4: you don't need it, you end up buying it because
Speaker 4: you've already had it in your digital car and it's
Speaker 4: already taking up your imagination and your imagination has now
Speaker 4: imagined it in your life.
Speaker 2: Yeah, intering with Amazon, but I did that with wish
Speaker 2: dot com in like twenty seventeen, right, So like, listen,
Speaker 2: this is before it, this is back, this is years ago.
Speaker 4: And I've never purchased one thing off of there.
Speaker 2: Oh, that wasn't exactly my intention. I was just going
Speaker 2: on Wish just to see what was there. And everybody's like,
Speaker 2: it's like a cheap Amazon. It's all made in China,
Speaker 2: and it's like ridiculously cheap, but it takes forever to
Speaker 2: get to you. And I was like, sure, I'll download
Speaker 2: the app, I'll check it out, see what it's about.
Speaker 2: Whenever I, you know, discovered it was Chinese, realistically owned and.
Speaker 3: Operated, I deleted it.
Speaker 2: But I did have it on my phone for a
Speaker 2: few months, and so there I was just clicking and
Speaker 2: clicking away or tapping, i should say. And uh, my
Speaker 2: cart had like a hundred items in it, and it
Speaker 2: was the randomst shit. A lot of it was like
Speaker 2: costplay things. Some of it was just like stupid things.
Speaker 2: Right then, I looked at the price tag. It was
Speaker 2: like thirty.
Speaker 3: Dollars for everything, and I'm like, fucking purchase that now.
Speaker 2: But they all came at like weird times. They didn't
Speaker 2: come in one mass order. One thing would come like
Speaker 2: a month from now, one thing might come eight months
Speaker 2: from now. So it was like it was like a
Speaker 2: little Christmas present. Whenever it would show up, You're like,
Speaker 2: what is this thing? What's all this writing? You open
Speaker 2: and be like, Oh, that's the boots that I ordered.
Speaker 2: That's crazy. I forgot all about those those boots as
Speaker 2: a matter of fact, that I wear for like Renfest
Speaker 2: and stuff that was a wish dot Com order. As
Speaker 2: a matter of fact, most of my ensemble that I
Speaker 2: wear for Renfest is actually Wish dot Com orders from
Speaker 2: that time.
Speaker 4: Funny, but I have like lists, and that actually goes
Speaker 4: into we're not going to read about it because it's
Speaker 4: going to take forever if we do the digital stuff.
Speaker 4: But it talks about lists and how like I have
Speaker 4: lists inside of my Amazon Prime I have right now,
Speaker 4: I have my Christmas list, I have Birthday lists, I
Speaker 4: have my save for later. My cart has like forty
Speaker 4: five things in it. Why and has all of it?
Speaker 4: Who knows?
Speaker 5: But it's interesting.
Speaker 4: It talks about how the psychology has shifted from going
Speaker 4: in person to digital.
Speaker 5: Now and how it's still shaping how we're consumerism consumers.
Speaker 4: And how we still are like we're waiting for that
Speaker 4: deal even though we know two weeks prior it was
Speaker 4: thirty percent off, but now it's saying there's a limited
Speaker 4: quality and it's only ten percent off. Well, now we've
Speaker 4: already imagined it for the last two weeks being in
Speaker 4: our house and with us, so now we're like, well, shit,
Speaker 4: it's in our cart. Fuck it. You know what, I
Speaker 4: don't want to miss out. The fear, the fomo, the
Speaker 4: fear of missing out. I don't want to miss out.
Speaker 4: I also so have already imagined it in my life
Speaker 4: and it's been in my cart kind of like steadily
Speaker 4: reminding me that I want this. And now they're targeting
Speaker 4: this product saying like there's only seven left, and when
Speaker 4: the seven are gone, what's gonna happen? Because Amazon does
Speaker 4: it a lot like there's three left.
Speaker 5: They're only three left.
Speaker 4: You're telling me in all of the massive Amazon stores
Speaker 4: in the flipping country, there's only three.
Speaker 5: Of these left. Yah, it's not true.
Speaker 4: But for some reason, our irrational brains are run by
Speaker 4: the fear and the emotional aspect, and so now we're
Speaker 4: making purchases that we don't even want. Or if you
Speaker 4: go to Black Friday in person and you dump one
Speaker 4: thousand dollars and you buy just everything because you're in
Speaker 4: the herd mentality of the herd is buying I must
Speaker 4: buy two.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and a lot of the YouTubers that I watched
Speaker 2: as the matter of fact, they are big with You know,
Speaker 2: we have a T shirt out right now, but it's
Speaker 2: gone to the end of this month, so if you
Speaker 2: want to get your hand, it's like they put a
Speaker 2: time stamp on it to drive more people to purchase it.
Speaker 3: Which it's just a T shirt, like you could that
Speaker 3: year round, But would you.
Speaker 2: Get as many sales as if it's only available for
Speaker 2: the next thirty days.
Speaker 4: No, you don't.
Speaker 3: The mathematics have confirmed it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And then there's also a whole other side of that,
Speaker 2: like the price of the shirt matters of My brother
Speaker 2: in law at one point was partial owner of a
Speaker 2: T shirt brand, him and a couple of his seal buddies.
Speaker 2: When they got out, they started a brand because that's
Speaker 2: what a lot of veterans did during that timeframe. And
Speaker 2: come to find out, a person is more likely to
Speaker 2: buy a thirty five dollars T shirt than they are
Speaker 2: to buy a ten dollars T shirt.
Speaker 4: You told me this, and it's wild to me. I
Speaker 4: would love to look more into that, because I really
Speaker 4: don't understand why that but I guess it comes it
Speaker 4: circles back to the trust. So there's a lot of
Speaker 4: trust being talked about in a lot of the stuff.
Speaker 4: That big article that I read just to snippet about
Speaker 4: it talked a lot about building the trust with the
Speaker 4: consumers that if you show them that this is quote
Speaker 4: unquote trustworthy product, or there's trusting reviews of the product
Speaker 4: where you show them how you could be more personalized,
Speaker 4: or you know that you can appeal to their sensibility
Speaker 4: pretty much, that they trust you, then they'll want to
Speaker 4: buy it from you. So ten dollars just seems like
Speaker 4: it's cheap and not made very well and it's gonna
Speaker 4: fall apart.
Speaker 5: So thirty dollars though, Man, maybe they put a lot
Speaker 5: of effort into this. It's going to be a good quality.
Speaker 4: I trust quote unquote the brand that's going to be
Speaker 4: charging me that price.
Speaker 2: And that's to a car, that's to a TV, that's
Speaker 2: to a house, that's to a T shirt that goes
Speaker 2: all over the place. And it makes logically on paper,
Speaker 2: that makes no sense. If this T shirt, t shirt
Speaker 2: A and T shirt B, they are the exact same
Speaker 2: shirt made from the exact same materials from the same
Speaker 2: manufacturing facility, like these are clones.
Speaker 3: Of each other.
Speaker 2: But shirt A costs probably eight dollars to make, and
Speaker 2: they're selling it for ten because they don't want to
Speaker 2: screw their customer base. They will make practically no sales.
Speaker 2: But the thirty dollars shirt that they cost only eight
Speaker 2: bucks to make, they will actually get. Like it's not
Speaker 2: even a hypothetical. It has been proven to such a
Speaker 2: degree that it is a mathematical fact that you will
Speaker 2: get higher and better T shirt sales with that type
Speaker 2: of price range, not one hundred dollars shirt. Of course,
Speaker 2: you got to keep it within the like the ball
Speaker 2: in your bands here the left and right lateral limits
Speaker 2: of what somebody of your consumer base of your demographic
Speaker 2: has in their pocket to spend. But it is wild
Speaker 2: that that's the way that our market is driven.
Speaker 4: The theory about the ninety nine cents too, that's a
Speaker 4: whole other ballgame that we're not going to go down.
Speaker 4: But if anyone ever wants to look it up, we
Speaker 4: look at the theory behind the ninety nine cents and
Speaker 4: how that ninety nine cents gets you every time, Like
Speaker 4: the way that they lower it if they put seventy
Speaker 4: nine cents. Oh my god, we have a huge saving
Speaker 4: sixty nine cents. That's it. We got to buy it
Speaker 4: like it's wild. How they've figured out how to use
Speaker 4: psychology against us and how to be a to just
Speaker 4: change slight things to get people to buy more stuff. Yeah,
Speaker 4: which leads us into Noumber four. How companies shape consumer desires.
Speaker 2: Absolutely in today's consumer driven society, advertising and marketing play
Speaker 2: a crucial role in shaping consumer desires. Companies invest significant
Speaker 2: resources into crafting persuasive messages and creating captivating visuals to
Speaker 2: capture the attention of potential buyers. Through carefully designed campaigns,
Speaker 2: they aim not only to inform consumers about their products
Speaker 2: or services, but also to influence their preferences, behaviors, and ultimately,
Speaker 2: their purchasing decisions. This section delves into the fascinating world
Speaker 2: of advertising and marketing, exploring how companies employ various techniques
Speaker 2: to shape consumer desire. And desire is very different than need,
Speaker 2: right it is. It's a want. It's something that you
Speaker 2: inherently know that you don't require, but it's something that's
Speaker 2: something inside.
Speaker 3: You gotta have it, You just got to.
Speaker 2: It's a whole thing, so the power of emotional peace.
Speaker 2: One of the most effective ways companies shape consumer desires
Speaker 2: is by tapping into consumers emotions. Advertisements also often evoke
Speaker 2: feelings of happiness, excitement, or desire, associating these emotions with
Speaker 2: their products or services. For example, a car commercial weight
Speaker 2: may depict a family on a road trip, creating a
Speaker 2: sense of adventure and togetherness that resonates with viewers.
Speaker 3: By appealing to consumers' emotions, companies can create a strong
Speaker 3: connection between their brand and the desired emotional state, ultimately
Speaker 3: influencing consumers desires. The influence of social proof. Humans are
Speaker 3: social creatures, and we often look to others for guidance
Speaker 3: and validation. Companies leverage this natural inclination by utilizing social
Speaker 3: proof in their advertising and marketing strategies. Social proof refers
Speaker 3: to the idea that people are more likely to adopt
Speaker 3: a particular behavior if they see others engaging in it,
Speaker 3: to the point that you're making earlier ravenly. For instance,
Speaker 3: testimonials from satisfied customers or endorsements from celebrities can sway
Speaker 3: consumers desires by signaling that a product or service is
Speaker 3: popular and well regarded by showcasing positive experiences and endorsements.
Speaker 3: Companies can shape consumer desires by creating a sense of
Speaker 3: trust and credibility. Absolutely and that definitely ties into the
Speaker 3: digital age for sure. The role of aspirational marketing.
Speaker 2: Aspirational marketing is another powerful tool used by companies to
Speaker 2: shape consumer desires. It involves creating a desire for a
Speaker 2: product or service by associating it with a desirable lifestyle
Speaker 2: or identity. For example, like we brought up earlier, luxury
Speaker 2: brands often use aspirational marketing to appeal to customers desires
Speaker 2: for status and exclusivity. By showcasing glamorous lifestyles and associating
Speaker 2: their product with success, companies can create a sense of
Speaker 2: aspiration and longing among consumers.
Speaker 3: This technique not.
Speaker 2: Only drives desire for the product itself, but also fosters
Speaker 2: a desire to attain the desired lifestyle or identity associated
Speaker 2: with it.
Speaker 4: This is something that's used heavily on TikTok and social
Speaker 4: media's and I will say I have fallen victim myself
Speaker 4: to it. There is a lot of there is some
Speaker 4: of these really influential women that have these everything you
Speaker 4: could possibly imagine in these cute little freaking containers and
Speaker 4: like everything is perfect and everything is clean, and it's.
