Pop culture is studied both academically and casually. People make careers out of being at its center and reporting on it from the sidelines. People define their identities based on their pop culture preferences (anyone with a Swiftie in their life knows what I’m talking about). Despite this, there’s a lot of hate on pop culture; we all probably have a music snob in our orbit or and until very recently I only referred to my love for Reality TV as a guilty pleasure. Even the juxtaposition of the moniker compared to other fields implies a judgment — pop culture vs. high art.
I’m not here to tell you why you should or shouldn’t love popular things. (But seriously, Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS is a near- perfect album according to Metacritic, not just the pop girlies.) Smarter people than me have talked and written about why pop culture matters in that it’s both a mirror and a guiding force of the general sociopolitical context in which it’s created. However, as a marketer, I want to dive into what we can learn from pop culture based on WHY people create the art and products they do, and WHY a lot of people like or don’t like them.
To do that I’m going to use Freud’s construct of understanding the human psyche. To be very clear — I did not study psychology and I’m not submitting this article for peer review so, pinch of salt and whatnot. That being said, let’s get into it!
Freud believed the human psyche is made up of three parts — the Id, Ego and Superego.
The id (our natural instincts) dictates what we like/want/need/value for personal reasons, or even no reason at all. The id makes us like things we’re innately drawn to because they satisfy a physical or emotional need; not because anyone has told us we need it.
The ego helps protect us when we’re out in the world. It tells us what we like, want or need based on what society or our families and communities deem good, valuable or acceptable. The ego keeps us safe from judgment and helps us connect and fit in with others.
The superego is our moral compass. The preferences we have based on the superego reflect society’s morals and those we learned in our homes and communities. It consists of two systems — our conscience and our ideal self. The conscience tells us what we think is right or good (I recycle because the environment provides for me) and the ideal self tells us where that puts us in society (I am a good person because I believe in climate change and I try to do my part by recycling).
So, to bring it all back to Olivia Rodrigo and GUTS (once again, a perfect album): WHY do I think GUTS is a perfect album?
ID: Bangers! I like how it sounds. It makes me want to sing along and move my body and the lyrics make me laugh and cry, sometimes at the same time.
EGO: It’s popular. There are so many memes about it. It’s for the girlies! I’m cool because I like it and it helps me connect to Gen Z which is important with my big 4–0 looming.
SUPEREGO: She’s a woman. She’s mad and she’s fighting back. I see my younger self in her. The popularity of Olivia and the resonance of her lyrics is definitely related to feelings of helplessness in a society that wants to take women’s rights away.
What does this have to do with advertising and marketing? More to come, but in short — we need to understand people’s “why” as much as their “what” if we have any hope if making them fans of our brands and/or loyalists of/advocates for our products.
ID: does it deliver on an intrinsic need? Does it make people laugh or cry? Does it educate them?
Ego: does it give people a way to reflect who they are to the outside world, be a part of a community or give them cultural capital?
Superego: Does it align with their values and morals? Does it give them something to fight for or against? Does it feel morally, ethically good by our audience’s definition?
This is a case for risk tolerance. Brands don’t need to solve the world’s problems but they sure won’t get anywhere playing straight down the middle or watering down their values in service of appealing to the masses.
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