Buying In - (Page x) x rob walker we are telling those stories to (and no, it’s not about keeping up with the Joneses). “New” consumer notwithstanding, it remains commonplace to complain that Americans are “obsessed” with consumption or shopping. I don’t think that’s actually true. We certainly consume quite a bit, but to qualify as obsessed we’d have to really think seriously about why we buy what we buy. Despite all the technological progress we enjoy, we still don’t really do that very often. So cracking the Desire Code helps us see our own behavior more clearly. It might even help us change it. When marketing experts in particular talked about the birth of a new consumer, what they were really talking about was the reinvention of their own business. Many popular business gurus have become fond of declaring that the advertising business is, as one announced not long ago, “on its way to extinction.” What these people mean is the end of “traditional” advertising: somebody at a big company thinking up a new slogan or jingle for a soft drink or some other product, advertisements placed in the mass media, 90 percent of the buying public promptly getting the message, and the “happy consuming engines” of the past snapping up Coca-Cola or Scope or Model A’s. One reason this no longer works, we’re told, is that the new consumer doesn’t care what some ad tells us about who won the Pepsi Challenge or what four out of five dentists recommend. The proof is in the slowing sales of some venerable brands as well as the high failure rate of product introductions. The trade, business, and mainstream press have each seconded this judgment. Thanks to “the explosion in information
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