Speaker 5: Like maximalism to the max.
Speaker 4: But also it's like super organized and super like pretty,
Speaker 4: and it gets every everybody across the board boxes.
Speaker 8: No.
Speaker 4: So, like, there's this one lady that I love. She's
Speaker 4: African American. She has she has the most intense organizational
Speaker 4: maximalism possible. So like, for example, when she goes to hotels,
Speaker 4: she has all of her luggage is like super organized
Speaker 4: in these little containers and all this stuff. She also
Speaker 4: has containers that she takes out and so before they
Speaker 4: do anything, cleans the entire hotel top to bottom. And
Speaker 4: she has all these little cute little things to clean
Speaker 4: stuff to clean. She pops out this little toilet brush
Speaker 4: cleaner and she scrubs a toilet brush. She wipes everything down.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, no like top when I say top to bottom,
Speaker 4: she cleans the entire shower down. She changes the bed.
Speaker 4: She has pellow cases and sheets that she puts on
Speaker 4: the bed. She has like everything that you could think of.
Speaker 4: She has this really cool which I super want because
Speaker 4: I fall victims to the consumerism, is a portable washer.
Speaker 4: They are really cute they're about this big, and you
Speaker 4: can actually wash your clothes and you can hang your
Speaker 4: stuff up to dry it, or they have a dryer
Speaker 4: that you can buy too. She has, Oh yes, I've
Speaker 4: actually looked at buying one. They're not that expensive on Amazon,
Speaker 4: but they She has millions of followers because of the lifestyle,
Speaker 4: and it's not just her, there's a whole bunch of
Speaker 4: them like this.
Speaker 3: It sounds like she is dealing with some serious anxiety
Speaker 3: in her life.
Speaker 4: She doesn't. She just has like a oc but also
Speaker 4: she has a lot of money to be able to
Speaker 4: buy all these bags and all of these little things,
Speaker 4: and it's created that she's one of many, many, many
Speaker 4: women that have cultivated this lifestyle that it bleeds into
Speaker 4: the rest of us, like we feel inferior because we
Speaker 4: aren't doing all of these things, like our car isn't perfect,
Speaker 4: and they don't have all these little matching baggies and
Speaker 4: all these little cute little things.
Speaker 3: Because are real people that have real lives and real kids.
Speaker 3: That's in insanity.
Speaker 4: But she has kids, and there's a lot of them
Speaker 4: that have kids that are like this, and that's that's
Speaker 4: where social media has bled into a lot at least
Speaker 4: in my life. I can see how it's bled into
Speaker 4: affecting me where I'm like, I'm watching this stuff and
Speaker 4: I like to watch it, you know, when it doesn't
Speaker 4: bother me for a while, and then all of a sudden,
Speaker 4: I'll find myself like on Amazon or TikTok shop and
Speaker 4: I'm like, I wonder how much these bags are, Like
Speaker 4: I kind of want to they make me a lot
Speaker 4: more sense of having these, And I find myself looking
Speaker 4: at this stuff because I want to fit into this
Speaker 4: narrative of like, well, that would make me look like
Speaker 4: a better mom because I'm more organized and I have
Speaker 4: all these containers and like, but you don't subconsciously it's
Speaker 4: bleeding into you. And it's not like they're making this
Speaker 4: content to shove that down your throat. They're just because
Speaker 4: that's what they want to do. Some of them are
Speaker 4: being paid, but like a lot of them just they
Speaker 4: saw what somebody else was doing and that's what they
Speaker 4: went on their lifestyle, So they cultivated their lifestyle and
Speaker 4: it's just like perpetuating the cycle kind of a thing.
Speaker 2: I don't even think I could operate at that level
Speaker 2: of organization. That sounds like a living hell.
Speaker 5: To me, Oh my god, yep, just to go.
Speaker 2: On a trip, I have to have my whole luggage organized,
Speaker 2: and not even cleaning the hotel. That's just a woman
Speaker 2: with undiagnosed and unmedicated OCD.
Speaker 4: To be fair, the hotels are quite dirty and and
Speaker 4: I understand cleaning a hotel.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but I mean that's a part of it, you
Speaker 3: know what you're getting into.
Speaker 5: Nobody wants bed bugs, but like no.
Speaker 3: Not okay.
Speaker 2: If you're going to a roach motel, then yeah, obviously
Speaker 2: carry a can of lysol with you, like for sure.
Speaker 2: But like if you're going to like a nicer hotel,
Speaker 2: a Hilton, uh, you know what I mean, Like, yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, the sheets probably ain't the cleanest, but like
Speaker 2: it's oh, you're not gonna die, It's gonna be okay.
Speaker 2: Like my I could just imagine that woman with her
Speaker 2: children and their rooms all have to be just so
Speaker 2: and all organized and there. Meanwhile, the kids are like, Mom,
Speaker 2: I've been organizing my room for over an hour.
Speaker 3: Could I just go ride a bike? Please?
Speaker 2: Like my god, Yeah, But to that, to your point,
Speaker 2: it does appeal to the ever present need to be
Speaker 2: a better mom, to be a better parent, to be
Speaker 2: more organized, to be more in control of your life.
Speaker 2: It is just tugging at the emotional heartstrings on that.
Speaker 4: Oh, it is like there's this one woman that has
Speaker 4: like does all the ice. That's a big thing, that
Speaker 4: the cubes of ice and all the organization of refrigerators.
Speaker 2: I know, you don't want to know what you're gonna
Speaker 2: have to break that one down from like an ice maker.
Speaker 4: Like, noh, you've never seen the Okay, so I'm not
Speaker 4: gonna take too long on this, but there is a
Speaker 4: whole bunch of women that have a million different ice molds.
Speaker 5: And what they do.
Speaker 4: Is is they every week they redo their ice containers.
Speaker 4: So in their freezer, they have these really cool little
Speaker 4: containers right that they stack all up and they make
Speaker 4: They spend like hours making this ice, and they do
Speaker 4: like different flavored ices. They have fresh fruit and ices.
Speaker 4: They do all this stuff, and they make like rose ices.
Speaker 4: Some of them make alcohol ones too, which are really cool.
Speaker 4: But they make like all these different ice cubes. So
Speaker 4: there's like flowers and hearts and stars and balls and like,
Speaker 4: what are the fuck they have in this amount of time?
Speaker 4: That's what they have.
Speaker 3: But they but they have they have no jobs.
Speaker 4: Obviously, they make a ton of different flavored stuff so
Speaker 4: that it flavors your water, and then they they freeze
Speaker 4: them and then they unpop them all and they put
Speaker 4: them in these.
Speaker 5: Cute little trays.
Speaker 4: They go in their little things, and that's what they
Speaker 4: do every week. And like, they get millions of views,
Speaker 4: and so then a lot of people I read the
Speaker 4: comments because I'm a comment reader, So millions of people
Speaker 4: are like, it's it's divided. Half the people are like,
Speaker 4: oh my god, it's so amazing.
Speaker 5: The other half are like, with what fucking time?
Speaker 4: And now I feel shitty about myself because I'm not
Speaker 4: making my kids some fancy ass rose Laveler petal strawberry,
Speaker 4: you know, ice cube, And I'm like, so.
Speaker 3: Be grateful you got ice in your glass? Kid? Fuck
Speaker 3: you talk about now.
Speaker 2: But to your point, there's a I have only done
Speaker 2: something similar to this twice, but it was nothing that
Speaker 2: I would ever like put online. It was like, back
Speaker 2: when I was a drinker, I had these molds that
Speaker 2: had like the spherical ice that you would put in
Speaker 2: like a tumbler or your your whiskey glass.
Speaker 3: I thought that was dope, be honest with you, I
Speaker 3: used it.
Speaker 2: Maybe three times because ice melts the same way regardless
Speaker 2: of the shape it's in. And now know other people
Speaker 2: are like, no, scientifically, it's better if you do. Okay,
Speaker 2: that's cool. I just see my whiskey to be a
Speaker 2: little colder.
Speaker 3: That was about it.
Speaker 2: The other one was I would take black coffee and
Speaker 2: I would pour that into ice trays so that whenever
Speaker 2: I make coffee, I could cool it down to a
Speaker 2: drinkable level, not scalding, without weakening my coffee.
Speaker 3: That's about it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So I mean there's that that kind of just
Speaker 4: plays them with the lifestyle situation and how they can
Speaker 4: appeal to that kind of stuff, especially when it comes
Speaker 4: to some of the number one top things that are
Speaker 4: sold last year was like kitchen aid, appliances, vacuums, you know,
Speaker 4: things for your house.
Speaker 5: Those things sold because.
Speaker 4: It's appealing about how you can be a better parent,
Speaker 4: more efficient, how you can keep your house cleaner, how
Speaker 4: you can keep cook better for your family, and they
Speaker 4: and they use that kind of persuasive language and stuff
Speaker 4: like that to be able to get you to buy things.
Speaker 2: So absolutely, and that goes into number four, the impact
Speaker 2: of persuasive language and visuals. Language and Visuals play a
Speaker 2: significant role in advertising and marketing. Companies carefully choose their
Speaker 2: words and vision rules to create persuasive messages that resonate
Speaker 2: with consumers. For instance, using words like limited edition, exclusive offer,
Speaker 2: one time opportunity can create a sense of urgency and scarcity,
Speaker 2: driving customers desires to act quickly. Similarly, visually appealing images
Speaker 2: and videos that highlight the product's features and benefits can
Speaker 2: increase its desirability. By strategically employing persuasive language and visuals,
Speaker 2: companies can shape consumer desires and prompt them to take action. Absolutely,
Speaker 2: now the influence of targeted advertising, like the Chevy Cruz
Speaker 2: commercial we just watched that was allegedly targeted for.
Speaker 3: Millennials, even though that's a shit car.
Speaker 2: With the advent of digital marketing, companies can now tailor
Speaker 2: their advertisements to specific target audiences by using data analytics
Speaker 2: and targeting algorithms. Absolutely, companies can identify consumers preferences, behaviors, demographics,
Speaker 2: allowing them to create personalized and highly relevant advertisements. For example,
Speaker 2: online retailers may display ads for products that align with
Speaker 2: a consumer's recent searches or browsing history. Absolutely, we know
Speaker 2: they're watching us and listening at all times. This targeted
Speaker 2: approach not only increases the effectiveness of advertising, but also
Speaker 2: enhances its ability to shape consumer desires by presenting them
Speaker 2: with products or services that are tailored to their specific
Speaker 2: needs and interests. Absolutely, one hundred percent that goes all
Speaker 2: into the digital era on that advertising and marketing have
Speaker 2: a profound impact on shaping consumer desires. Through emotional appeals,
Speaker 2: social proof aspirational marketing, persuasive language and visuals, as well
Speaker 2: as targeted advertising, companies exert significant influence over consumer preferences
Speaker 2: and purchasing decisions. By understanding the techniques employed by companies,
Speaker 2: consumers can develop a critical mindset and make informed choices
Speaker 2: in the face of persuasive advertising tactics.
Speaker 3: Very true. Now, we could go to the digitalization, but we've.
Speaker 2: Kind of already touched on that a good bit to
Speaker 2: be honest with you, and especially as we're getting into
Speaker 2: the Black Friday and the Cyber Monday conversation, I am
Speaker 2: sure that that's gonna play in very heavily. So now
Speaker 2: let's go to the final excerpt that we're gonna get
Speaker 2: into on this article, how consumerism shapes American society.
Speaker 3: Wow, that's a heavy one. Okay.
