One of the ‘rules’
in marketing
is that people move away from pain
and toward pleasure
so you market your product
as reducing pain
or increasing pleasure.
The Taser booth
at the Consumer Electronics Show
was a clear example
that all rules can be broken.
People (they were all males) lined up
to serve as the guinea pigs
during the Taser demonstration
(it was one of the most popular demonstrations
at the show).
The volunteers were tasered with enough force
that they fell to their knees.
‘Course you could argue
that the pain of not knowing
what being tasered was like
surpassed
the pleasure of not having
X volts of electricity
shot through your body.
One former guinea pig in the audience
told me
“You have to try it
at least once in your life.”
I passed on the opportunity
but many, many people didn’t.