![\"\"](\"https:\/\/etiennefd.com\/dgm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/10\/Capture-de\u0301cran-le-2020-10-04-a\u0300-19.32.48-766x1024.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWe use words to abstract things. When you say the word “tree,” you summon the abstract idea of a specific concrete thing that looks like this:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
No real tree is being moved, harmed or otherwise affected when you use the word. This allows you to do whatever you want. With words, you can cut down trees, paint them pink, make them represent the entire history of life<\/a>, make a political promise to plant two billion of them<\/a>, or even pretend the entire world<\/a> is a tree, and at no point are actual trees being involved.<\/p>\n That’s how powerful abstraction is. In fact, the use of language to manipulate imaginary objects is probably a defining feature of humanness and a big part of why we’re so successful as a species.<\/p>\n But sometimes, that power feels greater than it truly is.<\/p>\n Take charisma. It is an abstract word that refers to a real phenomenon, but that phenomenon is remarkably difficult to describe. A charismatic person is one who is persuasive, charming, attractive, fascinating, good at speaking, good at leading, or any number of similar ideas in that space. Fortunately, you generally don’t need to do the heavy work of defining what you mean: you can just use the convenient word “charisma” to encapsulate part or all of that.<\/p>\n Since you have this word, you may be tempted to say something like: “I don’t want to choose politicians according to their charisma. I want only their ideas<\/em> to matter.”<\/p>\n Reasonable, right?<\/p>\n The thing is, it’s really hard to actually ignore charisma. Suppose you heard ideas from two candidates during a debate. One is articulate, pleasant to listen to, and crystal clear. The other is boring, monotonous, and vague. Regardless of the quality of their ideas, chances are you’ll be convinced by the former. You may not even realize<\/em> it’s because of their charisma.<\/p>\n It’s not impossible to discount charisma. You’d need to make a conscious effort and say, “I know this guy is much better at expressing his ideas, but that doesn’t mean his ideas are the best.” And<\/em> you need to do that for his seductive voice. And his joke telling. And whatever other qualities get lumped into the word “charisma.”<\/p>\n Hiding away all of these things, and using the word “charisma” as if it were something you had control over, actually puts you at greater risk of falling for charisma. In fact, it puts you at the same risk level as someone who’d have no awareness of charisma at all.<\/p>\n Marketing works in a similar way. You want to buy the best product, not the one that is best marketed. But how do you know which product is the best? You need to acquire the information somehow. And unless you’re an insider, the information you’ll get is likely to be heavily influenced by various forces \u2014 the product’s name and design, or the number of times you’ve heard of it, which is directly related to the money spent on advertising \u2014 that we often call, together, “marketing.”<\/p>\n To complicate matters a bit, marketers know that people don’t like “marketing” (especially ads), so the successful ones go out of their way to make their marketing not<\/em> feel like marketing. You didn’t pick the restaurant that had paid ads on Facebook \u2014 you just went with the one your friend recommended. It never occurred to you that this recommendation might have been the result of clever marketing.<\/p>\n“I don’t want [X] to matter”<\/h4>\n
![](\"https:\/\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/marketing_interview.png\")
<\/p>\n
![history of life<\/a>, make a political promise to](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/d\/de\/Tree_of_life_by_Haeckel.jpg\"){kind=link}