Speaker 2: Consumerism is deeply ingrained in American society, shaping not only
Speaker 2: the economy, but also social and cultural aspects of everyday life.
Speaker 2: It has become a defining characteristic of American identity, influencing
Speaker 2: how individuals perceive themselves and others.
Speaker 3: Boy, if that ain't the truth.
Speaker 2: In this section, we will explore the various social and
Speaker 2: cultural factors that contribute to the prevalence of consumerism in
Speaker 2: the United States. Number One, Media and advertising influence. The
Speaker 2: media plays a crucial role in perpetuating consumerism by bombarding
Speaker 2: individuals with advertisements and messages that promote the idea that
Speaker 2: happiness and fulfillment can be achieved through material possessions.
Speaker 3: It's sad, but that's absolutely what they want you to believe.
Speaker 2: Television, radio, print, and online advertisements constantly remind consumers of
Speaker 2: the latest products and trends, creating a desire to acquire
Speaker 2: and possess these items. Advertisements often appeal to emotions, associating
Speaker 2: associating products with success, happiness, and self worth. For example,
Speaker 2: a luxury car commercial. We already talked about that on earlier.
Speaker 2: Number two peer pressure and social comparison. Yeah, the keeping
Speaker 2: up with the jones Is. Consumerism is also fueled by
Speaker 2: peer pressure and the need for social validation. In American society,
Speaker 2: individuals are often judged and valued based upon their possessions
Speaker 2: and material wealth. This creates a cycle of consumption as
Speaker 2: people strive to maintain or enhance their social status by
Speaker 2: acquiring the latest gadgets, fashion items, or luxury goods. Social
Speaker 2: media platforms further amplify this phenomenon, as individuals constantly showcase
Speaker 2: their possessions and experiences, leading others to compare themselves and
Speaker 2: feel pressured to keep up. Again, I cannot stress this enough, y'all.
Speaker 2: TikTok is not real life. Instagram is not real life.
Speaker 3: That is specifically curtailed snapshots of somebody's life that's not
Speaker 3: their real life. Like, that's not how they actually live.
Speaker 3: And I feel like not enough people know that.
Speaker 2: But anyway, let's talk about cultural values and identity. The
Speaker 2: American Dream, a cultural ideal that emphasizes upward mobility and
Speaker 2: material success, has contributed to the prevalence of consumerism in
Speaker 2: American society. The pursuit of material possessions is often seen
Speaker 2: as a pathway to achieving this dream, and individuals may
Speaker 2: feel that they are failing if they do not possess
Speaker 2: certain items or maintain a certain lifestyle. The emphasis on
Speaker 2: individualism and personal achievement further reinforces the importance of consumerism
Speaker 2: in shaping one's identity.
Speaker 3: Yeah, very true, very true.
Speaker 2: Because it's like if you're not getting a new car
Speaker 2: every five years, Like, damn, that guy really ain't doing
Speaker 2: much at work. They're not getting no promotions, you're not
Speaker 2: getting any raises whatever. But like if you're that person
Speaker 2: that's got a new car in the driveway every eighteen months,
Speaker 2: clearly you're killing.
Speaker 4: It so crazy.
Speaker 2: Never mind the fact that you're just like increasing the
Speaker 2: debt in your life and now before you realize that
Speaker 2: you can't even make your your initial payments on things.
Speaker 2: But like, yes, everybody thinks that you are like just
Speaker 2: killing killing it. Yeah, it's incredible now. Psychological factors. Consumerism
Speaker 2: also taps into various psychological factors that drive human behavior.
Speaker 2: The desire for novelty and the fear of missing out
Speaker 2: aka fomo contribute to the constant need to purchase new
Speaker 2: products and stay up to date with the latest trends. Additionally,
Speaker 2: the hetonic, the hedonic treadmill I guess we could just
Speaker 2: say hedonistic. Treadmill concept suggests that individuals quickly adapt to
Speaker 2: new possessions and experiences, leading to a continuous pursuit of
Speaker 2: more and better goods to maintain the same level of satisfaction. Yeah,
Speaker 2: even though, like, for instance, your your phone works fine,
Speaker 2: your iPhone works fine.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it might be like a year old, two years old, whatever.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you just got done paying it off, but they're
Speaker 2: about to drop a brand new one. Your phone works fine, like,
Speaker 2: you don't need a new phone, but you desire the
Speaker 2: new phone. And then they push it to a point
Speaker 2: where you're no longer able to update your phone with
Speaker 2: the new software updates. And then they drive you and
Speaker 2: force you to get a new phone, even when you
Speaker 2: didn't want one.
Speaker 4: True and fomo actually isn't just a catchy acronym. It's
Speaker 4: a psychological response rooted in loss of version. It describes
Speaker 4: how pain of losing an opportunity is far more powerful
Speaker 4: than the joy of gaining something. Also with Black Friday,
Speaker 4: it's about it's about victories and competitive dynamics as well,
Speaker 4: so that all actually plays in as a part of it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the competitive dynamics is absolutely a thing I swear
Speaker 2: every year I love watching these women fistfight over like
Speaker 2: they don't.
Speaker 4: People don't do that anymore though, like really not really.
Speaker 4: It's actually not been really a thing since the since
Speaker 4: the around like two thousand and I think ten is
Speaker 4: when it started to slow.
Speaker 5: So that comes into.
Speaker 4: Play with the whole conveniency factor and how things have shifted.
Speaker 4: So I'll just give you a little bit of statistics,
Speaker 4: because it actually doesn't Okay, you feel.
Speaker 3: Like I watched this every year of some new instance
Speaker 3: that takes place.
Speaker 4: So in twenty twenty is when everything really shifted. Obviously
Speaker 4: the whole world shut down, so that's when the online
Speaker 4: game really picked up. So in twenty twenty one, for example,
Speaker 4: also discounts changed completely. So before twenty twenty we actually
Speaker 4: had good discounts. Twenty twenty one saw like, for example,
Speaker 4: electronic discounts like on any kind of electronics, it was
Speaker 4: at twelve percent prior to twenty twenty two. Twenty twenty,
Speaker 4: it was at twenty seven percent. Twenty twenty two, with
Speaker 4: the inflation, it still saw nine point two nine point
Speaker 4: twenty one, yeah, sorry, nine billion dollars in sales online
Speaker 4: at the online aspect of that was fifty one percent
Speaker 4: of the shopping. Wow.
Speaker 5: Then in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 4: It saw a seven point five percent increase cyber so
Speaker 4: it was nine point eight billion with just Black Friday.
Speaker 4: At in Cyber Monday, it went to thirty eight billion.
Speaker 1: Cool.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I could believe it so then, especially because after COVID,
Speaker 2: people realize the convenience aspect of it was way too
Speaker 2: enticing to pass up. And the company saw that people
Speaker 2: are willing to pay the up charge, so like, why
Speaker 2: fix it.
Speaker 3: If it ain't broke. The company's making more money fucking
Speaker 3: send it well.
Speaker 4: Also, in twenty twenty three, the term the key, the
Speaker 4: term got token Black Friday creep, so that actually means.
Speaker 5: That they are starting a month long.
Speaker 4: Savings instead of you know how you start seeing Black
Speaker 4: Friday stuff a month ahead time beforehand. That's the term
Speaker 4: they coin because they're starting the savings quote unquote early,
Speaker 4: so people.
Speaker 5: Are starting to buy more and more.
Speaker 4: Actually, we spent so much just in twenty twenty one
Speaker 4: that we actually eclipsed like many countries GTGVP.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I believe that.
Speaker 4: Just in that year, and then you shift to twenty
Speaker 4: twenty four, it was forty one point of forty one
Speaker 4: billion dollars just with Cyber Week included. It was globally
Speaker 4: it went up seven percent, seven percent because it's spreading
Speaker 4: globally now to other countries of everyone paying, and now
Speaker 4: the online has eclipsed to fifty seven percent. So the
Speaker 4: online is gaining, the in store is lowering, the prices
Speaker 4: aren't changing, and now they've added in all the it's
Speaker 4: now turned into instead of just one day, turn into
Speaker 4: a weekend, turn into into Cyber Monday. Now it's become
Speaker 4: a week long event technically, and it's now shifting into
Speaker 4: the creep where it's going into an entire month before
Speaker 4: so they're just stockpiling.
Speaker 5: They're actually raising prices in October.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and then leading into November, they're quote unquote having
Speaker 4: black Fried ideal deals already in the first week of November.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: And I mean, and that's something that we have talked
Speaker 2: about for a while, not just on the show, but
Speaker 2: in general with people. I know that like you'll watch
Speaker 2: the stores, if you were to try to buy a
Speaker 2: TV in the summer, it'll be a price October or
Speaker 2: September even you'll see that price just like out of nowhere,
Speaker 2: it goes up a little bit and you don't really
Speaker 2: think much of it. It's not like a doubled in price,
Speaker 2: but you notice it's a little bit more expensive than
Speaker 2: you remembered. Okay, October comes around, it is noticeably higher,
Speaker 2: for sure. Then Black Friday comes around and they give
Speaker 2: you this cut rate deal, or what you think is
Speaker 2: a cut rate deal. In reality, you're paying basically what
Speaker 2: the shelf price was during the summer exactly. Now there's
Speaker 2: a spot that does a meat sale by the house,
Speaker 2: and you'll watch them do it.
Speaker 3: Their meat. If you were to go right now and
Speaker 3: try to buy some stakes from this little mom and
Speaker 3: pop grocery store, they are at a certain price. Cool.
Speaker 2: Every so often they'll do a meat sale and you'll
Speaker 2: have people come in and line up out the door
Speaker 2: to get in here because they're trying to get really
Speaker 2: good deals on meat and stock up and they're deep freezes.
Speaker 2: But then you'll notice they upped the price, and now
Speaker 2: they're giving you this quote unquote deal. You're buying it
Speaker 2: at stock price, Like the actual price that the store
Speaker 2: made didn't change. The price that you're actually paying is
Speaker 2: the same, but it was the appearance that it was
Speaker 2: this one day's sale and it was the appearance that
Speaker 2: we have more things out right now that we normally
Speaker 2: don't have, and it was just to drive more customers.
Speaker 3: That was it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's it's pretty crappy overall, and they're actually there's
Speaker 4: a whole bunch of people being sued for that right
Speaker 4: now because they've been been to continuously do this and
Speaker 4: show that they are giving the product that I forget
Speaker 4: what it's like, fraudulent discount I think it might be
Speaker 4: the last article that we read, but it's it's a
Speaker 4: whole thing that's happening right now that people are actually
Speaker 4: calling it out. They've been calling it out for the
Speaker 4: last few years on social media and it's gained so
Speaker 4: much traction that now companies are being sued for being
Speaker 4: fraudulent in their discounts because it's bullshit. And you actually,
Speaker 4: I would say if anyone was going to buy anytime
Speaker 4: the year, the July sales are when to happen, because
Speaker 4: those are there, those are the actual Black Friday sales is.
Speaker 2: In July, the fourth of July sales. And if you
Speaker 2: could find a Christmas in July.
Speaker 4: Sale that is this is in July is where it's at.
Speaker 4: That's how you actually get the Black Friday sales. So
Speaker 4: back to it.
Speaker 5: We got, I think, like one more thing to read
Speaker 5: on this article.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but it's just environmental impact. And we already talked
Speaker 3: about items.
Speaker 2: Hurt the earth and we're not trying to side step
Speaker 2: that it is a thing, but we already kind of
Speaker 2: covered that a good here. So now let's go to
Speaker 2: CEO World Magazine Behavioral Science for Black Friday twenty twenty
Speaker 2: five Insights for Retailers and Consumers. This was published this
Speaker 2: month of this year's Matter of Fact, so let's dive
Speaker 2: in here. It says understanding shopper psychology, digital behaviors, and
Speaker 2: ethical strategies is critical this Black Friday.
