Candy

I was suddenly struck today by the profound realization that it had been quite some time since I had eaten a Snickers bar.

I ate them always as a kid. I ate them always as a teenager. But in recent years, I honestly can’t remember the last year I ate one.

It left me wondering how much our tastes change over the years, and how differently our minds and desires operate as we grow older. Or rather, how much these tastes get nudged in new directions by the endless onslaught of advertisements that bombard our brains. I hadn’t even thought about eating a Snickers in a while. But suddenly today as I was taking a shower, I felt an urge to eat just go eat a Snickers.

And it all sparked from me being confused about how the hell the Snickers marketing campaign got the Brady Bunch to actually look like they were pushing their product.

It left me with a secondary realization that effective marketing really is the difference between an impulse buy of a Snickers over every other fucking candy on that shelf. Companies need to reach and tickle another layer of your consciousness to influence you in those moments where you think you’re making a judgment all by yourself.

Everyday as the years stack on, I am more and more convinced of an obvious yet still profound reality of our society. We all ready know it. But we’d all do well to remember it.

Marketing is power.