Broken Penguins

Who Controls What You Buy?

Farah Ng @ Broken Penguins — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:50:57 +0000

“Who controls what you buy?” may seem like an easy question. But master marketer Martin Lindstrom provides an answer that spans over 200 pages in his second book, Brandwashed.

At first glance, of course I control what I buy. I see it in the store, put in my basket and pay for it with my own money.

Brandwashed says that’s garbage because marketers have thought long and hard about what makes us want to buy in the first place. He gives examples of how brands use our natural psychological wirings to manipulate us into thinking that we need to buy their products.

It’s all one big conspiracy to get you to buy. And just when you stop believing him, he pulls out the oodles and oodles of market research paid for by brands. Lindstrom knows this because he did the research. I was especially impressed by Axe’s efforts to find out who would be the target audience for their trademark douchebag spray. Of course, it wasn’t always known as a spray for 14-year-old boys but that’s part of the story.

I’d be interested in hear what he has to say about Abercrombie & Fitch’s strategy of revealing their strategy. As consumers, we’re comfortable buying into a lifestyle semi-consciously but does it work when it’s not so subtle? It’s as if Rolex were to put out an ad that read “Rich people wear our watches.” Every ad implies this but it’s never the tagline.

Brandwashed was a little hard to get into. I like my non-fiction to read like fiction where there’s a storyline that ties everything together. Brandwashed jumps around a lot and revisits previous concepts at unlikely times. However, the research tidbits are gold for anyone that buys or sells stuff. Because for those that have watched The Devil Wears Prada, it’s not just stuff.

See the following ads from a recent issue of Vogue. Do you think they manipulate us as consumers?

In Defence of Ladies

Farah Ng @ Broken Penguins — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:00:44 +0000

Last year, I bought my father a polo shirt from Brooks Brothers for his birthday and the store has subsequently been sending me gorgeous catalogues, invites and even a handwritten letter from the sales staff that sold me me the shirt.

With service this good, I’ve decided that prep-essentials are best purchased from Brooks Brothers. This comes at a good time because I’m getting too old for Abercrombie & Fitch and their CEO recently came out and said he doesn’t like fat kids. Will Karl Lagerfeld please insult this guy?

Upon perusing the Brooks Brothers website, I found the most adorable manuals for “ladies”. I think these make for great gifts in a world that sees more Paris Hiltons than Audrey Hepburns. Plus, they look great wrapped up with a cardigan.

What do you think of them? Old-fashioned sexism or just plain cute? Scroll to the end for a hilariously inappropriate video from Little Britain on the delicate subject of ladies.

Photo credits: brooksbrothers.com

Win Ruth Ozeki’s A Tale for a Time Being

Farah Ng @ Broken Penguins — Wed, 15 May 2013 13:00:15 +0000

I spy with my little eyes — a book for the winning!

A big thank you goes to out to Penguin Canada who sent me a copy of A Tale for a Time Being by Ruth Ozeki to give away. I don’t do a lot of giveaways because I don’t like to share.

Just kidding. The truth is I don’t want to give away a book unless I love it. And I do love this one.

Ozeki’s writing isn’t just fantastic but unbelievably quirky. After spending a month in Asia, I loved how she melds both Japanese and North American landscapes so beautifully. See my full review.

Enter to win below. Canadian residents only. Enter by May 22, 2012,12AM EST.

Good luck and watch this presentation about the lucky cat.

Tina & Farah’s Montreal Weekend Photo Essay

Farah Ng @ Broken Penguins — Mon, 13 May 2013 21:23:12 +0000

I had the great pleasure of visiting my friend Tina in Montreal. Tina and I have been friends since university and she moved to Montreal last year to work a tres sexy job in the clean energy sector.

Day 1: I get into Montreal after a ridiculously long bus ride from Toronto. Tina takes me to the gorgeous Hotel Nelligan rooftop patio where we dreamt about living in one of these fancy condos in Old Montreal:

Old Montreal

Day 2: Tina uses her magic powers to get us seats at L’Avenue brunch where they bring us real maple syrup in a can. Why does Quebec eat real maple syrup while the rest of Canada eats Aunt Jemima? I’d take the real stuff any day.

Tina’s brunch at L’Avenue + maple syrup in a can

We spent the after going through super dusty thrift stores on St. Denis. Oh and they never taught us the French word for thrift stores in fourth grade. It’s “les fripperies”. Someone should teach a “Hipster French” class complete with mime workshops.

Unfortunately, les fripperies leads to les allergies so we took an obligatory caffeine break at Flocon Espresso. It smelled SO good here that I wished my room could smell like coffee every day. Maybe I can spray my boyfriend in coffee scented cologne.

Tina enjoys fine dining but when I mentioned that I just really, really, really want to go to St. Hubert’s, she had to oblige. St. Hubert’s makes Swiss Chalet look like garbage. All the classiest people drink cocktails at chain chicken restaurants, I swear:

Day 3: We go to the Biodome to watch penguins only to discover that they were more interested in watching us.

We also went up to Montreal Tower which is scarily built on a slant and seemingly held up with wires. Here’s Montreal Tower:

Montreal Biodome & Tower.

Here’s us going up the tower:

Scary ride up Montreal Tower

We also watched the craziest show in the newly built Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium. They spent $48 million dollars building this thing! Part one of the show is very artistic while part two is more educational. Unfortunately, lots of people slept through part two. One man was heard snoring while his son was curled up napping.

Here’s how part one starts:

Beginning of Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium Show

After that, you are hurled into asteroids while travelling faster than the speed of light. The best part is that you get watch lying down on giant beanbag chairs.

Day 4: Horrible Greyhound trip back to Toronto.

An overall beautiful weekend in Montreal. Conclusion: Farah should visit Tina more often and every Broken Penguin blog post should feature penguin videos.