hey teammates...

Demographic tribes. Wow, it’s pretty insane to see these marketers place us into such plain fragments. It feels like we’re not people, but buying machines.

In my class about Africa we talked about the modernization theory that was applied to “underdeveloped” countries in the 1950s and 1960s, so they could grow economically and trade with other countries (like ours). Steps come into play within this theory, each pursuing the greater purpose of improving the economy. The 2nd and 3rd steps are fully focused on driving the economy to be more consumer minded, so that people will spend more money and industries can develop. Then people will stop worrying about basic needs (and concern themselves with things that really matter like clothes and technology). Then the idealistic result is that more industries are in place and the people will go back to being a familial-centered culture. Yeah, the theory was lame and it has been disproven. I feel like this mindset was present in the video we watched about market research and segmentation. A mindset that is ultimately unhealthy, I believe.

But I also feel like a lot of the reason our country feeds this mindset is that our value system is money, just like marketers that place us into these categories. If we function and perform as robots (as they predict) then we’re not calling for change. We’re proving them right. An honest student in our class admitted that he was in college to buy nice things, and drive a nice car. That is the American dream we adhere to. Even earlier in the semester, one of the speakers in our class talked about how she had a baby girl and just went through a divorce, but was working a ton, even having midnight conference callas because she needs to pay her dues so she can have the toys we all want. Those were her exact words. Toys. Expensive cars, big houses, fashion clothes, boats, nice vacation packages – these are the things that drive much of the people in our country. Though I desperately want to be working toward other things, non-material things, I fall into this too. I find myself buy clothes I do not need, drinking $3 coffee weekly, and spending a considerable amount of what little disposable income I have on me. We are far too easily satisfied. Lame, lame, lame.

Ok, enough about the economy. Back to demographic tribes, class, race, etc. Lambiase asked what the tipping point was. Do differences matter so much that we can’t have community? They shouldn’t. In some cases they do, but mostly it’s much easier to go to what is comfortable and familiar to us – so identifying, communicating through, and functioning within our differences is work and often left undone. Our economy exploits those differences, treats us as wallets that function like clock-work. We have to approach differences in a new way. We must be careful, attentive, respectful, and unselfish. We can identify what we do share, and go from there as the books explains.

I’ve made a very sweet friend this semester whose family is radically different than mine. We’re different classes, different ethnicities, and different religions. I’ve talked about her in a previous blog. We spent the first few weeks talking through our families, our faith, and our lives in general – we found common bonds. A few weeks back she said she so enjoyed our talk time, and was thankful to have a friend that shared interests with her. I agreed. Since then, we’ve been able to penetrate much deeper – really talking about our families, our faiths, our past relationships, our hopes, our fears, our opinions – all areas that we have much difference in. I’ve learned so much. And I’m so thankful.

In a lot of aspects of my life lately I feel like I’ve needed to be reminded, and remind those around me that we are on the same team! School, home, PRSSA… we have many differences (even when we share the same major, religion, ethnicity, work ethic) and they need to be sifted through, patiently. Difference of preference, different pet peeves, different expectations – all things that can be worked through by communication. Patrick, my boyfriend, has taught me that continually throughout our relationship. To communicate honestly, patiently, and for the purposes of serving others – what a difficult but worthy task to perform.

And again, back to tribes. We do have differences, as Danielle said, “beautiful differences,” but we don’t have to perform within the segments we’re placed in. Challenge the system, don’t buy into American marketing schemes when they can be avoided. We are all on the same team, friends. We have differences and we have similarities. Let us challenge each other, and remind ourselves that our differences as well as what we do share, are purposeful, just as our lives.




“But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as He wanted them to be.”