BEAT THE CONSUMER CREDIT CON
HOW MARKETERS PLAY TRICKS ON YOUR BRAIN
NIC ADAMS © 2011
Alternative Views Publishing Smashwords Edition
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THE CONSUMER CREDIT CON
HOW MARKETERS PLAY TRICKS ON YOUR BRAIN
What is a con? We call it a con because it comes from gaining your confidence and using your trust to steal your money. Willingly. The victim of a con willingly gives over his money to the con man.
And that is exactly how the consumer credit con works. You are giving your money to the con man willingly. Why? Because you trust the consumer system, and as long as you trust the consumer system keeping your money for yourself is hopeless.
We are here to help you distrust the consumer system; to help you see right through it, looking at the things you really have known all along about how they manipulate the money right out of your pocket. Probably you just have never really wanted to admit how easy the manipulation really is. Why? Because it feels so good. Play now, pay later. Who can resist?
What is the consumer system and why shouldn't you trust it? Very simple.
The consumer system is:
the mass production of aspirational products gussied up in clever marketing;
promoted through mass media programming high intensity distraction;
distributed through retail space designed as entertainment; and
financed by deceptive credit terms disguised in technological innovation
in order to intentionally create the monthly paycheck consumer.
Read that sentence again. Memorize it. Better yet, type out the sentence and tape it on the television because the con starts again every time you turn on the television. Write it in the palm of your hand every time you walk into a store until you know without thinking about it that it's all a con and you are the mark. Why? We've all seen the film The Sting, right? That's you every time you walk into a retail establishment—Robert Shaw desperately laying down his money so he won't miss out on the chance of a lifetime. You're just in a play, baby. Every aisle, every product display, every check out credit card swiper there is just a prop. It's all fake, It's all an elaborate hoax with one hidden purpose—to get you to hand over your money willingly.
Let's break down the different concepts inherent in the consumer system.
The consumer system is the mass production of aspirational products
1. Aspiration products. Here at Consumer Motivation Research we often wonder if anyone born after 1980 knows the difference between a necessity and an aspirational product. In some ways, insofar as deep at the heart of the consumer system lies the television and Baby Boomers are the children of the television age, perhaps it is also true that anyone born after 1950 confuses aspiration and necessity. Aspirational marketing was born in the 1950's explosion of automobile brands and sold to postwar consumers feeling deprived after years of rationing and car designs that never changed. Every marketer understands the difference between their aspirational audience and their consumption audience. Every company understands they earn earn higher profits (through higher margins) on premium brands compared with simple commodity brands. Do you know the difference? Until you do, you are still just a mark in the con.
For instance, if you own anything made by Apple Inc., you own an aspirational product rather than a commoditized product. And you paid a premium for that. Is Apple a consumer con? Yes, it is. Don't get us wrong, at Consumer Motivation Research we love our I-Phones. But they are the luxury of luxuries and we only buy them with free-cash flow kept out of the hands of other cons.
Why is owning an Apple a consumer con? Because the marketing convinced you that if you owned an Apple product you would be a better person—cooler (and Apple is certainly cool), smarter, hipper. We are picking on Apple because everything about their product marketing is so smart, elegant, and ubiquitous in our culture. It is the basic consumer con—the products you own do not, in fact, make you a better person. The aspirational products you own do not, in fact, give you a better life. That's the essential falsehood. It is a lie. As a matter of fact, for the vast majority of people on the planet, aspirational products make your life worse, cause you to suffer more, and get in the way of leading the kind of life you want to live. Until you see through that basic consumer con about Apple products, you cannot get started with frugal living.