Sociology 313
Course Reader
Part 2
COLLECTIVE DELUSION, RUMORS, GOSSIP, URBAN
LEGENDS, & PROPAGANDA
Collective Delusion used to be called "mass
hysteria" but after extensive study, it became
clear that what we were seeing was neither
hysterical nor did it occur in a mass. The accepted
term to describe the widespread belief of
something that clearly is not true... is collective
delusion.
Elvis Lives?
Today’s question was “15% of Americans seriously believe what?”
Some of the answers:
 They will be abducted by aliens.
 They have been abducted by aliens.
 The moon landings were faked.
But the correct answer was 15% of Americans seriously believe Elvis lives.
When "War of the Worlds" was broadcast on the
radio, the public response was collective delusion
not panic or mass hysteria
RUMOR: Unverifiable information that is passed
informally from anonymous sources. A rumor can
be about a person, place, or thing. The content
can be true or false, good or bad. Rumor is both a
product & a process that develops in a social
context
Tamotsu Shibutani says rumor is a substitute for hard news, not necessarily true or false.
Humans have a strong need for information and will always seek it out. When there is little
anxiety and some information available, people tend to think more critically about the
credibility of the information. But, when faced with ambiguity and normal channels are not
functioning — there is high anxiety, we see a proliferation of extemporaneous rumoring. In
these situations, people are much more willing to believe any information they hear…
 Low anxiety, some news available: CRITICAL DELIBERATION
 High anxiety, little news available: EXTEMPORANEOUS
Shibutani also argues that people play different roles in the spreading of rumor.
Shibutani's Participants:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
Messenger (spreads the rumor)
Interpreter (gives meaning to the rumor)
Doubter/Doubtful (is the skeptic; cautions)
Protagonist (is gung-ho!)
Auditor (stays in the background; not invested)
Decision-maker (advocates a course of action)
Allport & Postman say rumor is always inaccurate, exaggerated and dangerously
simplified. Rumor is passed through Serial Transmission (like the telephone game):
Leveling: Simplification; details dropped out
2) Sharpening: Salience of what is dropped & what stays
3) Assimilation: Details contribute to central theme
1)
Basic Law of Rumor: Rumor relieves tension of uncertainty associated with a lack of
information. Rumoring is more intense when the need to know is greater and less
information is available.
Smelser: Of the 6 preconditions, Generalized Belief and Mobilization for Action are most
often associated with rumor
Turner & Killian: New norms develop through rumoring and it can be “Mild or Wild.”
Rumoring also involves mutual role-taking (empathy). Also important are:
Selective Definition: This refers to what messages are accepted or rejected.
The process occurs through:
Keynoting: leader sets boundaries
2) Symbolization: Clear, simple, emotional symbols
3) Coordination: Moves to action or inaction
1)
TYPES OF RUMORS
Product Rumors
Atrocity Rumors
Disaster Rumors
Urban Legend: A rumor that sounds quite true with a message or moral
Propaganda: Rumors intended to change attitudes and/or behavior
Gossip: Rumors about people
One of the most widely known product rumors in the US began in
1980 with a rumor (urban legend) that the company Proctor &
Gamble was giving money to the Church of Satan. It was argued that
the company logo was a satanic symbol. The 'proof' comes from a
Bible passage (Revelation 12:1), which states:
"And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the
moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars." Since P&G's logo consists
of a man's face on a moon surrounded by thirteen stars, some have claimed that the logo is
a mockery of the heavenly symbol alluded to in the aforementioned verse, and hence the
logo is Satanic. Where the beard meets the surrounding circle, a mirror image of 666 can be
seen when viewed from inside the logo, and this has been interpreted as the reflected
number of the beast, again linked to Satanism. Also, there are two horns like a lamb that are
said to represent the false prophet.
These interpretations have been denied by company officials for the past 27 years and even
changed the logo but the stories still persist. There is no evidence linking the company to the
Church of Satan or any other occult organization. The company has sued and attempted to
sue a number of companies and individuals who have spread rumors of this type, in some
instances because they sell competitive products and have spread such rumors for the
purpose of tarnishing P&G's image to increase sales of their own brands (e.g., Amway).
An example of one such rumor was that the president of P&G had appeared on a Saturday
edition of the Phil Donahue show, and declared that he was a Satanist and that the
company's logo was Satanic. This rumor circulated despite the facts that the company's
president has never made such a statement in public; had never appeared on Phil Donahue's
show; and that Donahue's show does not run on Saturdays (see Zellner for more details)
Follow up:
In 1997, Procter & Gamble filed the most recent in a series of lawsuits against Amway
Corporation and several of its distributors for allegedly spreading rumors to the effect that
P&G, maker of familiar household products such as Mr. Clean and Tide laundry detergent, is
affiliated with the Church of Satan.
CINCINNATI, March 19, 2007 – The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE: PG) today announced
that it won a jury trial on March 16 in Federal District Court in Salt Lake City, Utah, against
four Amway distributors for spreading false rumors about the company to advance their
own business. P&G was awarded $19.25 million.
(source: Snopes, P&G Website)
Did you ever play The Telephone Game when you were a child? The next time you are in a
gathering of friends, see if you can get the game started and note the results. It is a great
illustration of how rumors travel and how they change!
GOSSIP
Whether or not this is fact doesn't matter. It's that the story is about a person that makes it
gossip. Example: Paul McCartney’s tragic death in 1969)
Functions of Gossip:
1) Integration of Group or Community (being "in the know")
2) Affirmation of Moral Code (sanctions inappropriate behavior)
3) Competition Between Groups (racial or religious discrimination)
4) Enables Social Comparison (see, my life is healthier than that of a movie star!)