Speaker 3: Retailers can design campaigns.
Speaker 2: That convert responsibility or excuse me responsibly, while consumers navigate
Speaker 2: the flood of promotions with confidence and clarity. Black Friday
Speaker 2: has evolved significantly since its legacy as the first Friday
Speaker 2: after Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in nineteen twenty four.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and we.
Speaker 2: Just talked about that on the previous episode. And it's
Speaker 2: also now that we're talking about the consumers an aspect
Speaker 2: of it. When we talked about how FDR for two
Speaker 2: years moved Thanksgiving back a week or two as a
Speaker 2: way to try to drive more Christmas sales. Looking at
Speaker 2: it from this consumeristic look at things, it's all starting
Speaker 2: to align with a whole different flavor, if you will
Speaker 2: continuing It's as earlier attempts to rebrand it as Big
Speaker 2: Friday are more accurate today, reflecting its global reach and
Speaker 2: growing adoption. The Retail Association of Australia predicted to trend
Speaker 2: would continue even amid rising cost of living. The record
Speaker 2: six point seven billion dollars expected spent during Black Friday
Speaker 2: to Cyber Monday represented a five point five increase over
Speaker 2: twenty twenty three.
Speaker 3: By mid twenty.
Speaker 2: Twenty five, forecasts now pushed that figure over seven billion dollars,
Speaker 2: driven by faster digital adoption and higher consumer participation. Retailers
Speaker 2: need to anticipate the surge and balance promotion strategies with
Speaker 2: operational capacity. E Commerce has grown dramatically since the early
Speaker 2: days of Amazon in ninety seven in PayPal in ninety eight.
Speaker 2: Spending five years at Groupon provided firsthand insight into how
Speaker 2: digital behaviors have shifted and the operational and ethical challenges
Speaker 2: retailers face. The digital natives are now a dominant in
Speaker 2: retail consumer behavior. Westpac projects millennials will spend six hundred
Speaker 2: and seventy five dollars Australian dollar to average over or
Speaker 2: on average over Black Friday Cyber Monday promotions, compared with
Speaker 2: four hundred and thirty dollars in Australian currency for boomers.
Speaker 2: Retailers can leverage this insight to tailor messaging suggestions, campaigns,
Speaker 2: and channel strategies. Black Friday creep which You're not gonna lie.
Speaker 2: This is the first time I've heard of it, Raven
Speaker 2: When you said this a moment ago. Black Friday creep
Speaker 2: is also now a thing, with promotions launching earlier each year.
Speaker 2: While early campaigns can capture attention, they also risk fatigue.
Speaker 2: Retailers must time campaign strategically, mindful of proximity to Christmas
Speaker 2: and cultural buying patterns, like in the Philippines September Christmas
Speaker 2: craze in an endeavor to win those early eyeballs. I
Speaker 2: didn't know the Philippines celebrated Christmas in September. That's a
Speaker 2: thing that we all now know. Okay, I don't know.
Speaker 2: Data driven retail has also become a science in itself.
Speaker 2: Mastery of one click buying, ab testing language, best visuals,
Speaker 2: or user experience to optimize conversions have all become practice.
Speaker 2: Retailers continually seek to master. The documentary by Now also
Speaker 2: highlights these profit driving strategies must be done while considering
Speaker 2: product longevity and even post sale impact to environments. Operational
Speaker 2: caution remains critical. The ACCC I don't know who that is,
Speaker 2: filed proceedings against Woolsworth and Coals in twenty twenty four
Speaker 2: over allegedly misleading discount practices that are still progressing through
Speaker 2: the courts in twenty twenty five. These cases demonstrate price
Speaker 2: gamification and the importance of compliance. Temporary price inflations before
Speaker 2: a quote unquote discount may mislead consumers and ultimately undermine
Speaker 2: trust if not managed transparently. Yeah, that's literally what we
Speaker 2: were just talking about. And I'm glad to see that
Speaker 2: there is multiple companies Woolsworth and Coals.
Speaker 3: I didn't know Coles was in the mix on this one,
Speaker 3: but it checks out. I could see it for sure.
Speaker 2: During my years in e commerce at groupon, navigating such
Speaker 2: promotional strategies required careful oversight from both sales and operations
Speaker 2: to present, prevent rather driving misleading campaigns. Retailers would be
Speaker 2: well well served monitoring historical pricing, maintaining transparency, and aligning
Speaker 2: promotions with ethical standards. The ACCC in twenty twenty four
Speaker 2: guidance in relation to bad actors remained highly relevant. Over
Speaker 2: forty five hundred scams, counterfeit items, and fake stores were
Speaker 2: reported in twenty twenty four to twenty twenty five, up
Speaker 2: from three thousand in twenty twenty three to twenty twenty four. Wow,
Speaker 2: so they saw a fifteen hundred number uptick in scams
Speaker 2: in one year's time.
Speaker 4: Yes, scams are huge, huge thing being reported right now.
Speaker 4: So everyone be really careful because apparently scams are like
Speaker 4: in everything happening, and they're hitting you with the digital
Speaker 4: marketing ads on and they're somehow getting your information too.
Speaker 2: So yeah, absolutely, it's causing consumers significant sums. Retailers should
Speaker 2: clearly communicate authenticity, highlight secure channels, and invest in educating
Speaker 2: and protecting shoppers.
Speaker 3: I agree.
Speaker 2: The continued rapid evolution of AI introduces amplified opportunity, along
Speaker 2: with a whole new set of challenges. Deep fake chat
Speaker 2: bots or AI agents impersonating legitimate retailers are increasingly sophisticated
Speaker 2: retailers must deploy verification, human oversight, and proactive communication to
Speaker 2: mitigate their own risks in addition to their customers. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I absolutely can see that becoming a thing to AI scams,
Speaker 2: because why not. There's no person a pinpoint as the
Speaker 2: guilty party if it was an AI chatbot the whole time,
Speaker 2: you know. Consumer behavior during Black Friday is also shaped
Speaker 2: by additional behavior factors FOMO. The fear of missing out
Speaker 2: has become a defining driver of consumer behavior in the
Speaker 2: digital age and rise of social media. While some fears
Speaker 2: are innate, ranging from basic survival instincts like the fear
Speaker 2: of falling or loud sounds, to more existential fears such
Speaker 2: as loss of autonomy, separation, or even death, the fear
Speaker 2: of missing out not necessarily a strict scientific fear, is
Speaker 2: more of a learned response. With the average consumer spending
Speaker 2: approximately one hundred and forty three minutes a day immersed
Speaker 2: on social media in highly curated glimpses of others' lives
Speaker 2: and purchases, the influences of FOMO on buying decisions, especially
Speaker 2: during events like bragg Friday, can be significant. The average
Speaker 2: consumer spends over two hours damn near two and a
Speaker 2: half hours a day on their phone.
Speaker 4: Yeah wow, and like the whole.
Speaker 3: Social media, not just on their phone on socials.
Speaker 4: That entire paragraph is exactly what we've been talking about.
Speaker 4: So yeah, it's it's definitely crazy. And then it talks
Speaker 4: about herd mentality.
Speaker 2: So it's crazy because I literally don't get on socials period,
Speaker 2: And I gotta say, nobody freeing experience.
Speaker 4: I mean, but think of how much consumption of still
Speaker 4: electronic stuff that you have that you consume a day.
Speaker 2: Sure, but I mean again, I understand I'm not your
Speaker 2: average consumer, but most of my stuff on a screen
Speaker 2: is for research purposes and there are some influences that
Speaker 2: I watch, some YouTubers that I watch for the entertainment
Speaker 2: factor of it.
Speaker 3: But like that blows my mind. Who has two and
Speaker 3: a half hours every day to spend on socials?
Speaker 4: I mean, it's the same as you watching kill Tony,
Speaker 4: Like it's it's the same, but it's the same concept.
Speaker 4: Instead of watching that, somebody is watching socials because there's
Speaker 4: a whole other psychological thing that goes into you being
Speaker 4: on social media and seeing what everybody else is doing
Speaker 4: and how if you feel alone it helps with loneliness,
Speaker 4: and there's just a lot of stuff that goes into it.
Speaker 4: Social media plays and plays on our I think, our weaknesses,
Speaker 4: really and it can encourage community. Though there is a
Speaker 4: lot of positives, there is a lot of negatives. Unfortunately.
Speaker 4: It's it just comes with the territory of social media.
Speaker 2: You got me on the Kiltony one, but that's like
Speaker 2: a once a week's show. But the truth of the
Speaker 2: matter is, yeah, Monday nights, I am spoken for. I
Speaker 2: watch Kiltony pretty much religiously because I just I do
Speaker 2: love stand up comedy and I love watching.
Speaker 4: His little It's trash. The whole thing is, oh no,
Speaker 4: it is not.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of trash. Not that shock no, But
Speaker 2: that's the thing. The good ones shine through, the bad
Speaker 2: ones get roasted alive, and I love both.
Speaker 3: I love both.
Speaker 2: But anyway, continuing on here, it says, uh, equality or wow, jeez,
Speaker 2: I'm just making more important. Equally important is herd mentality.
Speaker 2: Consumers are often drawn to carnival, to the carnival of
Speaker 2: collective activity, with a small subset often perceived as more
Speaker 2: informed or expert, subtly influencing many others. Professor of neuroscience.
Speaker 2: Michael Platt notes in Big Think feature that this tendency
Speaker 2: to follow the herd emerges from our social brain networks.
Speaker 2: For retailers, this manifests in everything from trending product categories
Speaker 2: to flash promotions. Understanding which signals trigger hard behavior. Doing
Speaker 2: so ethically helps retainers design a Yeah, retailers rather design
Speaker 2: and unlock campaigns that both engage and convert buyers.
Speaker 4: Retailers can do I know you said hard behavior, heard behavior?
Speaker 4: Heard you did you said hard behavior? I was like, no,
Speaker 4: it's herd.
Speaker 3: Behavior triggers hard behavior.
Speaker 2: Was hard as nails, dude, anyway, Continuing retail sailors can
Speaker 2: harness these behavioral insights responsibly through social proof, urgency, and
Speaker 2: pure influenced strategies, but must avoid manipulative tactics that erode
Speaker 2: trust and put them in the line of fire from
Speaker 2: industry and consumer protection agencies.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's not something that they're doing. They should. They
Speaker 3: absolutely should.
Speaker 2: They're just like not though, but whatever, It's all about
Speaker 2: the almighty dollabil At the end of the day, after all,
Speaker 2: behavioral insights like these are highly actionable. Consumers may make
Speaker 2: fast emotional decisions aligned with Nobel Memorial Prize recipient Daniel
Speaker 2: Kainman's System IE and Slower Deliberate Choices System two. I've
Speaker 2: never heard of this gentleman, but okay, he is a
Speaker 2: Nobel Prize laureate.
Speaker 3: Good for him.
Speaker 2: Retailers can design campaigns appealing to both fast and slow
Speaker 2: decision making strategies of shoppers clear visuals, urgency cues and
Speaker 2: social proof for quick decisions, plus detailed product info and
Speaker 2: trustworthy content for the more deliberative buyer. University of Melbourne
Speaker 2: or Melbourne research shows that first impressions form in seven seconds,
Speaker 2: and I've heard that from multiple sorts, like whenever you
Speaker 2: go to a restaurant and you order a plate of
Speaker 2: food of something you'd never tried before, within seven seconds
Speaker 2: of looking at it, you're gonna decide if you're gonna like.
