In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, we take a deep dive into the world of marketing, and how it can be so powerful, it can even make us think we are being targeted by subliminal messages sent to us by companies like Coca-Cola and Pepsi.
00:01:43.000He might be going a little bit too far, but it's only a little bit if that's the case.
00:01:51.000And, see, there's a recent example that I've discovered in my own life where something is just perfectly marketed towards me
00:01:59.000that serves as an object lesson of how effective this stuff is.
00:02:05.000Now, I need to give you a bit of background about what brand of cigarettes I smoke and why I smoke them.
00:02:12.000You see, my favorite cigarettes on the planet are the Canadian brand of Dunhills.
00:02:18.000Not Dunhill International. It's actually unique to Canada, and you can only buy them there, sadly.
00:02:24.000So, when I moved to the United States, I needed to figure out a new brand of cigarettes.
00:02:30.000And I went through various brands. I tried Camel, Mavericks. They had a Patriotic Eagle, so why not?
00:02:36.000But I eventually settled on Marlboro Edge.
00:02:44.000Now, I typically prefer the longer cigarettes, the hundreds.
00:02:48.000But despite that, despite the fact that these don't come in hundreds, I really like the flavor.
00:02:55.000They're dark. They're smooth. And, you know, I kind of like the black packaging.
00:03:01.000But ultimately, the flavor is why I started smoking these cigarettes.
00:03:08.000Well, what do you know? About two months after I started smoking them,
00:03:14.000they introduced a new marketing campaign on their packaging, which you'll see it right here.
00:03:22.000And can you think of something that, like, it's like they custom designed it for me.
00:03:28.000So, let me examine this picture with you.
00:03:32.000First off, you know, writing in a journal at a bar, yeah, I'm one of those idiots that does that.
00:03:40.000Okay? You guys, you've seen my notebook in the past.
00:03:43.000You know, this is how I do my thinking, is I sit there, I'll have maybe a beer or something, and I'll jot down notes.
00:03:51.000It's how I get all my creative juices out.
00:03:53.000So, yeah, I'm one of those assholes that brings a leather journal to the bar with him.
00:04:00.000Next, underneath that, it almost looks like one of those Coles notes for Shakespeare.
00:04:06.000And so, again, this is a guy writing in a journal who's very literary, and I'm a bit of a literary guy.
00:04:14.000Next, he's wearing casual clothing, but also a suit jacket.
00:04:18.000So, he's dressed nicely, you know, and when it's not 42 degrees out centigrade, I tend to wear a jacket most of the time.
00:04:28.000He's got a fancy pen, and I really have to discipline myself into buying Bic pens, because I like fancy pens way too much.
00:04:36.000I like the whole aura, the mystique of writing.
00:04:41.000Look, he's got a silver Zippo, which is indistinguishable from my own, and he's drinking whiskey out of the exact same whiskey glasses that I use.
00:05:00.000I did not have this when I started smoking them, and I wound up sticking with them because I really like the flavor.
00:05:06.000And yet, the marketing demographics, when they break people down into lifestyles, they are so amazingly accurate at doing this that they nailed me.