I just don鈥檛 understand some of these fads that become the 鈥渋t鈥� thing of the month.
Right now, the big ticket item is something called 鈥榝idget spinners鈥� (think sticking a pencil in the middle of a ruler and twirling it, and you鈥檝e got the idea), and there are even things called 鈥榤ale rompers鈥�, which is exactly what it sounds like; an adult male-sized onesie.
To date, I haven鈥檛 met one self-respecting man who has worn one.聽 Aren鈥檛 those just work coveralls, anyway?
Fads seem to come out of nowhere these days, and there鈥檚 no rhyme or reason to their pattern or even their success.聽 But I guess people really *will* buy anything in 2017.聽 Is it a need to fit in with a certain portion of mainstream society?聽 Maybe it鈥檚 something psychological, perhaps?聽 Or do people actually enjoy these products that they buy?聽 I personally think that a lot of these popular 鈥渕ust-have鈥� 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鈥檝e lost what made them 鈥渢rendy鈥�.
Or maybe I鈥檓 wrong.聽 It wouldn鈥檛 be the first time.
Back in 2000, the New York Times published a review of a book written by Malcolm Gladwell called 鈥淭he Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference鈥�.聽 The book explored how fads and trends became popular, as well as *why* they become popular, and he shares that there鈥檚 even an element of science to all of it.
From the March 5 issue of the New York Times:
鈥淕ladwell calls the first such principle the Law of the Few. 聽An idea or behavior spreads because of the unusual qualities of a few key groups of individuals. 聽There are the connectors, networked people who know seemingly everyone and who can make or break reputations on their word alone. 聽There are the mavens, people who acquire such detailed knowledge of a product that others turn to them repeatedly for advice. 聽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. 聽All kinds of potential fads exist around us, but only certain ones take. 聽''Sesame Street'' was failing miserably with test groups when someone, as a last-ditch move, thought of blending real people with puppets. 聽Including a map highlighting the location of the infirmary induced many Yale seniors to heed previously disregarded warnings about getting a tetanus shot. 聽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. 聽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. 聽Altering the context altered the result. Gladwell offers another example: the Rule of 150. 聽Groups smaller than 150 cannot influence many outside them. 聽Larger groups tend to become impersonal. 聽Knowing that, we begin to realize that one can create a large fad by first creating a series of smaller ones.鈥�
I can鈥檛 say I disagree with all of that.聽 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鈥檓 certainly not someone who was ever immune to fads.聽 Back at the end of the 90鈥檚 and right around the time the year 2000 came into our lives, one of the bigger hair trends at the time was 鈥渇rosting鈥�, or dying your hair with patches of blonde.聽 There are a few family reunion photos of me at 15 years old with blonde highlights.聽 Then that fad went away, and 17 years later I鈥檓 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鈥檚 going to be a long time before anyone sees me fidgeting with a spinner (I鈥檒l stick with my ruler and pencil, thanks) while wearing a male romper.聽 There are just some things I don鈥檛 understand, and I simply will not do.
For this week, that鈥檚 been the Ruttle Report.
