’95% of Women use this beauty cream’. It’s a solid advertising statement, regardless of whether or not all the women subsequently had terrifying allergic reactions to said cream. What it is appealing to is our ‘fear of missing out’: The, ‘What if 95% of women are doing something great and I’m missing a trick?’
This marketing technique is easier for some products & services to employ than others. Music Festivals only really need one sunny poster of laughing festival-goers, one word-of-mouth ‘unmissable’ recommendation, and people will flock to their event on the off-chance that they miss the best. festival. ever.
It’s harder for, say, a washing detergent brand to make you genuinely afraid of missing out on their product. However, when you see the blissfully happy mother with ‘soft’ hands (glossing over the minor advances in both washing machines and gender equality ), who is able to get on with her perfect life rather than slaving over the washing up, it’s hard not to feel a twinge of fear that your Own-Brand, value washing-up liquid may in fact be what stands between you and this idyll.