Speaker 3: It or not.
Speaker 4: Yes, seven seconds is how long people have an attention
Speaker 4: span for now for social media as well, so if
Speaker 4: you don't grab them within the first three seconds of
Speaker 4: any video, they are likely not to even exceed seven seconds.
Speaker 3: That blows my mind.
Speaker 2: I remember growing up that was always a joke, like, man,
Speaker 2: you got the attention span of a goldfish because that
Speaker 2: resets every six seconds.
Speaker 3: They have.
Speaker 2: They have engineered the human brain now to where we
Speaker 2: have an attention span of seven seconds.
Speaker 4: Seven seconds.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's not how it used to be.
Speaker 4: No, But also it's it's all about the constant high
Speaker 4: of doom scrolling, like you're consistently being fed new things
Speaker 4: like children can't sit still and watch movies hardly that
Speaker 4: if it's not flashy and very intense, they're not gonna
Speaker 4: want to watch it. Like it's the same thing as
Speaker 4: though adults. So because we're now being programmed the same way,
Speaker 4: and so your impressions of any product is you have
Speaker 4: seven seconds to make an impact, like on somebody. So
Speaker 4: how how I ended up with the pool for the backyard?
Speaker 3: Well, I mean it's the same as like, and they're
Speaker 3: doing it with the small children too.
Speaker 2: We've talked about cocoa melon, which of course we don't
Speaker 2: let our children watch because we're good parents. But if
Speaker 2: you watch cocoa melon, just as an adult, every six
Speaker 2: seconds or less, the frame changes, m h. And it's
Speaker 2: it's for that same reason. It's to keep the eyes
Speaker 2: glued to the screen. It is scary, and they are
Speaker 2: training these children from basically infantile states up until adulthood
Speaker 2: to have that level of attention span that is dangerous.
Speaker 2: But you're right, they've already got the majority of the
Speaker 2: population trained on that, i e.
Speaker 3: Doom scrolling. It's the same shit as mind blowing.
Speaker 2: Anyway, every touch point online, in app, or in store matters.
Speaker 2: Retailers must optimize user experience, product presentation, and trust signals
Speaker 2: for instant credibility. Finally, Elizabeth Cubler Ross reminds us there
Speaker 2: are only two emotions, love and fear. All positive emotions
Speaker 2: from love on negative emotions from fear. Retailers will ideally
Speaker 2: aim to design experiences that foster positive engagement and reduce
Speaker 2: fear driven behaviors that may ultimately lead to distrust, increased
Speaker 2: increased returns, or complaints. Black Friday twenty twenty five continues
Speaker 2: to offer enormous opportunity, but also risk. Ethical data driven
Speaker 2: campaigns informed by behavioral insights, pricing, transparency, and AI vigilance
Speaker 2: are essential to convert sales response, consibly, protect brand reputation,
Speaker 2: and maintain customer or consumer trust. I could have just
Speaker 2: said customer trust. Honestly, it's the same thing they say consumer.
Speaker 3: It's customer Yeah. Wow, it is a mind blowing article.
Speaker 5: It's pretty crazy, honestly.
Speaker 2: How yeah, that's also very depressing. I'm a little black
Speaker 2: pilled at this moment. Gotta be honest with you. But
Speaker 2: now let's take it back in history a bit here.
Speaker 2: This is from history dot com. If I'm not mistaken, Yeah,
Speaker 2: shouts out to history dot com. What's the real history
Speaker 2: of Black Friday? The retail bonanza known as Black Friday
Speaker 2: is now an integral part of many Thanksgiving celebrations. But
Speaker 2: this holiday tradition has darker roots than you might imagine. Ooh,
Speaker 2: that sounds ominous.
Speaker 3: Let's check it out. The first recorded use of the
Speaker 3: term black Friday was applied not to post Thanksgiving holiday shopping,
Speaker 3: but to a financial crisis, specifically the crash of the
Speaker 3: US gold market on September twenty fourth, eighteen sixty nine.
Speaker 3: Two notoriously ruthless.
Speaker 2: Wall Street financiers Jay Gould and Jim Fisk. I've in
Speaker 2: my life heard of Fisk and Gold a time or
Speaker 2: two worked together to buy up as much as they
Speaker 2: could of the nation's gold, hoping to drive the price
Speaker 2: sky high and sell it for an astonishing profit. On
Speaker 2: that Friday in September, the conspiracy finally unraveled, sending the
Speaker 2: stock market into freefall and bankrupting everyone from Wall Street
Speaker 2: barons to farmers.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: The most commonly repeated story behind the Thanksgiving shopping related
Speaker 2: to Black Friday tradition links it to retailers. As the story goes,
Speaker 2: after an entire year of operating at a loss or
Speaker 2: in the red, as is called an industry, stores would
Speaker 2: supposedly earn a profit when into the black as it's
Speaker 2: referred to, on the day after Thanksgiving because holiday shoppers
Speaker 2: blew so much money on discount and merchandise. Though retail
Speaker 2: companies indeed used to record losses in red and profits
Speaker 2: in black when doing their accounting, this version of Black
Speaker 2: Friday's origin is officially sanctioned, but not inaccurate story behind
Speaker 2: the tradition Wow. In recent years, another myth has surfaced
Speaker 2: that gives a particularly ugly twist to the tradition, claiming
Speaker 2: that back in the eighteen hundreds, southern plantation owners could
Speaker 2: buy enslaved workers at a discount on the day after Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2: Though this version of Black Friday's roots is understandably led
Speaker 2: some to call for a boycott of the retail holiday,
Speaker 2: it has no basis in fact, Yeah, I'm about to
Speaker 2: say that doesn't even sound accurate to me, Like I
Speaker 2: understand where they're coming from. There's not a slave market
Speaker 2: that was going to give a discount because of what
Speaker 2: day it was.
Speaker 3: That's bullshit.
Speaker 4: There's a lot of videos that are circulating. Actually, you
Speaker 4: could type in Black Friday history on TikTok and there's
Speaker 4: about one hundred video right out the gate that is
Speaker 4: specifically about these two images that are being shown and
Speaker 4: circulating I think since twenty thirteen about black slaves being
Speaker 4: sold specifically at a lower price on this day, and
Speaker 4: like how and all of that. But I did want
Speaker 4: to touch really quickly though on the original gold situation.
Speaker 4: It was actually President Grant that caught on to the
Speaker 4: scam and he flooded the market with gold, causing the
Speaker 4: colossal stock market crash.
Speaker 5: Actually, so it was.
Speaker 3: Right after the Civil War.
Speaker 2: He was trying to do things to stimulate the economy,
Speaker 2: so he flooded the market with gold, crashing the price.
Speaker 2: Then you had Fisk and Goold come in and buy
Speaker 2: it all up for pennies on the dollar as a
Speaker 2: way to drive the price back up.
Speaker 4: It says that they were actually fish and Gould, where
Speaker 4: the president and vice president of the railroad, and had
Speaker 4: a reputation for the two for being their most ruthless.
Speaker 5: They had actually.
Speaker 4: Plotted months long plot to rig the gold market came
Speaker 4: to a head. Gold and Fisk had been driving up
Speaker 4: the price of gold for weeks, buying up huge reserves
Speaker 4: of this precious metal. Then one day, when President Grant
Speaker 4: caught wise to the scam, he flooded the market with gold,
Speaker 4: causing the colossal stock market crash. This day became known
Speaker 4: as Black Friday because the effects were felt for the
Speaker 4: felt in the US economy for years, thousands of speculators, sorry,
Speaker 4: we're left financially ruined, and at least one committed suicide.
Speaker 4: Foreign trade ground to a halt, while it is believed
Speaker 4: that farmers may have been hit the hardest, with many
Speaker 4: seeing their value of their wheaten corn harvested dipped by
Speaker 4: fifty percent.
Speaker 3: Wow. Mm hmm, that is increds that's wild.
Speaker 4: So that's how that's one theory of how the that
Speaker 4: we're getting to the actual how Now, traditionally Black Friday
Speaker 4: came about.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm on screen right now, not to take away
Speaker 3: from what you were saying, but I was very curious
Speaker 3: because I have never heard of a slave auction going
Speaker 3: at discounted prices because of some sort of a day.
Speaker 3: So this isn't like a historically accurate thing. It just
Speaker 3: says slavery auction the true meaning behind Black Friday. But
Speaker 3: let's read in slaves at auction on Thursday the twenty fourth,
Speaker 3: instume we will sell da I can't read all that
Speaker 3: small script print.
Speaker 5: So some of the pictures that.
Speaker 4: One that says Black Friday right up above has a picture,
Speaker 4: but then when you look at it, so those pictures
Speaker 4: that you have on screen right now, there are several
Speaker 4: images that are the ones that have been cycling through
Speaker 4: the internet. And we will read from an actually all
Speaker 4: African American site that talks about this. But I did
Speaker 4: want to kind of look into it, and from what
Speaker 4: I can tell, some of these images apparently are fake
Speaker 4: and they've been cycling through and they were actually generated
Speaker 4: and then pushed out. I read a couple articles about it,
Speaker 4: just trying to see if there is any historical background
Speaker 4: and precedence to this. But from what I can find,
Speaker 4: it has been debunked as a hoax, and it has
Speaker 4: been debunked as something not real in pertaining to specifically
Speaker 4: Black Friday. Obviously, we all know that slaves were sold
Speaker 4: and bought and stuff like that, but in this regard,
Speaker 4: I have not been able to find anything that actually
Speaker 4: pertains to it. And the other website we are going
Speaker 4: to read is from an all black website that does
Speaker 4: touch base on this.
Speaker 2: All right, Well, how again, as of this moment, I'm
Speaker 2: that sounds very hoaxy, but I am willing to be
Speaker 2: proven wrong on that one. I'm not some sort of
Speaker 2: an expert when it comes to Antebellum South markets and things,
Speaker 2: But yeah, that's I just have a real hard time
Speaker 2: believing that the dude coming off the ship with a
Speaker 2: whole new group that he's about to sell is going
Speaker 2: to receive less money for his troubles because he happened
Speaker 2: to hit the port on Black Friday.
Speaker 5: There is a historical TikTok guy.
Speaker 4: I couldn't find his credibility, so I didn't want to
Speaker 4: add it in. But he does break down and actually
Speaker 4: like shows the logs itself and like goes into the
Speaker 4: actual like reading of the logs, and he's like, nowhere
Speaker 4: can I have I been able to find that this
Speaker 4: has actually proven? I did go and read a couple
Speaker 4: websites that were more credible that did actually say that
Speaker 4: this was incorrect, that it didn't pertain to Black Friday.
Speaker 5: But that's why I kind of pulled up.
Speaker 4: At least two other articles just kind of showing the background,
Speaker 4: so that way, you know, if it was historically accurate.
Speaker 4: I did want to bring it up, but I cannot
Speaker 4: at this time find anything it actually pertains to Philadelphia.
Speaker 5: Okay, that is where Black Friday originated.
Speaker 3: Wow, we were just there too. Let's get into it here.
Speaker 3: It says.
Speaker 2: The real history behind Black Friday, however, is not as
Speaker 2: sunny as retailers might have you believe. Back in the
Speaker 2: nineteen fifties, police in Philadelphia used the term to describe
Speaker 2: the chaos that ensued on the day after Thanksgiving, when
Speaker 2: hordes of suburban shoppers and tourists flooded into the city
Speaker 2: in advance of the big Army Navy football game held
Speaker 2: on that Saturday.
Speaker 3: Every year. For the record, go Navy beat Army. Not
Speaker 3: only were.
