I just don’t understand some of these fads that become the “it” thing of the month.
Right now, the big ticket item is something called ‘fidget spinners’ (think sticking a pencil in the middle of a ruler and twirling it, and you’ve got the idea), and there are even things called ‘male rompers’, which is exactly what it sounds like; an adult male-sized onesie.
To date, I haven’t met one self-respecting man who has worn one. Aren’t those just work coveralls, anyway?
Fads seem to come out of nowhere these days, and there’s no rhyme or reason to their pattern or even their success. But I guess people really *will* buy anything in 2017. Is it a need to fit in with a certain portion of mainstream society? Maybe it’s something psychological, perhaps? Or do people actually enjoy these products that they buy? I personally think that a lot of these popular “must-have” items that people buy just end up collecting dust on a shelf or in a storage room somewhere after a short amount of time; after they’ve lost what made them “trendy”.
Or maybe I’m wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time.
Back in 2000, the New York Times published a review of a book written by Malcolm Gladwell called “The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference”. The book explored how fads and trends became popular, as well as *why* they become popular, and he shares that there’s even an element of science to all of it.
From the March 5 issue of the New York Times:
“Gladwell calls the first such principle the Law of the Few. An idea or behavior spreads because of the unusual qualities of a few key groups of individuals. There are the connectors, networked people who know seemingly everyone and who can make or break reputations on their word alone. There are the mavens, people who acquire such detailed knowledge of a product that others turn to them repeatedly for advice. Then there are the salesmen, those whose enthusiasm for a product can send its sales spiralling upward.
The second law of fads, according to Gladwell, is the Stickiness Factor. All kinds of potential fads exist around us, but only certain ones take. ''Sesame Street'' was failing miserably with test groups when someone, as a last-ditch move, thought of blending real people with puppets. Including a map highlighting the location of the infirmary induced many Yale seniors to heed previously disregarded warnings about getting a tetanus shot. At a time of message overload, finding a way to make something stick is part of making it survive.
Finally, Gladwell discusses the Power of Context. One reason crime declined in New York is that officials put into practice the much-debated broken-windows theory, which held that if subways were cleaned of graffiti and windows were repaired, people would begin to obey the law. Altering the context altered the result. Gladwell offers another example: the Rule of 150. Groups smaller than 150 cannot influence many outside them. Larger groups tend to become impersonal. Knowing that, we begin to realize that one can create a large fad by first creating a series of smaller ones.”
I can’t say I disagree with all of that. Influence and a knack for seeing what sticks certainly play into what makes a certain fad or trend popular, and companies have a way of making any particular item seem must-have.
And I’m certainly not someone who was ever immune to fads. Back at the end of the 90’s and right around the time the year 2000 came into our lives, one of the bigger hair trends at the time was “frosting”, or dying your hair with patches of blonde. There are a few family reunion photos of me at 15 years old with blonde highlights. Then that fad went away, and 17 years later I’m about as far away from blonde as I can be, with my black-yet-going-grey-in-multiple-areas thing I got going on atop my skull.
Still, it’s going to be a long time before anyone sees me fidgeting with a spinner (I’ll stick with my ruler and pencil, thanks) while wearing a male romper. There are just some things I don’t understand, and I simply will not do.
For this week, that’s been the Ruttle Report.
