❀ the cult of: ➥motivational speakers ➥life coaches ➥personal growth gurus ➥new-age charlatans ➥AWESOMENESS FEST

dying @ e-lands

i've worked with a lot of six sigma people. it's pretty basic process improvement methodology wrapped up in a bunch of goofy terminology that is designed to make ppl pay money for books, seminars, and certifications.

"The only thing I had to do was stop taking my psych meds...."

i really want to figure out how to come up with something dumb that i could market to corporations. or a new professional certification that no one actually needs.

the way he's totally chill with using "fuck" and "shit" while speaking about enlightened stuff is pretty nxt lvl
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LjnL0gUrBg

http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=3bRsCKD20EE

What office is this? There are dozens of pretty lady and just one good looking bloke who can do 50 push ups in a minute. Yes I noticed another balding fat loser on the side.

But that's pretty much it. Wondering how many ladies would he be taking home on his bday night.

wildeashu 6 months ago

@wildeashu The guy you called "balding" is really a legend in his industry (web design) who also runs a capoeira school and can do spectacular martial arts stunts with his body. He has a near genius level IQ, a brilliant wit and is the organizer of several amazing networking events in the city. He is seen as a leader among his peers. He's also married to a gorgeous, tall, leggy women who is a brilliant entrepreneur. Never judge someone by their appearance. Never. :-)

vishenlakhiani 5 months ago

that's from this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bRsCKD20EE

:-)

this is a paper from 2009(?) that gives a little more background on Mindvalley and def makes them sound more like a six sigma thing:

http://www.slideshare.net/fedeeli/agileentrepreneurship

it's really thin because the line between legit and marketing is really thin

knew this was going to come up in this thread eventually but for real: no. granted that a lot of things get called "marketing" that are actually "bottom-feeding," but ime marketing is a pretty legit process of defining an offering, letting people who might actually care know about it, measuring how well that's working for ya, and improving the process to 1) make the offering better, 2) reach more people who might care and annoy less who might not, 3) measuring again.

ymmv

ehh a lot of marketing is fucking w/ peoples subconscious

I don't get how you could watch 3 minutes of tv ads and think 'this is about letting people who might actually care know about these products and services'

dude marketers wish they had the mojo or knowhow to get into people's subconscious. seriously.

see discussion itt: Advertising's 15 Basic Appeals

if advertising didn't get into people's subconscious then companies wouldn't be spending billions of dollars on it. that doesn't necessarily mean anyone has the perfect tools or really understands how it works.

I think you two are agreeing

does anyone know anything about kundalini yoga

is it a cult is what I'm asking I guess, this may not be the thread for this

xxpost maybe. i am genuinely saying that while we can stroke our chins and note how something like this plays ever-so-subtle nostalgic chords on the hearts of folks who might just now happen to be in the market for a family sedan, it's entire content can be summarized as: if you happen to be in the market for a car this week, please please please don't overlook your VW dealer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R55e-uHQna0

Is this the most adorable commercial ever?

vishen creation newsun

roger r u fn srs dawg

dude if that is the entire content and it doesn't have appeals to nostalgia, parenthood, and a bunch of other shit then my film analysis skills are shit

do spectacular martial arts stunts with his body

even *if* the whole thing was 'if you happen to be in the market for a car this week, please please please don't overlook your VW dealer' - that's still fucking w/ peoples subconscious. you think people don't know VWs exist? you think that they're making a rational decision based on absolutely nothing but the consumer guide, but oh, they might forget that VWs exist, so it's good to remind them that VWs exist, cause they were gonna forget?

regretable thread drift, considering what choice morsels of wtf we are drifting away from and what overplowed ground we are drifting toward

be the change u want to see bra

I don't think it's actually that weird to compare how these people are fucked up to how we're all fucked up, like aren't we all part of a big cult called...america

context's different iatee. semi rational consumer getting actual product with money v. desperate/disturbed/lost person getting scammed trying to quantum leap to wealth.

lots of pretty rational people get scammed w/ quantum leap to wealth scams!

