The Persuasive Power of Desire
Much of the detail of school lessons have long since been forgotten by me, but I do remember a unit of work in Year 11 (5th Form) English on advertising. Part of literacy was to be able to decode a visual text, so we were given a range of full page magazine advertisements. Delightfully there were examples from different decades spanning back to the 1940s or so.
I can remember being immediately struck by the difference in ‘old’ and ‘new’ advertising in two ways. Firstly, by the appalling sexism in old adverts – it seems men didn’t know that a kitchen existed and didn’t have a clue what dish soap was for in the 50s! But secondly, the style of advert had significantly changed from a communication of function to a communication of desire.
If marketing is defined as “the process of communicating the value of a product or service to customers,” then in the 50s the ‘value’ was largely determined by the usefulness of the product, whereas in 2023 the ‘value’ is determined by how the product will make you feel.
Marketers have embraced the persuasive power of desire.
That’s why once can choose between ‘Eve’ and ‘Sweet Temptation’ apples before giving up on healthy eating and heading for Hell’s Pizza and washing it down with some Devil’s Food Cake.
One of the most persuasive ways of increasing desire is to use FOMO (Fear of missing out). We want what they’ve got. Primatologist Frans de Waal has shown this beautifully in an experiment (check out the video on YouTube) of two monkeys given a simple task of returning a rock to a handler. If both monkeys are given a slice of cucumber as a reward they are happy. But if one gets cucumber and one gets a grape, things don’t go quite as smoothly!
Today’s readings are about temptation, desire, and FOMO. But they are also about the supreme grace of God. It is hard to be tempted when we already have all that we would ever need. As Paul puts it in 1 Cor 3 - For everything belongs to you - the world, or life and death, or the present and the future. Everything belongs to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.
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