The Bernay Loophole - A 1929 Secret That Makes People Crave Your Brand.
The key to unlocking marketing domination lies in a story from almost a century ago.
Brace yourself; we're diving deep into Edward Bernays' playbook.
Bernays is considered one of the founding fathers of modern marketing.
His marketing work is credited with everything from making bacon and eggs the staple of an American Breakfast.
And even overthrowing the government of Guatemala.
Yikes!
Let's jump on our Marketing Loopholes time machine as we travel back to 1929…
Bernays is chillin', probably thinking about how to bend the world to his will when The American Tobacco Company slides into his DMs.
They're like, "Eddie, baby, we've got a problem.
See, back in the 1920s, cigarettes and ladies didn't mix.
The average woman viewed cigarettes as taboo, immoral, and even linked with prostitution.
But Eddie had a plan.
Bernay and American Tobacco wanted to change this perception and open up the tobacco market to women…
And they did so by cleverly applying a psychological hack I like to call The Bernay Loophole.
Also known in psychology as the bandwagon effect.
It’s the tendency for people to adopt certain behaviors, styles, or attitudes because others are doing so.
Here's where it gets good.
Bernays waits for a big women's rights march where the ladies fight hard for equality. And what does this guy do?
He hands out cigarettes to these marching women.
He then circulated the photos to major magazines and newspapers.
Not just any smokes, though. He calls them "Torches of Freedom."
I call them "torches of lung cancer," but tomato, tomahto.
Suddenly, smoking wasn't just smoking; it was a political statement, a middle finger to the man.
And just like that, boom! Women are smoking everywhere, puffing away on their "Torches of Freedom," and the cash registers are ringing so loud they're drowning out the jazz bands.
Fast forward to today, and The Bernay Loophole is everywhere.
It's the reason why everyone is sipping oat milk lattes.
And we can use this loophole as marketers.
To get the most out of The Bernay Loophole keep two things in mind:
- You must select a specific market or demographic that you want to attract for your business - think female smokers in the Bernays story.
- You then need to find ways to convince this demographic that people similar to them are also using your product.
Take the agency Supreme Optimization, for example.
If you look at their website, much of their marketing is triggering The Bernay Loophole by calling out the fact that other big name life science companies have worked with them.
So they use lines like:
“Join over 2,500 top life science marketing directors who receive weekly digital marketing tips.”
Or the email company ConvertKit…
They lure creators to their service with bandwagon-style headlines like:
“More than 645,972 creators send over 2.5 billion emails each month.”
If you wanna sell something, whether it's cigarettes or SaaS, make it the thing everyone's doing.
Just remember, folks, with great power comes great responsibility. Don't be like Eddie, selling smoke.
Sell something that lights up the world for real.
Happy Marketing!
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