This
is not a happy article. It does not have a happy beginning, and neither does it
end happily. In today’s #happiness-as-the-collective
zenith-of-all-marketing-promises, you would rightfully wonder, why would anyone
read this? But, the author hopes that
you would indulge him beyond this first paragraph.
In this 21st century, we are
chasing happiness, as opposed to seeking it
In
the last count, there are 66,090 books guiding us towards happiness, 5.6
million YouTube videos promoting happiness concepts, thousands of self-styled experts
telling us how to attain happiness, countless ads from as many brands urging us
to buy them to attain happiness nirvana, and finally, gazillions of Facebook
posts from all of us informing the world on how we are happy. Indeed, in this
above sentence itself, the author has used happiness five times!
With
so much of it going around, it is safe to deduce that most marketing drives us to consume happiness.
Several
researchers have pointed out that this blind pursuit of unattainable happiness leads
to the exactly opposite sentiment of vague dissatisfaction. Hence, begging the opposite
question, “Would we be better off not chasing happiness, but living according
to the dictates of our lifestages?” As an illustration, would we not be happier
(ah, the famous word again!) if we were to be excitable and curious in our
growing up years, to be learning and rebellious in our adolescence, to bask in
the achievements of our responsibilities in our family years and to be
satisfied and contended in our sunset years?
What
is the difference, one may ask. Are they all not some form or shape of
happiness? If we were to agree that only the definitions of being happy changes
over life stages, we also have to admit that the ways to attain them cannot be the
uni-dimensional pursuit of materialistic happiness.
If
the meanings and pathways of various kinds of happiness are different, we should
question the monolithic ‘happiness industry’ that claims to have the magic
formula or product to make us happy.
And,
when wondering about this question, one recognizes the
inherent artificiality and triviality of all marketing. The chicanery
and deceit inbuilt in this monotheistic ‘happiness’ model makes it just one
more of the fabricated insecurities created by the marketing industry.
From
this realization, the consumer is only an epiphany away to understand that ‘happiness’ is a false god to chase.
So,
what is the way out of this unhappy mess, one may ask?
Let
us start with the considerations. Firstly, rather than create new insecurities,
marketing and brands need to address real, potent and present consumer needs. Secondly,
addressing these real concerns needs to yield an economic profit. And, lastly,
the overall ecosystem (call it society, culture, country or market) needs to
improve its lot because of this activity.
The true north of a new marketing paradigm lies
in this triangulation of consumers, marketing and society.
As
capitalism realizes the need to be in tune with contemporary social concerns
(rising inequality, opportunity bias, climate change etc.), marketing too has
to reinvent itself into something the author loosely calls ‘responsible
marketing’.
Responsible
marketing realizes the need for brands to address real consumer concerns with
honesty while together working for social good, at mutual profit. It is purpose
driven, ethical, collaborative and inherently, good.
In
other words, marketing needs to refashion itself from being dealers of happiness to being the stewards of purposeful
living.
But
then, chemistry students among us realize that closed systems love
their entropy and any change in this equilibrium is not a very happy
thought! Que sera, sera.
This post was also recently published in http://marketingbuzzar.com/2014/11/the-case-of-a-false-god/
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