How Gullible Are We?

Today Washington State is having a primary election. Aside from the horrible date (I am convinced politicians love having primaries when only their core constituents will be around to vote, but more on that later), this is also the first all mail in ballot vote for this state. Early indications are that this is a popular idea. A local ballot drop off box was stuffed to the brim by 8 AM this morning!

Here in the City of Seattle we have a hotly contested mayoral race. Which is unusual, given we have an incumbent. But, after two weeks last winter where snow clogged traffic (worse yet, holiday packages were not delivered because it was during the last two weeks of December and no garbage was picked up for three or four weeks) and a contentiously bitter dispute over how to replace a major earthquake damaged thoroughfare, our current mayor suffers from low favorable ratings.

Seattle is a very blue town. During the last presidential campaign it was almost a city ordinance to have an Obama sticker on your car. So what's an incumbent mayor to do? Especially one who came late to the game of being "green," but once he embraced the idea, seems bent on making sure he gets every photo-op and press release out about his so-called green agenda. His marketing research, then, has told him that he needs to use the words: "progressive values," every chance he gets. In one television ad he says he wants to be the mayor of Seattle and champion it's progressive values as he gazes up at signs showing where to bicycle.

And chances are voters will fall for those lines. They have been polled, numbers crunched, and sure as heck, "progressive values" will appeal to Seattle voters. Mayor Nickels has probably spent hundreds of thousands of dollars just to learn that using the line "progressive values" will get him re-elected.

Mayor Nickels isn't the only Seattle candidate who is using those terms. I heard at least several others mouth the exact same language. This week, at least, Seattle is about "progressive values."

Acutely aware of marketing language, I was struck with another ad I heard today. It was for a local appliance dealer. During the height of the real estate bling bling when they couldn't sell fancy Italian stoves, wine storage units, and expensive stainless hoods fast enough, I went into the store looking for a replacement for my broken refrigerator. The minute I told them I didn't want to spend more than some magical price they had in mind, I was toast. I couldn't have gotten a sales person to wait on me if I screamed. But now, now they are advertising that they are all about value. Value to the customer in terms of service, quality merchandise, delivery and installation. And the reason they are all about value is because their marketing research (or someone's marketing research) has told them that in a recession, consumers are looking for value. I finally counted and in a 60 second commercial, this ad used value 20 times! They got value out of their ad, that is for sure! I would hazard to guess, however, if I went back to the store I still wouldn't get service because I don't want to buy fancy Italian stoves!

Moral of story? Remember, we're being marketed to 24/7 now days. From President Obama to the appliance store, they all have their marketing research. They know what terms work on us and what doesn't. Think for yourself. Laugh when you hear terms used over and over. Sometimes the issues are really important, like health care, local politics, or the next national issue, immigration overhaul. Working your way through the hype is easy, ignoring the sophisticated marketing, targeting directly at your "profile," is hard. But it's important to do...