Poop in the Pool: The Psychology of Illusions (Part 1)

Illusions are everywhere in marketing.

I'm not talking about the kind of illusions David Copperfield performs nightly. I'm talking about the things organizations do to make customers think something is true when it's not.

Because my wife and I are going to see Penn and Teller perform in Las Vegas soon, I thought I'd expose some of the most popular illusions in marketing and then identify what we can learn from them. Let's go...

Example: Poop in the Pool
A friend of mine recently told me this story from his time as a lifeguard at his neighborhood pool:
Whenever someone pooped in the pool, we cleared the area and then fished it out of the water. Then, we were trained to grab an empty two liter bottle we had on hand, go into the bathroom, fill it with water, and dump it in the area in which the poop was found. We'd wait a few minutes, and then open the pool back up.
Yikes! My friend went on to say that the pool was already treated heavily with chemicals and if they if they actually dumped more into the water, it would destroy the PH balance, causing bigger problems. They were trained to pretend like they were dumping chemicals into the water because that's what people expected them to do in order to feel like the situation had been resolved (or, perhaps... dissolved?). Boom.
 
The "We're Doing Something About This Problem" Illusion 
This illusion stems from the fact that when things go wrong, we expect them to be fixed. "Somebody needs to do something about this!" We want answers and we want action. We can quickly move on from problems if we feel like there has been an adequate response. 
 
Add This To Your To-Do List 
Problems always arise. It's our response that matters most. I'm not advocating for fake responses like dumping pretend chemicals into a pool. I'm advocating for genuine responses to making things right when they go wrong.

Often times, it's our response to bad situations that define us. The best we can do is respond quickly, honestly, and in the best interest of customers. We don't need illusions to do that.
 
There's never a lack of ideas. 

 PS Special thanks to Kyle Welter for inspiring this post. 

Image: Caddyshack pool scene

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Porta Potties: Hilarious Product Names

Image
I think the most entertaining product names in any one industry belong to the portable toilet industry. Porta potty names are hilarious! Here are eleven real portable toilet companies I found: The Honey Bucket Johnny on the Spot A Royal Flush Honey Do's Gotta Go Don John's Super Loo Pit Stop Pot-O-Gold Oui Oui (my favorite name) Floaters (slogan: "You Float 'm, We Tote 'm") See how much I love my readers? I researched porta potties for a long time to find these companies. You're welcome! Add This To Your To-Do List Am I right? Are porta potty names the most entertaining? Or is there another industry with even better names? It just goes to show you — sometimes the stinkier the industry, the better you'll stand out with a clever name. There's never a lack of ideas. PS If you're in the mood to see some hilarious slogans from septic tank businesses, check out this Reddit .
Read more

Only Old People Choose Butter Pecan Ice Cream

Image
Adapt or Die   Those who know me best often hear me proclaim my theory that only old people choose to eat butter pecan ice cream. Oh sure, some younger people enjoy its taste, but nobody under the age of 55 ever goes to the grocery store or Baskin Robins and buys butter pecan ice cream. The flavor is simply outdated. What does this mean for ice cream manufacturers? It means they should keep producing the flavor to satisfy current demand, but they had better create new flavors to adapt to changing tastes. That’s why they’ve created flavors like French silk and cookie dough — flavors that didn’t exist 15 years ago. In short, they adapt or die. Add This To Your To-Do List Have you taken a good look at your products or services lately? Are you still investing heavily in butter pecan ice cream and counting on it being your best seller for years to come? If so, you need to invest in innovation as quickly as possible. It could be as simple as offering new items on your menu, new s...
Read more

How to Advertise Your High School Reunion

Image
Welcome Back, Cotter Lately I’ve been spending a lot of time helping to advertise my upcoming high school reunion. For those of us who went to school before Facebook was around, this can be a challenging thing to do – especially with a graduating senior class of 900 students. Information hub. Create a website with a simple URL so that it can be easily referenced in all of your communications. Include all information about the reunion on that website – it will serve as your information hub. You will only have to update information in one place if you consistently refer your classmates to this website for information. Here’s an example . Share your URL with your school. Share the URL of your website with your high school so that they can post it on their website. School marquis. Ask to have the URL of your website placed on the marquis outside of your school for a week during the summer. Not much else goes on during the summer, anyway, so your school will probably be eager to put up ...
Read more