Hacker News Reader

Comment by amatic | Hacker News Reader

> housewives feeling guilty

Or maybe the cake mix with dried egg powder didn't taste as good.

Yeah, the Freudian explanation for why this worked looks like pseudo-scientific gibberish.

> By the Freudian psychology, an unconscious gift from the woman to the husband. The woman offered her eggs and the guilt has just disappeared. Because as stated on changingminds.org, by the Freudian theory, “an egg also has the connotation of life and birth, making the creation of the cake more meaningful - the housewife thus ‘gives birth’ for her husband.”

that's because it is psuedo-scientific gibberish

It's the science of marketing aka population-scale mindfuckery. It's a solid science. It works. It rules the world. And you, yes you, are clutched within its iron claw, oblivious.

The 3 step method they use works shockingly well. Build a problem (not associated to your product/idea). If you can tie it to some sort of base emotion all the better. Sell what does fix it (happens to be a product/idea you have but still not associated to you). Sell your product/idea and show how the experts know your product/idea is the best. When it works it is quite stunning, and many have no idea it was even done to them.

There's this stuff called "Ovaltine". It's like chocolate milk powder

They offered it as a solution to that great national scourge, "children chewing without swallowing"

(Cue video of callow youth. Food hanging out of his greasy mouth)

Then they cite doctors telling us how Ovaltine is totally necessary for good health.

Ya, your 3step program

That is an example. But usually for the 3 steps to be effective it would be different distinct stages separated by time. You would for example read about 'the scourge' in some mags/newspapers. The mags would amp it up for weeks/months. Then 'scientists say' stage, usually the same news/mags/newspapers talking about it how 'some things are known to fight it, milk chocolate for example'. Get some peer reviewed papers written up to back it up, or '4 out of 5 kids agree' sort of thing. Then commercial time. Showing all three together. If you dump them all together you will get a small segment buying it. But if you prime the pump for them to be ready to accept the idea and solution. You get more traction on it. One downside is it is wickedly difficult to see when you are being subjected to it. As the campaign is designed to hide from you until the solution is presented.

Wait, isn't that exactly how they sell the vax?

It's how they sell everything. This behavior is shaped by profit motive first and foremost.

That's entirely possible, just not how the story goes. When it comes to story in people presented as "marketing geniuses", it's always good to remember that they were probably equally good at selling themselves and their story.

Obligatory https://xkcd.com/125/

Yeah... one reason I don't use cake mix because by the time you have to have do the egg part yourself, you may as well just mix the rest too. Everything's a totally normal ingredient any minimally-stocked kitchen will have—which, the egg is too, but it's the messiest/fiddliest ingredient involved (not saying it's rocket science to crack a damn egg, but everything else is easier and less error-prone).

I might use it, sometimes, if it eliminated the egg step but still tasted good. I suspect it tasted like crap.

[EDIT] Should have written, the messiest and fiddliest ingredient necessarily involved. Chocolate can be much, much worse if you're melting bars rather than using powder, as can some other things that may be in a cake.

That is a concise and logical explanation, consistent with the popular narrative and affirms the agency of the common housewife. Smartly done!

> Or maybe the cake mix with dried egg powder didn't taste as good.

It's not one or the other and can easily be both reasons.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com