Marketing Fantasy. Imagology at work. White Wristbands Validations.
I am reading Milan Kundera's book "Immortality" and I breathe in, digest and reason his beautifully articulated passages on Imagology. Incidently I also found relevant to introduce you to this passage from
Hugh MacLeod where he exaplains his 'Validation Marketing' idea.
It’s not about changing the world. It’s about giving folks PERMISSION to fantasize about changing the world, even if they never get round to it.
Similar to what Martha Stewart did, at least in her heyday- giving people PERMISSION to fantasize about buying that old abandoned sawmill in Vermont and turning its interior into a yuppie paradise. Or Oprah Winfrey, giving her fans PERMISSION to fantasize about one day getting over their personal baggage.
It looks like Imagology is working as it should be. Maybe after Hugh's example we can call this Imagology Marketing. A project like "Make Poverty History" comes to me as an example of such a Imagology Marketing or Validation Marketing. I met a guy on my recent trip who wore a white wrist band that said "Make Poverty History". I noticed it and started laughing and he asked why was I laughing? I said "because you wear it as a fashion statement and not something that will make an difference" to which he replied "well, this is the least I can do" to which I replied "yeah, you are off the hook now. You did your part right?".
So I wonder if his wearing the wrist band gave him PERMISSION to fantasize about one day ending poverty on this planet. Once marked with the IMAGE of "making a difference" Imagology and VALIDATED by its magic he no longer was called to do anything else. Now he BELONGED to the group of people who wore such wrist bands as he did and upon meeting another they could exchange smiles, VALIDATE themselves and go on their daily living never really having any empathy with those dying from extreme poverty. I believe in this brief encounter they would actually feel empathy to each other for their inability to make a difference but nevertheless wearing their Image to Attempt proudly full of fantasy and hope that maybe one day they would be in a situation to actually do something about it. "Lord Jim" of Joseph Conrad comes to mind. "Under a cloud".
