Thin Slicing

After reading Malcolm Gladwell's Blink, his sequel to his Tipping Point, and thoroughly enjoying it, I started to think about one of the main themes of the book a little more. Gladwell asserts that there is an ability that humans possess in their unconscious mind, which is the ability to thin slice.

He describes thin slicing as, "the ability of our unconscious to find patterns in situations and behavior based on very narrow slices of experience," (Gladwell, 23). He goes on to argue that thin slicing is a skill that people gain through life experiences , social surroundings, and personal character that allows them to make snap judgments about situations in the, pardon the pun, blink of an eye. He also goes on to say that these snap judgments are for the most part, on the money.

So why am I bringing this up? Well I have been thinking about college and about going out in general. Why is it that people subject themselves to spending money to pregame before going to the bar, paying cover to get into the bar, and then shelling out even more money for drinks at the bar? Why is it that people do this multiple evenings in a week?

I think it has something to do with Gladwell's theory of thin slicing. We consciously decide to subside our subconscious ability to accurately thin slice by going to the bars, clubs or parties. By purposely sequestering our ability to make decisions and snap judgments about other people, through the vehicle of alcohol nonetheless, we allow ourselves to become more "social" and have more "fun" overall.

Bars and other institutions are set up in a way so that it maximizes first impressions and opportunities to engage in thin slicing. The dim lighting, the large amounts of people, the alcohol, and the loud music make prolonged interactions very hard to establish, and also make thin slicing properly less accurate. By taking away many of the sensual aspects and mental cognition that is required for thin slicing, we are less capable of feeling the "vibe" with other people and are more prone to making bad decisions.

So why is it that I, along with a majority of college students, continue to go about our drinking binges, and bar going ways? Since thin slicing is right a majority of the time, it has the ability to inhibit the number of social interactions that we may have or pursue. This is because most people naturally put their guard up and are aware of the sketchiness or ulterior motives that are roaming around bar situations. When the ability to thin slice is inhibited however, people are more free flowing, social, and more prone to have shorter term relationships. If you ever go to the bar sober, you're much less likely to interact with strangers, bartenders, acquaintances or anybody else outside of your immediate circle of comfortable friends because you can use thin slicing to eliminate anybody you do not want to interact with. As the drunk bargoer, it is much more likely you end up in the morning, with a phone number with a strange name that you would have never gotten if your ability to thin slice was still present.

So what this leads me to conclude is that bars are not necessarily where the scum of the earth congregates, it is just a place where you're less likely to weed out the scum from the people you want to carry out meaningful relationships with. There is probably an even dispersal of "seedy" and "wholesome" types all around, but only in situations where thin slicing is subdued, do bad decisions and wrongful judgments usually arise. As young college students, many of us are actively trying to subdue or ability to thin slicing without even knowing it. It's the risk taking mentality in many of us.

That is all.

-ydollar

Counter Programming

Sunday is a day of religion, relaxation and football. As I was sitting around doing nothing too productive and flipping through the outlandish number of channels available on digital cable looking for the best football game playing, I realized that the thing that stuck out in my mind the most was what was playing on NBC. Fox had a football game. CBS had a football game also. Since NBC doesn't have rights to broadcast afternoon football games for the NFL, they were stuck with their counter programming which in this case happened to be CURLING or more specifically the Korbel Elite Challenge. Curling has sponsors. Who knew?

These are some of the programs available during the football broadcasts:
Bowling on ESPN
Figure Skating on ESPN2
9 Ball Competitive Billiards on Fox Sports Net
Triathlon on Versus
LPGA on ABC

This got me to thinking about counter programming and its prevalence. Have we become so structured and predicable that we can be segmented into the football watchers and the non football watchers? More specifically, has it reached the point where advertisers have ruled out that football watchers are willing or even able to watch something remotely considered to be "masculine" during football time slots?

I mean it is a key marketing principle to segment your target audience, but I feel that there is an oversimplification of human complexity. Yes, there are correlations that can be made to beer advertising and football games. Yes, it may make sense to advertise "feminine products" during a Lifetime movie. But, I feel that most people watching television do not operate on the extreme and fit somewhere in between the drastic ends. Kind of like Anthony Down's aggregation model, but without the politics.

Take fast food for example. After the Supersize Me expose came out, McDonalds offered "healthy" alternatives to its traditional Big Macs and McNuggets. It started promoting its salads and alternatives to french fries instead. They also implemented their Get Fit meals. So in order to grab market share away from the leader, McDonalds in this instance, Wendy's starts promoting its Baconator. I mean there isn't much to say about the Baconator except that it has six strips of bacon in it, not to mention three patties, and three slices of cheese. Counter programming. Burger King started offering 1000 calorie "breakfast" sandwiches.

Maybe people are that fickle and are that divided, but I would like to think otherwise. It is just frustrating to know that since advertisers and market principles get to decide what is available on television on Sundays and what we can eat at a fast food restaurant. I mean it just sucks that the decision has to be football or curling. If they offered real alternatives and decided to go out on the limb, maybe just maybe, they could capture the many who are sitting somewhere in between ordering a salad or a baconator.

That is all.

-ydollar

What If?

During my prolonged finals week, I have engaged in various activities to help me procrastinate at uncharted levels. Things that have enthralled me over the past week:

1. Facebook games such as Jetman and Traveller's IQ

Yes, Jetman is a complete ripoff of Copter, very simplistic and highly frustrating. But, since it keeps scores and engages in ranking you against your peers, I continue to frustrate myself while patrolling the blue cavern and avoiding the blue walls that are impeding my new high score.

