If you open any fisherman’s tackle box you will most definitely find fishing lures. What is a fishing lure, it’s a shiny object meant to attract and to catch fish. Every fisherman knows that fish are attracted to shiny objects. And they use this knowledge to their advantage.
Simultaneously, marketers understand that the same psychology applies to human beings. It doesn’t matter if it’s a diamond ring, or shiny car, or a flashy suit, or lustrous gold jewelry. The psychology is exactly the same.
The lure is not intended either to be nutritious or even to feed the fish. It is designed solely for the purpose of attracting the fish’s attention and capturing it. The same psychology is applied to commercial objects.
Have you ever been mesmerized by the moonlight on a lake, or light reflecting off of the ocean waves? Of course you have, because our brains are wired to be attracted to reflections.
It is a simple matter of applied psychology. Diamond companies have been using this psychology for an extremely long time, entire nations have gone to war over a shiny object called gold. It is deeply embedded in the psychology of human beings to be attracted to shiny objects.
Marketing and sales companies use this psychology in order to gain profit and status from everyday people. People will go into deep debt over the next shiny object. Think about the status symbols which people like to flash in public. The most popular cell phone, the shiny new car with all the bells and whistles. The shiny perfect house that puts people in debt for thirty years or until they die. All for the sake of showing off to other people who are equally impressed by other shiny objects.
But the reality for the majority of people not only in the United States but around the world is that these shiny objects lose their luster. The three carat diamond will not feed your kids, the brand new Porsche will not save your marriage, the Armani suit or $1,200 dress will not make you feel more complete and whole in mind and spirit. It will eventually lose its luster.
They are simply shiny objects designed to attract other people who also equally enjoy shiny objects as a matter of status only. Psychologically, they’re in the same boat as a trout or salmon attracted to the shiny fishing lure. But unlike the fisherman, the marketers are trying to capture profits. They are literally fishing for high profits. Diamonds are simply carbon, 100% carbon. They are not a rare mineral in any sense of the word. But it is polished to attract the mind and imagination of a particular mindset who are willing to give large sums of cash for a shiny object.
A Rolex and a Timex will both give you the exact same time, one is a luxury statement, while the other is a productivity statement. The Ford Escort and the Porsche both are meant to get people from point A to point Z. It’s simply a matter of one is a matter of practicality and the other is meant to attract and to stand out and attract people who are equally influenced by the allure of glitz and glamor. The difference is the level of avoidable debt and supposed status.
I don’t think anything will change anytime soon. You have both mindsets operating equally throughout the entire span of history.
The average fisherman will continue to use shiny objects to catch a fish, and the marketers will continue to use shiny objects to reel in large profits.
It’s all a simple matter of what one is trying to attract: nourishment or fashion — sustenance or debt.
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