Today we had a meeting with the marketing department to talk about how we will sell our new line of software. I had prepared what I thought was a pretty good mock-up of an ad, with a picture of the computer screen, pointing out all of the advantages of the new product. I even wrote a blurb about how it could give your business an edge over the competition. I showed it at the meeting. The marketing guys had a peculiar reaction to it.
"There's gotta be a girl in the picture," one of them replied, as though he were explaining it to a two-year-old. "Didn't you ever take Marketing 101 in college? It's basic."
"Yeah," another one said, "we want businessmen to really take a look. We need something they can't resist."
I was floored. I found myself stammering "But, but this is accounting software. There's no reason..."
"A secretary!" one of them shouted. "That's it! We show her using the software on her computer. She's smiling because it's so easy. We can put her boss standing near her, looking on approvingly ..."
I gave up. There was no arguing with them. But the whole incident made me stop and notice the advertising around me. Somehow, till I saw them actually scheming, the fact that marketing guys in every industry are manipulating me never sank in before. I felt like they had used the power of my own eyes against me, and I felt humiliated.
I can't change how these characters try to sell me their products, but from now on, I'll be smarter and not fall for their cheap tricks. They can't make me look.
These e-mails are excerpts taken from the book "Windows of the Soul" by Rabbi Zvi Miller of the Salant Foundation.