One of the effects of Vipassana is that you begin to see how applicable it is to so many aspects of life. But I was quite surprised in seeing its linkages to advertising in a
Slate article this morning.
First, some background:
While Vipassana is not big on theory (focusing instead on practice), at its essence, it is about how our mind fundamentally responds to sensations in the body. Therefore, it is not the new car that makes us happy, but rather the sensation of how that makes us feel, which brings happiness. Thus the never-ending pursuit of happiness, or rather, the sensation that brings about this happiness (a Yale psychology professor states the two paths of happiness are: (1) constantly doing something different to appeal to this aspect of our mind; or (2) focus on different pursuits of happiness, e.g. family rather than material objects).
In this same line, a really interesting article in Slate on
how habits are formed and what we can learn from the ad-man who literally made toothbrushing the habit it is today.
He talked about an experiment with a monkey, who received blackberry juice every time he identified shapes on a screen. Once the monkey became used to this, the scientist adjusted the experiment. Rather than receive the blackberry juice as soon as he identified the shapes, the monkey would receive it after a slight delay, or sometimes not at all.
When this happened, the monkey became angry and mopey. "When the juice didn't arrive, that joy became a craving that, if unsatisfied, drove Julio to anger or depression."
So what's the link with toothpaste? As the author describes:
Something similar, it turned out, was happening when people started using Pepsodent. About a decade after Pepsodent went on sale, competing toothpaste companies launched a massive project to figure out why it was such a success. Eventually they tripped over something interesting: the Pepsodent recipe.
Unlike other toothpastes of that period, Pepsodent contained citric acid, as well as doses of mint oil and other relatively exotic chemicals. Pepsodent’s inventor had used those ingredients to make his toothpaste taste minty and to make sure the paste wouldn't become gluey as it sat on shelves.
But those chemicals had another, unanticipated effect as well: They’re irritants that create a tingling sensation on the tongue and gums.
When researchers at competing companies started interviewing customers, they found that people said that if they forgot to use Pepsodent, they realized their mistake because they missed that cool, tingling sensation in their mouths. They expected—they craved—that slight irritation. If it wasn’t there, their mouths didn’t feel clean.
Claude Hopkins, it turns out, wasn’t selling beautiful teeth. He was selling a sensation. Once people craved that cool tingling—once they equated it with cleanliness—brushing became a habit.
Interestingly, the Buddha would have to agree.
