{"id":3908,"date":"2021-05-10T12:00:47","date_gmt":"2021-05-10T09:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.athroisis.eu\/forget-what-you-know-remember-what-you-should-have\/"},"modified":"2021-07-07T16:10:21","modified_gmt":"2021-07-07T13:10:21","slug":"forget-what-you-know-remember-what-you-should-have","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.athroisis.eu\/fr\/forget-what-you-know-remember-what-you-should-have\/","title":{"rendered":"Forget What You Know, Remember What You Should Have…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Forget<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dal\u00ed i Dom\u00e8nech, Marquis de P\u00fabol (1904-1989)
\nSwans Reflecting Elephants<\/em><\/strong> (1937)
\noil on canvas 51 cm x 77 cm – private collection<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Be the change that you wish to see in the world<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi<\/em><\/p>\n

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Several years ago, I was asked to write an article on \u00abthe consumer, this unknown person1<\/sup>\u00bb for a French newspaper. The main point emphasized was that we were about to witness consumer behavior very similar to Dissociative Identity Disorder2<\/sup>, without its pathological consequences. The essential feature of this conduct \u00ab[…] is the presence of two or more distinct identities or personality states […] that recurrently take control of behavior\u00bb<\/em>3<\/sup>. The diagnosis requires that at least two personalities (one may be the host) routinely take control of the individual’s behavior with an associated memory loss that goes beyond normal forgetfulness…<\/p>\n

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Our identity disorders revealed!<\/span><\/h5>\n

Until the 90s, the consumer was functioning in a rather faithful way vis-\u00e0 vis<\/em> a brand or a product, from fashion to super-market. Do you remember women dressed in Chanel from head to toe (or Dior, or Givenchy, or Thierry Mugler for that matter…), including the associated fragrance and other body products? Do you remember the epic marketing battles between Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble and Unilever, or those between Coca-Cola and Pepsi in order to attract and retain customers loyal to the brand? Well, the buzz created by the book \u00abNo Logo<\/em>\u00bb4<\/sup> was merely the visible part of the iceberg… You may now forget all prior established positions gained and comfort zones within well-defined segments or target groups… Today’s consumer is able to operate choices in a multi-layered mode: accept simultaneous messages from a wide spectrum of senders, combine at his\/her will aspects which may appear contradictory, even absurd.<\/p>\n

Hence, what could be the relevance of this past article with today’s issues? Well, it seems that chronic confusion of communication4<\/sup> made visible its side effects: on the financial (i.e. \u00abchoice of entering\/leaving a market\/stock\u00bb), economic (i.e.<\/em> \u00abchoice of brand\/product\u00bb) and political (i.e.<\/em> \u00abchoice of party\/vote\u00bb) levels, the liberated consumers-cum<\/em>-citizens use any given information flux at their will, eventually combined at will. This is a major transformation which took place over the last years. We may waive goodbye to the archetypal cleavages6<\/sup> which produced predictable behaviours and predetermined response to any given stimulus. At the same time, society (accepted here simultaneously as a whole and<\/strong> as the addition of the individuals who shape it) is forming a gap which amplifies itself with time:<\/p>\n