Speaker 2: The Philly cops not able to take the day off,
Speaker 2: but they had to work extra long shifts dealing with
Speaker 2: the additional crowds and traffic. Shoplifters also took advantage of
Speaker 2: the bedlam in stores and made off with merchandise, adding
Speaker 2: to the law enforcement headache.
Speaker 3: Okay never heard.
Speaker 2: That by nineteen sixty one, Black Friday had caught on
Speaker 2: in Philadelphia to the extent that the city's merchants and
Speaker 2: boosters tried unsuccessfully to change it to Big Friday to
Speaker 2: remove the negative connotations. The term didn't spread to the
Speaker 2: rest of the country until much later, however, and as
Speaker 2: recently as nineteen eighty five, it wasn't in common use nationwide.
Speaker 2: Sometime in the late nineteen eighties, however, retailers found a
Speaker 2: way to reinvent Black Friday and turn it into something
Speaker 2: that reflected positivity rather than negativity, on them and their customers.
Speaker 2: The result was the red to black concept of the
Speaker 2: holiday mentioned earlier, and the notion that the day after
Speaker 2: Thanksgiving marked the occasion when America's stores finally turned a profit.
Speaker 2: The Black Friday story stuck, and pretty soon the terms
Speaker 2: darker roots in Philadelphia were largely forgotten. Since then, the
Speaker 2: one day sales bonanza has morphed into a four day
Speaker 2: event and spawned other quote unquote retail holidays, such as
Speaker 2: small Business Saturday and Sunday and Cyber Monday. I've never
Speaker 2: heard of small business Saturday, but okay, yeah, it's.
Speaker 5: Small Business Saturday.
Speaker 4: And they actually have a new term for Sunday too, Yeah,
Speaker 4: they have It's a four day event now.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: No, Cyber Monday is like, that's a big one now,
Speaker 2: especially stores started opening earlier and earlier on that Friday,
Speaker 2: and now the most dedicated shoppers can head outright after
Speaker 2: their Thanksgiving meals.
Speaker 4: I have done it.
Speaker 5: I am a huge Black Friday shopper.
Speaker 3: Oh, I've done it before.
Speaker 2: But again, back when I was still living in Virginia,
Speaker 2: that was the last time I really like stood in
Speaker 2: line to get into a Best Buyer or a Walmart
Speaker 2: for it. There were fist fights, there.
Speaker 4: Was absolutely, yeah, back in the day, there were definitely more.
Speaker 3: No, I was because I lived in the hood. I
Speaker 3: ain't got nothing to do at the time. FD.
Speaker 2: So going back to the whole Black Friday as it
Speaker 2: may pertain to African American people. This is from Push
Speaker 2: Black Daily, Inspiring Black Stories.
Speaker 3: Just for you.
Speaker 2: What does Black Friday have to do with black people?
Speaker 2: Let's learn together, right, you've heard the story linking Black
Speaker 2: Friday to slavery, don't believe it. Although the holiday's origins
Speaker 2: do involve cops, it's more important to show what enslaved
Speaker 2: people were doing during the holiday season. In the nineteen
Speaker 2: fifties and sixties, the Philadelphia police named Black Friday because
Speaker 2: they dreaded the heavy traffic caused by people rushing into
Speaker 2: the city for post Thanksgiving Day shopping. Where does the
Speaker 2: term black and black Friday come from? While the holiday
Speaker 2: has nothing to do with us.
Speaker 3: Outright, but speaking to black people, it's not far fetched
Speaker 3: to wonder why many popular phrases associated with blackness are negative,
Speaker 3: black listed, black bald, black mail.
Speaker 2: Well, okay, a couple of those. The black bald actually
Speaker 2: goes back to free masonry, believe it or not. So
Speaker 2: when a new initiate is being voted in to his
Speaker 2: would be Mason's lodge, you either put a white cube
Speaker 2: in the box or you put a black ball in
Speaker 2: the box, and it has to be unanimous. And if
Speaker 2: they open the box and there's a single black ball,
Speaker 2: that person has been blackballed.
Speaker 3: That's where that comes from.
Speaker 2: But anyway, according to researchers, the use of black to
Speaker 2: describe bad things is subconsciously racialized. And as real world implications,
Speaker 2: especially for darker skinned people. So what we're enslaved people
Speaker 2: doing during the holiday season Black Friday didn't exist before
Speaker 2: the Civil War. During those times, our ancestors brilliantly used
Speaker 2: the holidays to get free. They strategically use the season
Speaker 2: as leverage because enslavers were away or had their guard down,
Speaker 2: They disguised themselves and used holiday travel passes to escape.
Speaker 2: We can spend our time as we please, as our
Speaker 2: ancestors knew all past, the freedom require a strategy. What
Speaker 2: cracks in the system can you find to help our
Speaker 2: community to get closer to liberation this holiday season?
Speaker 4: Okay, I will say I'm gonna touch quickly on the
Speaker 4: subconscious racialized divide. So I took several classes through when
Speaker 4: I was in Midwiffree School about this. There is actually
Speaker 4: something to be said about the unconscious bias of the
Speaker 4: color black and white and how it has been used
Speaker 4: throughout America to be deemed something negative. And actually there's
Speaker 4: a Harvard study that you can actually take yourself. It
Speaker 4: pretty much is a picture thing where you click yes
Speaker 4: no yes no yes no, yes no kind of a thing,
Speaker 4: and it's interesting. It shows if you actually do have
Speaker 4: an unconscious racial bias towards yourself, towards your community, towards
Speaker 4: a black community, if you're indifferent, if you're more prone
Speaker 4: to be more positive towards a black community, if you're
Speaker 4: more positive towards white community, if.
Speaker 5: You're more negative. It has all these different subgroups.
Speaker 4: And there's actually a study that you can watch on
Speaker 4: YouTube about it as well that a lot of African
Speaker 4: American people actually have been shown so much negative connotation
Speaker 4: with black skin that they have an actual unconscious.
Speaker 5: Bias towards more favoriting the white skin than it is.
Speaker 5: And it's a whole thing.
Speaker 4: So I will say that there is precedence when it
Speaker 4: comes to using the term Black Friday, and I can
Speaker 4: understand how it can feel in a negative in a
Speaker 4: negative way, but overall the black Friday term quote unquote
Speaker 4: is not linked inherently to racism. No.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I've actually seen certain studies be done with kids
Speaker 3: and with adults. As a matter of fact, with kids,
Speaker 3: they would show like two baby dolls and they would
Speaker 3: say which one would you prefer?
Speaker 2: Black or white? And the one baby doll is a
Speaker 2: black baby, the other one is a white baby. And
Speaker 2: more often than not, the children would lean more towards
Speaker 2: the white baby doll rather than the black even among
Speaker 2: the black community. And that was like an inherent cultural
Speaker 2: thing that they were saying is pretty much perpetuated even
Speaker 2: very young in that community.
Speaker 3: Cut to there was a study that was done with
Speaker 3: people of the black community and how they feel about.
Speaker 2: Biracial couples, right, and there was some very significant biases
Speaker 2: from a black woman marrying a white man as opposed
Speaker 2: to a black man marrying a white woman. It was
Speaker 2: a a very night and day comparison to what they
Speaker 2: deemed acceptable behavior. And then you had some that were
Speaker 2: just against both of them, and you had some that
Speaker 2: were very probe both of them.
Speaker 3: It was no issue.
Speaker 2: But for the ones that felt one way or another
Speaker 2: on that, more often than not, they felt more okay
Speaker 2: with a black woman marrying a white man, and it
Speaker 2: was very interesting to hear their reasons as to why
Speaker 2: it was.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Anyway, so to your point, I could see why people
Speaker 2: would inherently think that Black Friday has something to do
Speaker 2: with African American culture or the past. But I have
Speaker 2: to agree with you and what the articles have also said,
Speaker 2: it has nothing to do with the Antebellum South or
Speaker 2: anything of that sort, not from what we could find.
Speaker 2: So now we're going into the Associated Press article and
Speaker 2: you know, then.
Speaker 5: Touches based on what we were just talking about.
Speaker 2: So it talks about how it's also not based in
Speaker 2: racial things.
Speaker 4: It does claim, so that it just talks about the
Speaker 4: claim in and of itself. If you go back up
Speaker 4: to the top, it just talks about the claim that
Speaker 4: is selling off the slaves, and it talks about it
Speaker 4: does say that it is false that the term is
Speaker 4: linked to the financial crash of the eighteen hundreds and
Speaker 4: then associated with Philadelphia.
Speaker 5: The facts.
Speaker 4: It talks about just pretty much what we've talked about,
Speaker 4: you know itself. It says that some of the posts
Speaker 4: included a photo available through the State Liberty of Victoria
Speaker 4: in Australia that shows a group of indigenous prisoners in
Speaker 4: neck chains in Western Australia. The photo is dated from
Speaker 4: eighteen ninety eight to nineteen oh six. In eighteen sixty nine,
Speaker 4: I can't see that funny, answers, Okay, So it talks
Speaker 4: about the Yeah, So overall, it just kind of is
Speaker 4: another example for those that wanted to see more information
Speaker 4: about it. Of the two.
Speaker 5: There's a lot of.
Speaker 4: Different articles, but I just wanted to bring two different
Speaker 4: articles to it so that it didn't just seem like
Speaker 4: I was finding a single article that debunked it. There's
Speaker 4: multiple articles that share different aspects of it.
Speaker 2: You can't believe everything you see on social media. Good
Speaker 2: cult members, that's why you're here listening to this program
Speaker 2: rather than just doom scrolling.
Speaker 5: That's exactly why I'll do all the homework for us.
Speaker 3: There we go.
Speaker 2: That's our job. Our job is to do the homework
Speaker 2: that you don't have time to do. Your job is
Speaker 2: to just sit back and listen and learn, you know,
Speaker 2: and let us know in the comments what you think
Speaker 2: about things. But anyway, so now we're moving on to
Speaker 2: another article from Fast Company. Black Friday boycotts mass blackout
Speaker 2: and we ain't buying it. Protests, We'll target Trump and billionaires.
Speaker 2: Here's what we know. For the love of god, when
Speaker 2: did when did Trump make an entrance into the Black
Speaker 2: Friday shit?
Speaker 4: Well, actually it made it into last year's Black Friday,
Speaker 4: but this is actually dated from eleven twenty this year,
Speaker 4: this article, but last year there was a huge there's
Speaker 4: a whole bunch of articles talking about how Black Friday
Speaker 4: is racist, and how it's going to be all about
Speaker 4: guns and MAGA and all this stuff, and how they're
Speaker 4: going to control the entire shift of Black Friday. And
Speaker 4: it's all this stuff, and I found like different different
Speaker 4: articles about it, but I wanted to see what was
Speaker 4: pertaining right now to this year's Black Friday, since we're
Speaker 4: talking about Black Friday, and so this started to pop up.
Speaker 4: I actually haven't read through the entire article, so I'm
Speaker 4: curious to see what it actually says.
Speaker 2: Let's get into it here. It says grassroots and movements
Speaker 2: are urging Americans to refuse to shop or even work
Speaker 2: this Thanksgiving to send a message about the widening wealth gap.
Speaker 2: All Right, I could already kind of see where this
Speaker 2: article is leaning, but I don't want to make prejudgments.
