Teachers, Text, & Bullshit (Holiday Edition) 

The "Teachers, Text, & ..." part of title/subject line today's edition of Marketing Under The Influence refers to a format that is highly likely become a recurring series focused on, you guessed it: teachers and texts that influence me and the marketing lessons we can take away from them, if applicable.

I mean, it’s pretty much a given there will be more. I’ve already decided the part that comes after the ampersand in the title will be unique to each edition. Sometimes it'll be relevant to the topic we're exploring. Other times, it'll be a non sequester. I might even make a game of it and let you cast your vote for whether the unique title for any given edition references the topic or is complete bullshit.

There won't be room for guessing here, however. Because the inaugural edition of "Teachers, Texts, &..." is pure, unadulterated bullshit.

So here’s a friendly warning and my guarantee:

• Warning: The word "bullshit" is used a total of fifty times in this edition. You've only read it 4 times so far. So buckle up, 🤬!

• Guarantee: The foul language you're being exposed to here isn't cheap sensationalism. In fact, by the time you're done reading, I'll have convinced you that I’m 100% serious when I say the future of B2B marketing is dependent on bullshit.

Allow me to explain.

WTF is bullshit, anyway?

Let's start over.

The title/subject line of this edition refers to a guy named Harry Frankfurt who wrote an essay called On Bullshit.

If you're not familiar with the essay, I imagine you might imagine Harry as the quintessential cult of personality using a provocative language to promote a utterly useless free download in order to sell a $64K mastermind and online course to the Dunning-Krugers who buy into their bullshit.

If so, you'll be relieved to learn that On Bullshit is a #1 New York Times best seller published by the Princeton University Press written by American philosopher and Princeton professor Harry Frankfurt, who was absolutely serious about defining and understanding the purpose of bullshit.

And the reason you're hearing about Harry and his bullshit essay from me is simple: I think there's a lot to gain from knowing a thing or two about bullshit — whether you're a marketer or someone trapped in the presence of an unhinged person, be they a coworker, a close family member, or that person from 8th grade you never actually liked but are friends on Facebook for reasons known and unknown or unsaid.

It's impossible to cover the depth of understanding in Harry's research and synthesis. So I expect I'm destined to doing more on the topic of bullshit.

Today, however, I'm going to focus on one particular definition and use case that I extrapolated from On Bullshit, which is: bullshit is what we say to other people, regardless of it being true or false, in order to convey our self image.

This definition is from The Prevalence of Humbug by Max Black, a text Frankfurt recommends and cites it with justification, saying:

I’ll do you one better: why is bullshit?

In examining humbug in The Prevalence of Humbug, Max Black conceded that while the primarily objective of humbug is deceptive misrepresentation of somebody's own thoughts, feelings, or attitudes (aka a lying), the "bullshitter" isn't always aware or cares that their statements are false. To the contrary, in fact, Black suggests we all bullshit and that the primary purpose of bullshitting is to "convey a certain impression" of ourselves.

Said more plainly, we use bullshit to build our reputations.

You might be familiar this phenomenon already but know it as virtue signaling.

But what most of us consider virtue signaling — recording ourselves giving hungry homeless people food for social engagement or changing our profile pictures to include whatever visual supports the current thing happening somewhere — are the extremely performative examples of virtue signaling.

In reality, or at least according to the definition of bullshit we've established here, practically everything that comes out of our mouths every day is certifiable virtue signaling bullshit.

• In a meeting telling the boss how the marketing funnel is doing? Virtue signaling bullshit.

• Asking everybody about their weekends at the beginning of a team meeting? Bullshit.

• Commenting your take on a contrarian viral LinkedIn post? Bullshit.

• Telling somebody why T2 is the superior of all of James Cameron films? Bullshit.

The point you should pick up by now is this: bullshit is social currency. It's what we say online and in-person tied to our identity. And it makes up a massive chunk of the information we exchange with one another.

If this is still somewhat opaque, let me put all of this in "marketing speak" for you.

WoM is ultimate bullshit, man

Word of mouth (WoM) promotion is the holy grail of business. Those that harness it compound their growth without wasting nearly 99% of their budget (on paid advertising).

Unfortunately, it's a lot easier to talk about harnessing WoM than it is to actually wield it to your advantage. And I think it's due to a lack of perspective on our part.

Here's what I'm getting at: when we get down to brass tacks, WoM is another word for bullshit.

Hear me out.

Or, better yet, just ask any IC who's ever been tasked with coming up with a list of business-critical vendors or tools their employer should spend obscene amounts of money adopting and implementing. Or how about anyone who's recommended things they've never tried and know practically nothing about but have seen enough reputable people make the same recommendation that they're comfortable risking their reputation on it.

Nobody wants to be know for vouching for something everybody hates because our recommendations say something about us.

Bottom line: If you want someone acting as a trusted advisor to name drop your business, you need to give them something to bullshit about.

Bullshit, everywhere, all at once FTW

In the worlds of broadcasting and film, producers and directors have been harnessing the power of bullshit for a century.

• What we've got here is failure to communicate.

• Here's looking at you, kid.

• I'll be back.

• We're going to need a bigger boat.

• Hi Bob!

• No soup for you!

• Nobody puts Baby in a corner.

• ...And you'll know my name is the Lord!

• Upgrade to premium to access more bullshit like this. (TK-post clearly explaining the premium member benefit is banal voyeurism with an altruistic intent)

Each of these is etched in the brains of fans deliberately. They're called "signature moments" or "memorable moments." And their sole purpose is to be quotable, evoke emotions, or whatever it takes to become part of the public lexicon and culture.

Now look, sometimes these media moments are unintentional. But more often than not, they're carefully engineered to be catchy, emotionally stirring, shocking, or humorous, ensuring that they stick in the audience's memory and are something they’ll be eager to talk about and share.

Got it? Get it? Good!

There's an ample amount of media available that deconstructs the crafting of these moments in written, audio-visual, and interactive mediums. If there aren't blueprints or playbooks like you're expecting, the material is there to write your own.

I'll dive deeper into those in future editions of "Teachers, Texts, & ..."

Until then, I'll leave you with the following.

Be impervious to the bullshit this holiday season

If you find yourself unable to escape the bullshit of someone else this holiday season, here's my advice.

First, acknowledge that they got that bullshit from the media. Even if they got it from somebody else, that bullshit wasn't their original thought. It was parroted by somebody in media who mimicked somebody else who claimed to come up with it but didn't elsewhere in the media people who believe that bullshit consume.

Next, remember the perfect antidote to toxic bullshit was also the climax of 1983 American techno thriller WarGames starring Matthew Broderick, where a military computer decides to launch a nuclear missile strike on the Soviet Union during the heat of the Cold War then changes its mind, preventing nuclear armageddon while laminating that the only way to win the "strange game" of thermonuclear war was to not play.

What I'm trying to say is, if someone is testing your limits with their bullshit this holiday season, employ the Grey Rock method.

"Grey rocking" is a proven method for dealing with toxic bullshit and preventing toxic bullshitters from invading your space and becoming immune to whatever bullshit they're throwing your way.

I'll let BetterUp explain:

You can read more about grey rocking on their site. I'm just making sure you're aware so you might enjoy the more magical moments of the holiday season.

Until next time.... happy bullshitting!

I mean, Happy Thanksgiving to all those who celebrate or not. Thank you for your time today. Be safe.

♥️ Ronnie

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