The Persuasion Of Manipulation

Want to know how the media and the government manipulate or persuade you?

Look no further than the same tactics marketers use!

And I happen to be a marketer…

So sit down, pour a glass of milk, light a cigarette, take off your shoes…

And let’s get down to business.

One of the most powerful tactics out there is something called an ego-investment.

Think about it like this…

An ego-investment is when someone internalizes a mental framework so thoroughly, that it becomes an integral part of their personality.

Because their personality revolves around whatever ideology they identify with, it creates a heavy form of bias.

We then use this self-engineered bias to help our prospect conveniently arrive at the decision to buy our product.

I’m going to explain this by using a productivity coach trying to sell a product and your standard entrepreneur as our prospect.

A lot of entrepreneurs buy into the idea of “hustle-culture” where they believe that if they’re not working, they’re distancing themselves from their goals.

It becomes a part of their identity to be someone who works all the time.

They buy posters that say “sleep is for the broke.”

They buy extra strength coffee to power on throughout the day and they pour it into mugs that says, “no one cares, work harder.”

They follow motivational pages and accounts that all seem to regurgitate the same quotes about success with a Lamborghini in the background.

Because these people have been told to dream big, they have impossibly large goals like buying yachts, mansions, jets, cars, and traveling all over the world.

However, these people hardly give themselves time to think, because they don’t believe that giving themselves space to think is the answer, the answer can only be hard work.

They identify with hard work.

So when a productivity coach wants to market to these people, just telling them “hard work is not the answer” will immediately be rejected because it goes against the amount of time, energy, and effort that it took to build up the prospect’s ego investment.

Some prospects who are open-minded will accept this message, but most won’t.

The smarter coach who’s a better marketer would position it like this…

“What if you could get 48 hours of work done in one day?”

Now our prospect is thinking about how much this aligns with their identity.

“I could be more productive while working? Meaning I could get more work done with less time, so I can free up time for more work? Count me in!”

See what I mean?

In a nutshell, sell them what they want and what they already have a bias towards.

So, now let’s look at this from a global political level.

All of a sudden I’m seeing articles about “eating bugs” and how it’s going to save the environment.

Think about my previous explanation with the productivity coach.

If I told someone to eat bugs, they wouldn’t do it…

“Ew gross!”

But if I tell them “We’re damaging our environment with cows and so many protein-based foods, we need to be more sustainable by eating something like bugs.”

All of a sudden what was a “hell no” is now a “wow that makes sense”

Don’t fall for this stupid shit.

When you understand marketing, you understand manipulation.

When you understand manipulation, you’re able to see clearly.