Traveller's IQ just makes me realize that I know the location of probably seven African nations with a margin of error of about two countries. But, it also ranks you against your friends, so it's pretty addictive as well.

2. Tila Tequila rerun marathons

You know you've seen them too.

3. Morph Thing

Not since the Power Rangers yelled, "It's Morphing Time!" at the peek of my elementary school days has morphing been so much fun. The site allows you to upload pictures of yourself, your friends, and potentially your enemies and morph them with each other or with photos from their celebrity database. One of the "celebrities" available is Adolph Hitler, go figure.

Seeing as it is always better to aim high, here are my potential future lovechilds:

This is my starting image

Me and Alicia Keys

Me and Penelope Cruz

Me and Adriana Lima

Me and Rihanna


So after much experimentation, I have come to some saddening conclusions. I have the ability to make any potential celebrity offspring of a beautiful person seem absolutely hideous. There may be no hope for me. They say biracial children are supposed to end up gorgeous; I have proved that I am probably an outlier.

And just for kicks, Me and Chairman Mao


So for those of you looking for something to do to kill time, I highly suggest scouring Facebook of pictures of your friends and morphing them for your pleasure at:
http://wwww.morphthing.com

In the meantime, I will be trying to move up the Jetman and World Traveller's IQ hierarchy.

That is all

-ydollar

Graphical Representation of Rap

So have you wondered what would happen if you were to mix one part hit hip-hop track and one part mathematical graphic representation? Neither have I. But, if you were to have thought about it, it would probably resemble something like this:

Rick Ross
[Click to Enlarge]
Mike Jones

Nas

Jay-Z

Notorious BIG

Fort Minor
[Click to Enlarge]
Snoop Dogg

Jay-Z part 2
[Click to Enlarge]
Notorious BIG part 2


Haha.

Images courtesy of Freakanomics blog.

That is all.

-ydollar

New Marketing Phrases

Advertising is often misleading which is why I decided to rewrite some tag lines for some of the world's most recognizable brands:

iPod: You know it's going to break in a year but by that time they'll have a new generation iPod that you want instead.

White Castle: Destination for drunkards and potheads since 1921.

Jordan Brand: I haven't played since 2003 but you still pay 200 dollars for my shoes.

Myspace: Playground for high school boys and girls.

Facebook: Where having over 100 friends means you're not that popular.

Microsoft: Former owners of the world.

Google: Taking over the world one step at a time.

Blackberry: I should be called a Crackberry.

Starbucks: The same coffee for a dollar fifty more.

IKEA: Furniture for people who don't need real furniture yet.

Youtube: You're bored, kill time with us.

Taco Bell: Great idea until after you're done eating.

Old Navy: Because Salvation Army was taken already.

The Gap: Higher class old Navy.

Banana Republic: Higher class Gap.

Red Bull: Red Bull gives you bad aftertaste!

Siemens: Haha our name sounds like semen.

Comcast: We suck.

Time Warner: We also suck.

MTV: Irrelevant past the age of 16

VH1: Best bad television shows out there

MSN Messenger: I'm from Asia

AIM: LOLROFLHAHABRBWTF

Whatever?!?!?!?

Remember the days when the Spice Girls were queens of the pop and cultural world? The days of girl power and whatever are now long gone and has been replaced by other cries of individuality and self expression.

Every now and then however, nostalgia comes calling and has us thinking about the good old days.

This is that video:



If you have never wanted a kid, you might want one now if only for a couple of hours a day. That has to be one of the most adorable babies in the history of mankind. And mankind has been around for a long time.

Hopefully her youthful exuberance and outright hilarity will not be replaced by cynicism and downright bitchiness when she grows up, but for now watch the video and laugh, smile, and revel in her general obliviousness to the world around her.

Whatever?!?!?!?!

That is all.

-ydollar

Facebook Stalking

Facebook, and social networking in general, has become a part of the daily routine of most college students including mine. It's ability to offer information on friends, coworkers, classmates, acquaintances, and strangers alike has allowed us to satisfy our obsession with knowledge about others and our voyeuristic urges. The fact that the information we receive through Facebook is for the most part true because it is self created augments the value of the information.

Facebook however, has caught some flack for potentially allowing sexual predators, strangers, and employers access to information that its users want to be kept private. Although these all clearly vary in terms of severity, they all potentially can solicit information from unsuspecting users of Facebook. I understand that nothing is truly hidden on the internet, but Facebook further blurs the line of what is public and what is private.

What I believe is a greater problem however, is the ability that Facebook has to cater its advertising towards each individual user through the use of cookies, caches, and scripting. Although there are potential benefits to users seeing ads that are pertinent to their likes and desires, there is also great risk in allowing a singular site to aggregate so much information on so many people. As the user base for Facebook continues to expand, the potential for misuse by Facebook or others who illegally access Facebook will only increase. At what point does Facebook know too much and at what point does it need to impose some limits on itself?

This picture was not doctored and was posted recently online. Nothing about it is that uncommon really. It's about a girl who dumps her boyfriend via the Facebook status feature. That's commonplace in the Facebook generation.

What is not commonplace however, is the advertisement that recognized the status update instantly and placed an appropriate ad under the left column. That's just eerie.




Facebook stalking has become quite the popular thing and most often is nothing more than people perusing the site looking for attractive people or looking for gossip. It was something of a phenomenon that was more joke than mean spirited.

The problem now however, it's not only us stalking our cohorts, Facebook is stalking us and it's creeping me out.

That is all

-ydollar