Speaker 2: Let's get into it. It says, in our consumer driven culture,
Speaker 2: when the cost of goods is soaring, one of the
Speaker 2: most radical things you can do is not to buy
Speaker 2: anything on Black Friday. That's the message from Mass Blackout,
Speaker 2: a coalition of grassroots groups that are protesting the Trump
Speaker 2: administration's policies and urging you not to participate in this
Speaker 2: year's extended Black Friday sales. Okay, the blackout will start
Speaker 2: on Wednesday before Thanksgiving and in the day after Cyber Monday,
Speaker 2: so basically when all the deals are done. This is
Speaker 2: not the only holiday protest either. There's also a second
Speaker 2: boycott underway targeting Amazon, Tarja and Home Depot. It's called
Speaker 2: we Ain't Buying It, and it's happening around the same time.
Speaker 3: In fact, it's been a bigger year.
Speaker 2: It's been a big year for boycotts, and some of
Speaker 2: them have been quite effective. For example, Target just reported
Speaker 2: another lackluster quarter and declining sales, particularly due to backlash
Speaker 2: and boycotts from customers after a rollback of its diversity,
Speaker 2: equity and inclusion policies. Yes, that that is where I
Speaker 2: was afraid this was going. So because Trump made DEI
Speaker 2: go away now and tell us the boycott stores.
Speaker 4: I also want to use this though, this article as
Speaker 4: an example of persuasive narratives. Absolutely, you know, because a
Speaker 4: lot of people will only read a secular article and
Speaker 4: how it is definitely about the language and the tone
Speaker 4: in which the writer is writing to you. Obviously, this
Speaker 4: is a more direct way of showing what this tone is.
Speaker 4: For this article but there is a lot of articles,
Speaker 4: in especially research articles that have an underlying tone that
Speaker 4: you might not pick up in Essentially, I always suggest
Speaker 4: very strongly that people should read multiple articles about the
Speaker 4: same topic just to try to find at least the
Speaker 4: middle ground of information. I kind of picked this one
Speaker 4: as in the sense of having a tone to it,
Speaker 4: so that way we could kind of talk about it
Speaker 4: because I had some cult members reach out to me
Speaker 4: on Instagram and ask me about, uh, you know, research
Speaker 4: and stuff like that, and so I wanted to show
Speaker 4: what a persuasive narrative would look like.
Speaker 2: Absolutely so it says, and it's not just in the US.
Speaker 2: Many Canadians have started to forego American products and are
Speaker 2: only buying quote unquote locally, as the Buy Canadian movement
Speaker 2: has drawn record participation as a reaction to President Trump's
Speaker 2: high tariffs on their country's goods. Here's what we know
Speaker 2: about the upcoming mass blackout, and we ain't buying it boycotts.
Speaker 2: So what's happening with the mass blackouts protests? The mass
Speaker 2: blackout protests a nationwide economic Jesus, A nationwide economic action
Speaker 2: organized by a coalition of grassroots organization is calling Americans
Speaker 2: to a stop online or in store shopping except for
Speaker 2: small businesses. B Stop streaming, streaming, good lord, stop streaming,
Speaker 2: Cancel subscriptions, and make no digital purposes purs.
Speaker 4: It. Stop ye know what yet? All right? Stop work
Speaker 4: if you can, if you must spend, support small local
Speaker 4: businesses and paying cash. No spending, no work, no, no surrender,
Speaker 4: thank you.
Speaker 5: The system isn't broken.
Speaker 4: It's working exactly as design for the wealthy. The movement
Speaker 4: website says we're not targeting small businesses or communities. We're
Speaker 4: chargeting the corporate system that profit from injustice, fuel, authoritism, authoritarianism.
Speaker 4: Man I can't read either, and it's one am in
Speaker 4: the morning, and crush work power. The boycott also includes
Speaker 4: avoiding non essential travel, restaurants and normal consumer behaviors, staying
Speaker 4: off ad driven platforms unless organizing, halting spending, logging off
Speaker 4: entertainment platforms, and donating to Feeding America to support the
Speaker 4: refusing those refusing to work. What's happening with the We
Speaker 4: Ain't Buying Boycott? That we Ain't Buying Boycott campaign campaign
Speaker 4: is made up of a coalition of progressive groups, including
Speaker 4: the No Kings Alliance and Indivisible Right, which were behind
Speaker 4: other anti Trump protests earlier this year. It targets three companies,
Speaker 4: Tar Gig Target target for those that don't know.
Speaker 5: Home Depot and Amazon.
Speaker 4: Wow, it's asking Americans to withhold purchasing power from Thanksgiving
Speaker 4: through Cyber Monday to protest three realtor realators. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 4: three companies ors are really hard for us tonight. Guys.
Speaker 4: Uh that align all their corporating oh my gosh, directly
Speaker 4: with the Trump administrative administration. Target for rolling back the
Speaker 4: DEI Home Depot, for working with Ice which have been arresting, detaining,
Speaker 4: and deporting immigrants. What Home Depot, we diamond out immigrants
Speaker 4: no more.
Speaker 3: No more illegals in the park working lot man.
Speaker 5: That's you know, that's fucked up. How who's gonna who's
Speaker 5: going to do our roofs? Okay?
Speaker 2: My cousin works for a roofing company. They hire, They
Speaker 2: hire Americans. They may speak Spanish, but they are Americans.
Speaker 4: Amazon for allegedly funding the Trump administrative administration to secure
Speaker 4: corporate tax cuts. I didn't know that.
Speaker 5: When corporations aligned with cruelty and its authoritive Nope, I
Speaker 5: can't say.
Speaker 3: The word authority. Authoritarianism.
Speaker 4: That's a big word.
Speaker 5: Okay, I'm struggling tonight.
Speaker 4: They must understand that our purchasing power matters. Letitia Letitia Brown,
Speaker 4: co founder of Black Voters Matter and a member of
Speaker 4: the We Ain't Buying Coalition said in the statement, economic
Speaker 4: non cooperation is a powerful, non violent tool for for
Speaker 4: a free people, and we plan to use it to
Speaker 4: make America better for all of us, not just wealthy few.
Speaker 4: Why are these Black Friday boycotts happening now? The black
Speaker 4: The boycotts come at a gap between the richest and
Speaker 4: the poorest Americans and widening and an increasing bio.
Speaker 5: I don't even know what it says, I yeap economy.
Speaker 4: They target billionaires and businesses supporting the Trump administration, which
Speaker 4: they argue is eroding civil rights, labor protections, diversity, equity
Speaker 4: inclusion initiatives, and weakening the United States democratic institutions.
Speaker 5: In that essence, they are both political and economic boycotts.
Speaker 2: All right, you, I'm not even trying to like be
Speaker 2: a super Trump supporter with this statement. Hear me out.
Speaker 2: Trump is hooking up business owners. Yes, the wealthy CEOs
Speaker 2: for sure, but even your small businesses. That these people
Speaker 2: are saying no, no shop, local, shop, small business. Those
Speaker 2: small business owners are profiting from the tax cuts that
Speaker 2: Trump is giving two business owners. So all right, yeah,
Speaker 2: if you want to stick it to Trump, don't buy
Speaker 2: nothing for your kids on Black Friday. That is That
Speaker 2: is the message with this narrative here.
Speaker 3: And I mean, you know, everybody's free to do what
Speaker 3: they want.
Speaker 2: Honestly, if you're not gonna buy on Black Friday or
Speaker 2: Cyber Monday.
Speaker 3: Or whatever, cool do you.
Speaker 2: I personally don't think that that's going to be felt
Speaker 2: by the Trump administration.
Speaker 3: But alright, I think.
Speaker 4: I personally feel that we should be buying from small
Speaker 4: businesses anyways. I don't not any not in regards to
Speaker 4: this particular narrative. I think that we as a whole,
Speaker 4: so many of them are disappearing. Hell, even some of
Speaker 4: the big big name brands are disappearing because Amazon is
Speaker 4: just gobbling it all up, and so is Walmart, and
Speaker 4: so is Target, and like there's only going to be
Speaker 4: like three places to shop if we don't continue to
Speaker 4: support small businesses and local businesses because a lot of
Speaker 4: these people are out here trying their hardest, especially farmers markets.
Speaker 4: If you have a farmer's market local in your area,
Speaker 4: and these cute.
Speaker 5: Little pop up stands that are happening.
Speaker 4: Look at your local facebooks, because a lot of people
Speaker 4: are making these tiny little sheds and they're actually making
Speaker 4: home goods and all sorts of stuff and they restock
Speaker 4: like once a week. These are just normal people trying
Speaker 4: to make it work.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, and I fully agree with that.
Speaker 2: I mean, I try my hardest to stay away from
Speaker 2: the big stores if I can help it. And it
Speaker 2: depends on the area you live. Some people have farmers'
Speaker 2: markets all over the place. Some people you got to
Speaker 2: like look for them.
Speaker 4: So, I mean Facebook is where I've found a lot
Speaker 4: more of these little pop up markets. They're like these
Speaker 4: little pop up they're like these little sheds that people
Speaker 4: are making outside of their homes, trying to be strategic
Speaker 4: and where they put them, and they try to restock
Speaker 4: them like once or twice a week with you know,
Speaker 4: goods of any type. I've seen some that have these
Speaker 4: amazing food that they bring out. Some of them have eggs,
Speaker 4: some of them have flowers, gifts, whatever. And it's a
Speaker 4: lot about the system of you actually aren't just going
Speaker 4: to steal from this, You're going to actually give the
Speaker 4: money and take the product and stuff.
Speaker 3: So it's like an honor system thing.
Speaker 5: It's an honor system.
Speaker 3: A lot of them, wow, and that's working out for them.
Speaker 4: It's actually working out a lot. A lot of people
Speaker 4: are actually doing it and not and doing the wrong things.
Speaker 4: So I think it's it kind of helps you a
Speaker 4: little bit of the you know, people are shit vibes.
Speaker 2: So they must be in small towns. There's no way
Speaker 2: that would fly in a big city. But I mean,
Speaker 2: I'm happy to hear that that's what's going down, honestly.
Speaker 2: So now we swap over to our last article for
Speaker 2: this episode, as we wrap up Black Friday and all
Speaker 2: the historical background and the ugly tactics that these businesses
Speaker 2: are using to screw over their customer base and consumers.
Speaker 3: Let's read into it.
Speaker 2: This is from the Conversation Academic rigor journalistic Flame. As
Speaker 2: Black Friday sales kick off. These are the dodgy sales
Speaker 2: tactics to look out for. Oh, it's mostly a British publication.
Speaker 2: Ummm no, no, it's I'll.
Speaker 4: Be it's here.
Speaker 5: It's from this month though, November.
Speaker 2: You just don't hear a lot of Americans use the
Speaker 2: term dodgy. That's why I thought, but you know, good things.
Speaker 3: Once again.
Speaker 2: The annual shopping extravaganza known as Black Friday is nearly
Speaker 2: upon US this year, falling on November twenty eighth, but
Speaker 2: the sales are already well underway. What started as a
Speaker 2: single day discounted shopping event on the Friday after Thanksgiving
Speaker 2: in the United States has blown out to a week's
Speaker 2: long sales festival in stores and online, and it has
Speaker 2: spread around much of the world, including Australia. It might
Speaker 2: feel like a great time to try and score a bargain,
Speaker 2: but this week the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Oh
Speaker 2: that's what the ACCC stands for, gotcha, put retailers on notice.
Speaker 2: The consumer watchdog announced it would be watching out for
Speaker 2: various kinds of misleading sales conduct, conduct that can be
Speaker 2: used to trick consumers it found to be. If found
Speaker 2: to be engaging in misleading or deceptive sales conduct, retailers
Speaker 2: may face heavy financial penalties, but as a consumer, it
Speaker 2: also pays to understand how these dodgy tactics work, so
Speaker 2: you can can't be duped this sale season.
Speaker 3: So it is in Australian. Okay, yeah again, you don't
Speaker 3: really hear Americans use the term dodgy.