also old people

glad I finally get to see iatee posting about cars

the value of many of these actual products is just as dubious as quantum jumping

xxxpost sort of! if everyone else is out there saying "i exist!" and you go quiet, people very quickly forget that you exist. and then your tv spots look more like this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKL254Y_jtc

and yeah iatee dayo may be right here. like, very few (if any!) consumer decisions are wholly rational, so if by "subconscious" you mean "whether we know it or not we are more likely to select products we've heard of or seen advertised" then yes of course. just, if you mean this in some Hidden Persuaders way or like I'm going to buy Fancy Feast just because I see it advertised whether I have a cat or not, then no.

this is of course where the conversation turns around to why all of those mind movies look exactly the same. because while virtually all ads are innocent ("please just like me!") and the ones that aren't don't work nearly as well as they diabolical geniuses who came up with them would like to think, the net effect of all that chatter is absolutely pernicious. and we start mistaking other people's fantasies for our own, or mixing up basic desires for e.g. safety and security and love with astons and private jets and six pack abs and our own personal charity for grateful starving children and a multimillion dollar internet business and a pony.

george saunders' "brain dead megaphone" is pretty good on this iirc.

btw kundalini yoga is kooky but ultimately less culty than crossfit afaik

desire makes the world go round

ugh, finally got around to reading this thread, so sad and distressing

wait "please just like me" is like the exact opposite of innocent!

crossfit!!

also hi forks

thanks rog

i think it's really disingenuous to say that "please just like me" is blameless on its own, it's only when there's SO MUCH OF IT and it's SO CONFUSING that it's suddenly bad.

yeah, I can see the similarities iatee... probably something fundamental about a society built around consumerism. but there's a difference in bargaining power I think in these scenarios that makes the marketing here different and can sell a different type of product to a different type of person.

iPad is a cool, glitzy object ... totally useless in the grand scheme of things, but it at least adds a little value to your life, even just as an amusing distraction from the pain of existence.

compare this to Astral Breathing 4 $$$Million$$$ which will solve your problems with your bills, your wife, your kids, and finally let you live your dreams. anyone with an ounce of common sense would laugh at that shit, but if you're in a hard place in life or prone to deception, you're going to fork over cash for basically false promises.

solve your problems with your bills, your wife, your kids, and finally let you live your dreams.

iirc the ipad 3 will do this

but really, how far are these people from people who are gonna sleep outside the apple store for that ipad 3

no but the ipad is revolutionary why dont u see

this is a paper from 2009(?) that gives a little more background on Mindvalley and def makes them sound more like a six sigma thing:

http://www.slideshare.net/fedeeli/agileentrepreneurship

― ⚓ (gr8080), Friday, February 3, 2012 4:25 PM

So this is a really interesting document. Not six sigma, and not very good presentation/slide design, but a totally legit summary/synthesis of a lot of "current" management/entrepreneurship chatter. Says a lot about the "why," remains hilariously/admirably vague on the "what."

but really, how far are these people from people who are gonna sleep outside the apple store for that ipad 3

― iatee, Friday, February 3, 2012 8:31 PM (4 minutes ago)

hmmm... maybe difference is intent in getting a specific response. iPad 3 marketing is designed to make the average consumer want it. if people freak out about it and lose 4 days work to buy it, that could be their own personal idiosyncrasy. compare it to marketing designed specifically to take advantage of easily duped people by selling snake oil. now I'm getting into lolaw mode.

the thing with crossfit is a lot of people want to be in crazy awesome shape for whatever reason, and doing crossfit on the reg will do that. the basic exercises are pretty solid. it's less culty than ab machines on that count.

yeah snake oil is in the eye of the culture and you'll have a hard time making absolute value judgments one way or the other.

well, snake oil here is ... iPad 3 that works v. an iPad that's actually a cut-up pizza box spray painted silver. can't imagine any evidence coming out showing that the Silva Method really works.

i've wanted to try crossfit but the group thing scares me off. also $. i like intensity in exercise but the culture around it not so much. same with yoga tbh.

I thought crosscut was over and people do p90x now, or is it vice versa?