The Guru is Right and Wrong, Part 3: Intelligence

Okay, last thought on this topic.

Specifically, I wanted to address a certain sentence in the original blog.
He writes "Consumers aren't stupid (we're dumb sometimes, but not stupid.)"

Here's the thing: Yes they are. Quite often consumers are very very stupid.

As a marketer, I'm not supposed to believe this. It's taboo to consider customers anything less than demigods we owe everything to. But unless you're marketing a particularly complex, advanced, or high-end product or service, your audience members are probably pretty average overall.

To paraphrase George Carlin "Just think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize that half of them are dumber than that.""

Maybe "stupid" is the wrong word. Ignorant? Naive? Overly-trusting? Overwhelmed? Forgetful? Regardless of what it is (and I'm sure "it" varies from individual to individual and from situation to situation), the important thing is that we need to be realistic about consumers.

There are countless examples of how stupid (or whatever word fits) people are. Entire Web sites are devoted to the concept (try a search for "stupid people" or similar). The Darwin Awards illustrate the most extreme (and entertaining) examples. Just look at which TV shows are popular, which politicians keep winning, the lyrics of top songs, or the comments beneath virtually any YouTube video.

I'm not saying we need to treat our customers like idiots. But we should be prepared for a few things:
1. The need for hand holding.
2. Confusion and misinterpretation of what we say.
3. Gullibility or a tendency to believe whatever was said most convincingly (rather than most intelligently).
4. Sheep-like behaviour.
and so on.

Maybe I'll write something more about each of these later.