The Greatest Ad To Ever Live

Marketing is deeply a subjective experience. The market is a collective of subjectives. Individuals coming together to create a trend, a desire for what the group really wants. There are also markets of one. I don’t know any examples to give you right now, so why don’t you tell me if you know?

I finished reading Steel Ball Run about a week ago. There is one thing that was said that resonated with me the most. I still think about it daily. I also want to observe whether what Funny Valentine said is true in real life. Funny Valentine is the main villain of this edition of JoJo’s Bizzarre Adventures. He’s the president of the United States of America, and he’s out to gather the corpse of Jesus. On one chapter of the manga, he’s talking about the napkin. The Napkin Theory.

Imagine everyone sitting at a dinner table. Everybody is waiting to make the first move. A napkin is there in front of every person’s eyes. But there’s hesitation in the air. Like a needle is needed to pierce the veil and let the tension out. Guess what happens when the first person picks up the napkin? Everyone else follows. So president Valentine sees himself as the leader, the one who picks up the napkin, and the rest follows. He’s talking about trend setters being the first to do something that no one else is doing. He needs to be the one doing it. He wants to pick up the napkin and lead the herd towards his desired intention.

As the scientist I often remind myself to be, I want to know if this is a real life thing. For some reason this theory stuck with me. I haven’t tested it very much, but something inside of me tells me that this is 100% how the world works. It coincides beautifully with Rupert Sheldrake’s morphic resonance theory, which includes that once something or someone starts behaving in a certain new way, similar beings will start manifesting these behaviours.

Cowards Blow Their Noses Too

I’m also reminded of a story Andrew Tate recalled on one of his videos. When he was younger, he was with his girl and friends, her ex was mad, so he showed up with his boys to the yard Andrew and his friend were at. So Tate and his friend go outside to confront the group of five dudes. Watch this. Better than telling you myself.

The point I’m going to make isn’t about cowardice. He explained that best himself. Mine is the Napkin Theory. What really happened was this. It would have been like a chain reaction. The napkin in that scenario was fear. You see, once Tate’s friend was confronted with the fear of the situation, he picked it up. He used it. Now, normally you’d expect this fear to be passed on to his friend. This is where the caveat of this theory comes in. The first person doing something is not a mandate for everyone else to do it. It’s inspiration. The action inspires the next to follow. Meaning that there is no reason for someone else to pick up the napkin. However the majority of people still do it. It’s herd mentality. Someone who is however cautious of following the mass or the leader just by virtue of numbers is someone like Tate. At least in this story that he narrated. Most people in his stead would have grovelled to the fear and joined the napkin leader. The caveat is that you don’t have to follow.

Is The Napkin Theory Real?

This will take me longer to observe, but just from my limited understanding and observations of this world, this idea seems to hold true. Leading by example is another way of describing it. The best way to inspire someone to action, is to do it yourself. It works on subjects that are more in tune with group concordance though. Someone who is a maverick and a tough skeptic won’t be satisfied. They won’t just pick up the napkin because the leader does so. At the same time, a leader who is truly passionate and loyal to the cause needs to have this inspiratory power. It’s a glue that holds the group together. A person who leads the group through fear will have his days counted.

There are plenty of examples on both sides. But looking at both sides will show you and make you reconsider how you do things, and why you do them. I now have started wondering why I do the things that I do, why I think and believe the things that I do. Who inspired or coerced me? What are the napkins I choose to pick up first, which lead to others following? What do I coerce or inspire myself to do?

That is the most important thing. How could I inspire myself better?

WTF Is The Title About Though?

I don’t know how it relates to what I wrote about here. It’s just the first thing that came to my mind and I just rolled with it. In a sense I picked up the napkin of action taking. Do first, wonder later. I, in fact, have written this whole thing in the same fashion. I’ll be honest and say that I’ve actually written all or nearly all of my posts in this way. There is no one forcing me to write these blog posts. I inspire myself to write them. I don’t receive punishment for not writing, and no one is there to oversee the quality of my work. In a way, I’m trying to explain and market to myself the beauty and advantage of inspiring myself to do certain things. To pick up the napkin which enables me to be the best version of myself. This is probably NOT the Greatest Ad To Ever Live. It’s a tribute 😉 If you know you know, and you’ll enjoy listening to this song:

Thanks for participating in this amazing journey with me, and make sure to keep in tune with all the new stuff I’m going to put out. If you can’t wait, for now you have a bunch of past posts to read from!