Can peer pressure classify as an inadvertent form of selling?
My recent sledding experience with friends from the Entrepreneurship Department would seem to affirmatively prove that to be the case. We live in a culture in which we constantly experience a barrage of advertising aimed at getting us to spend time and money left and right. Many individuals are persuaded the most by the opinions of their family and friends. Whether those opinions are good or bad directly influences actions.
When Karolina Lagerquist found out that I had only seen snow in Germany prior to my arrival in Grove City (a.k.a. hell frozen over 90% of the year), she insisted that I go sledding. What sold me most was that a group of our friends would be accompanying us, the thrill of the ride, and of course, the promise of hot chocolate and a delicious home cooked meal after an afternoon of sledding. Karolina motivated me to dress warmly, but she should have sold me on wearing a normal pair of shoes with traction. A metrosexual for as long as I can remember, my beautiful leather Eastland’s were perfect for keeping me warm… but they lacked any form of traction.
The hill… I mean, the mountain we climbed each time we rode down the hill was a challenge to get up. Karolina’s positivism pushed me up the hill each time, but I wasn’t prepared for her sales pitch about going down a different side of the mountain. Normal people would enjoy riding on sleds and leave it at that. Karolina is not normal. Karolina was enthused about hitting some jumps with her sled, so she flew down the mountain and somehow survived the journey. When she made it back up, she strongly recommended I try it as well. Now, understand that I had seen Karolina’s perilous journey, and I was a little concerned. But while Karolina is not normal, I am just plain dumb. Karolina did such a good job advocating the thrill of the ride down that I decided to attempt the jumps myself. Her efforts were aided by others chiming in that I could survive, and that I didn’t want to miss any of the sledding experience for my first time. Well, I missed the intentional jumps, but I managed to bounce down not one, but four patches of ice before landing in a heap at the bottom. Needless to say, I didn’t try the jumps again.
Group pressure was a strong motivator in my decision to race down the hill. In this case, I believe it was good pressure. I didn’t die, after all, and I am confident I will NEVER forget my first sledding experience.
testacr22
First off, this post made my day. It has Karolina written all over it… quite literally. I’ve never thought of peer pressure as a way of selling, but it has the elements to it: people you trust and respect/want to be like promoting an attitude or activity that may (or may not) interest you. Whichever the case, many times people “try it” because of that main trust factor. Interesting take on this, Josh. An enjoyable read.
This is so true. If you think about it we are all selling in everyday life. In this scenario, they were selling you or persuading you into going sledding. I really do believe peer pressure is the most convincing way of selling. Not to say that I advocate it but if a group of guys are hounding me to go Primanti’s to watch a game I am much more inclined then to invite someone and go just the two of us.