Speaker 4: I like it.
Speaker 3: I do like it.
Speaker 2: I like a lot of the British Commonwealth's slang terms
Speaker 2: that they use that Americans just kind of put off
Speaker 2: by the wayside, But you know, it is what it is,
Speaker 2: dodgy sales tactics.
Speaker 3: The ACCC says it is on the lookout for a
Speaker 3: range of misleading or deceptive sales advertising tactics. Examples include
Speaker 3: number one advertising sales as store wide quote unquote when
Speaker 3: only some items are discounted. Absolutely, I hate that one.
Speaker 2: Number two countdown clocks or timers that show a shorter
Speaker 2: period than the actual sale to create false urgency abs
Speaker 2: so fucking loly. Number three fine print disclaimers that exclude
Speaker 2: some items from the sale. Yeah, you always got to
Speaker 2: read that fine print. Number four up to x percent
Speaker 2: off discounts that only apply to a few items, or
Speaker 2: the up to text in proximate prominently displayed or is
Speaker 2: not prominently displayed.
Speaker 3: Excuse me, Yeah, that's the thing.
Speaker 2: You'll see it's like ninety percent off, but then like
Speaker 2: in very small print right before it, it'll say up
Speaker 2: to ninety percent off, but it didn't mean Yeah, it's
Speaker 2: a whole bitch.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 2: Number five price comparisons of before and after sale discounts
Speaker 2: that are not accurate, including where the price has gone
Speaker 2: up in a short period before the discount was applied. Sadly,
Speaker 2: there are many examples of allegedly misleading sales conduct occurring
Speaker 2: at peak shopping periods. Following a similar sweep of last
Speaker 2: year's Black Friday sales, the ACCC recent only find three
Speaker 2: retailers for allegedly misleading customers by advertising discounts as store
Speaker 2: wide when only so might ands were on sale. In
Speaker 2: twenty nineteen, the online marketplace Cogan offered a tax time
Speaker 2: discount of ten percent on products that their price increased
Speaker 2: immediately before the promotion by at least ten percent in
Speaker 2: most cases. Wow It was subsequent subsequently fined three hundred
Speaker 2: and fifty thousand Australian dollars for misleading conduct in breach
Speaker 2: of Australian consumer law.
Speaker 3: Good.
Speaker 2: That's excellent, So why is the ACC so strict about
Speaker 2: this kind of conduct? These examples of dodgy conduct might
Speaker 2: seem annoying, but they don't seem earth shatteringly bad, such
Speaker 2: as selling physically dangerous products. Why is the acc C
Speaker 2: so concerned about misleading conduct at Black Friday sale time
Speaker 2: and indeed retail pricing more generally? Shouldn't consumers be just
Speaker 2: be more careful? The answer lies in the come relative
Speaker 2: harms of misleading pricing conduct manipulating consumers through marketing. Sales
Speaker 2: rely on consumers thinking they are getting a good deal
Speaker 2: on products they want, and sometimes sales marketing seeks to
Speaker 2: persuade consumers the deal is better than it really is.
Speaker 2: Marketing strategies such as countdown timers, strike through prices, or
Speaker 2: promotion promoted large percentage discounts are designed to appeal to
Speaker 2: consumers emotions and to rush them into closing off a purchase.
Speaker 2: Consumers with heightened emotions or feeling pressure to grab a
Speaker 2: deal are less likely to make a rational assessment of
Speaker 2: the real value of the discount before all being offered
Speaker 2: to them. This is why truth in sales advertising is
Speaker 2: so important. Well, yeah, you're toying with people's emotions, you know,
Speaker 2: and that's never good. You're manipulating people, and yeah, I'm
Speaker 2: glad that that's against the law. Absolutely, So what consumer
Speaker 2: protection laws are for. We have strong protections against misleading
Speaker 2: conduct in Australia for good reason. If sellers can trick
Speaker 2: consumers into buying goods at discounts that are actually illusory illusory, okay, ill, no,
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 2: Those dishonest sellers gain an advantage over on a sellers
Speaker 2: selling at transparent and accurate price. This risks a market
Speaker 2: that rewards poor conduct and encourages an overall rush to
Speaker 2: the bottom. Australian consumer law takes the view that consumers
Speaker 2: should be able to take advertisements they see at face value.
Speaker 2: Consumers shouldn't have to assume they are going to be
Speaker 2: tricked by sellers. I gotta tell you, that's the way
Speaker 2: I shop, Honestly. I'm just assuming that I'm getting screwed
Speaker 2: in some way, shape or form, and that's not good.
Speaker 4: We actually have the same laws here. I just was
Speaker 4: looking them up really quick, so we have the exact
Speaker 4: same laws, and we actually have quite a few businesses
Speaker 4: that are being gone after pretty much and how to
Speaker 4: pay fines for this exact same thing. Good and same
Speaker 4: in the UK right now too, they're having the same stuff.
Speaker 3: Good. Fuck those companies for trying to screw us. I
Speaker 3: like that. Uh, let's continue here. Such an approach would
Speaker 3: not confirm conform to the object of enhancing the welfare
Speaker 3: of Australians through the promotion of competition and fair trading
Speaker 3: that underlies Australian consumer laws. So how do we stop
Speaker 3: a bad deal?
Speaker 2: If you are considering buying goods at the Black Friday sales,
Speaker 2: it is a good idea to screenshot the item before
Speaker 2: it goes on sale. Raven Lee, You're just a fucking
Speaker 2: profit over here, look at.
Speaker 3: You that way.
Speaker 4: I just happened to know how to do this, Like
Speaker 4: you know, you've.
Speaker 3: Been burned a time or two, is what it is.
Speaker 4: I have. And I've been doing Black Friday shopping since
Speaker 4: i was a kid. So yeah, I used to wake
Speaker 4: up at the buck kracking dawn literally like four am
Speaker 4: with my grandma, my mom and head out to the mall.
Speaker 5: And like it's a whole vibe. So I've been doing
Speaker 5: this quite a while.
Speaker 2: Hell yeah, that way, you can check at the sale
Speaker 2: discount is genuine and the item is actually the same
Speaker 2: as the one you want. Not an older or cheaper mind.
Speaker 2: When shopping at a sale, take time to look at
Speaker 2: the discount offered. Is it a real discount does it
Speaker 2: justify the spend coming up to the holiday period. Discounts
Speaker 2: may be marked up in an attractive color but still
Speaker 2: not represent good value. Finally, if you think you have
Speaker 2: been misled by a pricing strategy, such as a discount
Speaker 2: that isn't genuine or a fine print qualification on the
Speaker 2: discount that is advertised, you can complain.
Speaker 3: To the ACCC.
Speaker 2: Ideally take screenshots of what was advertised and what you
Speaker 2: received to support your claim to be treated fairly at
Speaker 2: sales time. Wow, and like you said, we have these
Speaker 2: same laws in America.
Speaker 5: Correct, Yes, we have.
Speaker 4: The same consumer laws here in America. We can also
Speaker 4: do the same things ammor can reamport them to small
Speaker 4: business bureaus to show that they are being unethical when
Speaker 4: it comes to discounts. So we have the same stuff.
Speaker 4: I just happened to be that it was an Australian article.
Speaker 2: Absolutely wow, ravenly excellent work on the research on this one, honestly,
Speaker 2: and I think we all learned a few things on
Speaker 2: this episode. I didn't know that Black Friday stem from
Speaker 2: the gold situation, or Philadelphia from the Army Navy game.
Speaker 4: That was a Yeah, football influenced our entire situation with
Speaker 4: Black Friday.
Speaker 3: God, that most American shit I ever heard.
Speaker 4: My God, damn, literally the most American shit. I hope
Speaker 4: I ever been learning something though today because I learned,
Speaker 4: I mean I already knew a good bit about this stuff,
Speaker 4: but I was able to, like, you know, refresh and
Speaker 4: learn some more new stuff because I didn't know actually
Speaker 4: about the gold thing either.
Speaker 2: So and also with the price gouging and the crazy
Speaker 2: up charge and then a ten percent discount even though
Speaker 2: they just increased the price ten percent last month, that
Speaker 2: that's a that's a conspiracy that so many people believe,
Speaker 2: even though they can't verify it improve it.
Speaker 4: Well, they've been proving it though the last two years.
Speaker 4: They've been showing it. They've been going in and the
Speaker 4: whole thing about removing the price, like the original red
Speaker 4: price is in front, black price is the original behind it.
Speaker 4: They slide them both out and they've shown multiple places
Speaker 4: that it's the same exact price. And that's the thing
Speaker 4: about colors though, Like I was saying, colors and marketing,
Speaker 4: it gets you emotionally, It stimulates you emotionally, and you're like, fuck,
Speaker 4: I really need to buy this right now, or look
Speaker 4: at that price. Look at that Look how alluring it is,
Speaker 4: and I really really want to go get that because man,
Speaker 4: it's at a such good discount just going into Black Friday.
Speaker 4: I hope that all the cult members kind of think,
Speaker 4: you know, just with their third eye open about what's
Speaker 4: going on, what they're trying to push with us, and
Speaker 4: what they're really doing when it comes to consumerism and
Speaker 4: how it's going to impact us and everyone else.
Speaker 3: Absolutely absolutely good cult members.
Speaker 2: We want to know what you think about this and
Speaker 2: not to jump in on the whole consumerism thing.
Speaker 3: We do have a couple of sponsors that do need
Speaker 3: their fair shake.
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Speaker 2: Listen, I'm not telling you this to try to give
Speaker 2: you some sort of a sense of urgency, because I
Speaker 2: don't have a hand in what the stock price of
Speaker 2: silver and gold is as of this moment. When we
Speaker 2: started this affiliate program with seven K and we got
Speaker 2: our own website and all these things, silver was a
Speaker 2: low over thirty dollars an ounce. It is currently over
Speaker 2: fifty dollars an ounce. That's not something that we did.
Speaker 2: That's just what the world is doing. As far as
Speaker 2: precious metals are concerned. It is still affordable as of
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Speaker 2: cult members, as we are coming upon Black Friday, and
Speaker 2: if you're listening to this on Black Friday, then we
Speaker 2: want to know what you think about all these things.
Speaker 2: Where's the conspiracies lie? Is anything that we've talked about
Speaker 2: today something that resonates with you? Have you seen some
Speaker 2: predatory Black Friday practices being done by your local shops
Speaker 2: and stores and things like this. Have you seen cyber
Speaker 2: Monday take advantage of people? Have you been one of
Speaker 2: these people? We want to hear from you, good cult members.
Speaker 2: And the best place to let us know where would
Speaker 2: be two Please hit the five stars at the who
Speaker 2: Licesnscribes commentsable post review shares, it defend the family shares.
Speaker 3: If we're here's the deal.
Speaker 2: The more activity, the algorithm seas across all of our
Speaker 2: listening platforms, the more we get promoted and more potential listeners.
Speaker 3: Who could that become potential coll members actor as you. Finally,
Speaker 3: as and gentlemen, why are you ready to go? Check
Speaker 3: out minimistics job.
Speaker 2: And show all get in the same level of respect
Speaker 2: over there with the five star views and the positivity
Speaker 2: in the comments.
Speaker 3: Come check out the Cage to Night and come.
Speaker 2: Join each of us for our individual Patreon lives we
Speaker 2: host every Wednesday night at night pm Central links to
Speaker 2: those whore in.
Speaker 3: The description as well, and we thank you for everybody's
Speaker 3: already gone and done so.
Speaker 2: And with all of this being said, this was another
Speaker 2: beautiful episode of the Cult of Conspiracy. And my name's
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