Planting a Problem

     This week in my English 313 pop culture class, my professor showed us scenes from the musical "The Music Man.” I have never seen this film before, so I was eager to find out the reason why we were watching it. The scene we watched was when Harold Hill starts singing and convinces the whole town that the new pool table for billiards will bring nothing but trouble for everyone. I was amazed how he achieved this so quickly and successfully! He planted a seed into the townspeople’s heads by saying that if they didn’t follow him, their children would become corrupt! Most parents feel some sort of parental responsibility to keep their kids in check, so they had no problem listening to Harold if it was for the good of their children. This correlates directly to salespeople and the marketing world. Just like Harold, marketers pay attention to consumers’ needs and have a target audience that they are trying to appeal to. After they convince their audience that they have some kind of problem, the salespeople introduce their product or idea and are very good at convincing people that their way is the solution to the problem. I happen to be a marketing major, so I know how crucial it is for companies to empathize with consumers and seem like they are catering to their needs. Pulling on heart strings and bringing the well-being of one’s family into play definitely works for many salespeople’s advantage, as it did for Harold. These days it seems like companies are ruling the world. They introduce us to a “problem” that we may not have even been aware of, and make us believe that that problem is important enough for us to pay attention to and fix by using their product.  It is definitely something to think about, so maybe next time you won’t be so quick to feel a “need” for this weeks’ hot new item.