I used to work a pretty prestigious job back in the day. I was a “brand ambassador on an experiential marketing campaign for a fortune 500 company”.
This was a really handsome way of saying I handed out flyers at the top of the escalators at Buffalo Sabres games.
It was a menial task, but I was darn good at it! I would even venture to say the best, but no one likes braggadocios behavior. That is where I first discovered a very powerful secret.
I would try to hand out a flyer to each person as they exited said escalator. If someone took the flyer, I would have a surge of people taking my flyers, one after the other. As soon as someone said no thanks, the people behind would follow suit.
Lightbulb… Epiphany… Eureka!
When I had a batch of naysayers, I would stop offering the flyer until I spotted someone that looked extremely nice. I would give that person their personal propaganda and start a new batch of lemmings taking my flyers.
Then I would cackle loudly while twisting my mustache.
My personal understanding of the lemming effect was born.
We see the lemming effect nearly every day.
- A tight line of vehicles all swerve for the same pothole.
- The restaurant with a wait is somehow more attractive than one with open tables.
- Youthful mistakes based on peer pressures.
- The high school graduate that blindly enrolls in college.
The lemming effect is interesting. It’s a double-edged sword (which never makes sense; I thought all swords were double-edged) in that it can be helpful or hurtful depending on the situation.
You can choose to zig when others zag or you can fall in line.
I would like to think that I’m a radical and don’t fall in line. I’m sure it is not the case most of the time. It just sounds like the cooler option.
We learn from those who came before us, but the people who truly changed the world sat at the front of the bus. Sometimes after refusing to sit at the back.
Don’t always take the flyer. Take a flyer on chance once in awhile.
Photo credit : MattDixon1991
