iShock society

Category: Think

Nowadays, in a world where most of us r overwhelmed with various more or less useful information from countless sources, our attention span has drastically decreased. On d other hand, more then ever everybody would like 2 draw d attention of potential buyers 2 their particular product or service. Consequently, advertisers use more & more shocking elements in their marketing affords in order 2 step out of d crowd, which inevitable rises our shock tolerance. This pattern evolves & repeats itself over time, resulting in creation of "iShock society", where shock became powerful sales or communication tool. Exponential technology development has only emphasized this phenomenon & contributed 2 making it widely spread.    

Even if there r surely earlier examples of using "shock sells" strategy, some of d 1st memorable examples I can remember r surely performances of Freddie Mercury, Madonna or famous Benetton campaigns, followed by extravagant outfits of Björk or Lady Gaga in more recent times. 

As usual, things r not black or white; they usually fit into 1 of 50 shades of grey.  In other words, shock as 1 of d powerful attention grabbers can be used with various effectiveness or based on more or less justified reasons. Most of us r aware of d typical industries (e.g. entertainment business) that heavily rely on shock as a differentiation factor. Instead of emphasizing trivial examples like Miley Syrus 4 instance, I would hereby rather focus on some more worthy examples of utilizing elements of shock or surprise 2 communicate key messages or challenge some of our stereotypes. Here r few examples from various industries:

So, beauty industry recently starts using unconventional models (e.g. 85 year old woman, model with muscual dystrophy or cross-eyed model). In addition, this agency made a fortune by hiring only "ugly" models.

Animal protection & Eco friendly associations tend 2 challenge our taboos & often use shocking campaigns in order 2 raise awareness in their field. 

 

Cigarettes lobby slowly but safely looses d battle since more advertising restrictions on tobacco products r being introduced & awareness of d health risks smoking causes is being more & more aggressively advertised. 

We should all be aware that headline, not content sells newspapers- sad but true fact is that especially shockers & tragedies still do d trick among d mass audience. Actually, ability 2 trigger emotions among d readers is what sells @ d end & emotions like this seem 2 be easiest 2 manipulate.

What 2 conclude @ d end but that d shock could be a good source of differentiation in certain fields if used adequately. I believe d issue is when it becomes over-exploited 4 commercial purposes. If d "shocking story" is not followed by additional quality content 2 back it up, it only causes negative effects like information redundancy or sensationalism overload in a more benign case or disintegration of real values in some more serious cases. If only ppl of tomorrow would be more selective in requiring only quality content, world would surely be a nicer place. Till than, good luck in rising your awareness levels which should prevent u from drowning in this iShock ocean we all live in.