(Do Not Turn In)
1. Who gossips more, men or women?
2. Why is it so much fun to gossip?
(answer to #1: research shows that both men and women spend about two thirds of the
time gossiping. A difference was found between what men and women gossip about.
Women tend to gossip about other people’s social experiences, men gossip mainly about
their own. In other words, women are networking and men are advertising.)
PROPAGANDA
Propaganda consists of the planned use of any form of public or mass-produced
communication designed to affect the minds and emotions of a given group for a specific
purpose, whether military, economic, or political.
Linebarger, Paul Myron Anthony. 1954. Psychological Warfare, 1954, Combat Forces
Press, Washington (p. 39)
Another way to think of propaganda is that it is rumor with the goal of changing
attitudes/behavior
The modern political sense of the term "propaganda" dates from World War I, and was not
originally pejorative. Propaganda techniques were first codified and applied in a scientific
manner by journalist Walter Lippman and psychologist Edward Bernays (nephew of Sigmund
Freud) early in the 20th century.
During World War I, Lippman and Bernays both worked for the Committee for Public
Information, which was created by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson to sway popular opinion
to enter the war in support of Britain. The committee's pro-war propaganda campaign
resulted in a kind of anti-German hysteria within six months. Its success impressed a number
of different interests, including American business and Adolf Hitler. The potential of large-
scale propaganda to control public opinion was demonstrated. Bernays coined the terms
"group mind" and "engineering consent", important concepts in practical propaganda work.




war
political campaigns
economics
business
Atrocity Rumors fall into this category. A particular favorite of mine is Alfie's stamp
collection. Here is a WWII version:
1944
A family in Boise, Idaho had a son in the military, in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp. They
received a letter from him, in which he asked them to be sure to save the stamp, he thought
his little brother Alfie would like to add it to his stamp collection. This puzzled the family
because they had no son named Alfie. They soaked off the stamp. Under the stamp he had
written, "They have cut out my tongue."
The origin of the story goes back to the American Civil War in 1866. In those early days the
maimed serviceman was a Confederate lad held in a northern prison camp. Under the stamp
on the letter home to his momma was found the first grisly message: "My God! They've cut
out my tongue."
Atrocity rumors are never new; they are merely retooled as circumstances change. In the
ramp-updays towards the Gulf War, we were told Iraqi soldiers had rampaged through a
Kuwaiti hospital, grabbing premature babies up out of incubators and tossing them to the
floor to meet their deaths on the cold, hard tiles. Never mind that this apocryphal hospital
was never pinpointed nor the grieving families of these infants located, the story spread like
wildfire, inflaming passions against the Iraqis and stiffening resolve to fight them tooth and
nail if it came down to that. [Columbia Journalism Review, 1992]
Tokyo Rose is something of an urban legend -- a
fictional person cobbled together from scraps of real
history. There's no proof that such a woman existed,
although one woman was convicted of treason as
Tokyo Rose.
“Tokyo Rose”
During World War II, American soldiers dubbed the female
broadcasters on Japanese radio, "Tokyo Rose." It was a name
invented by the soldiers -- U.S. government research never found
evidence of a person named Tokyo Rose in radio programs
anywhere in the Pacific. The voice of Tokyo Rose was said to have
taunted Allied forces during the war, hurting morale.
Falsely accused Iva Toguri
TYPES OF PROPAGANDA
Common methods for transmitting propaganda messages include news reports, government
reports, historical revision, theater, books, leaflets, movies, radio, television, and posters.
Print propaganda during wartime continues to play an important role in influencing beliefs.
War propaganda is used to confuse and demoralize enemies and also to influence public
opinions in friendly countries. Often, a nation at war uses propaganda to influence its own
citizens.
Pro-Iraqi poster showing a decisive leader
North Korean soldier smashing the US Capitol
White Propaganda: is issued from an acknowledged source... This type of propaganda is
associated with overt psychological operations.
Grey Propaganda: May be true of false information; does not clearly identify any source
Black Propaganda: Disinformation; purports to emanate from a source other than the true
one. This type of propaganda is associated with covert psychological operations.
Beirut-based Reuters freelance photographer Adnan Hajj enhanced his image of smoke rising
from burning buildings after an Israeli air strike on the suburbs of Beirut August 5, 2006 to
make things look worse. This is a form of propaganda. (Source: AP - Mon Aug 7, 8:48 PM ET )
Example of Black Propaganda from WWII:
Guard Against Venereal Diseases
Lately there has been a great increase in the number of
venereal diseases among our officers and men owing to
prolific contacts with Filipino women of dubious
character.
Due to hard times and stricken conditions brought about
by the Japanese occupation of the islands, Filipino women
are willing to offer themselves for a small amount of
foodstuffs. It is advisable in such cases to take full
protective measures by use of condoms, protective
medicines, etc.; better still to hold intercourse only
with wives, virgins, or women of respective [sic]
character.
Furthermore, in view of the increase in pro-American
leanings, many Filipino women are more than willing to
offer themselves to American soldiers, and due to the
fact that Filipinos have no knowledge of hygiene, disease
carriers are rampant and due care must be taken.
U.S. Army
Do you believe the source of this information to be the US Army? Was it distributed to
American troops? It was actually dropped on Filipinos by the Japanese. The Japanese
propagandists wanted Filipinos to believe that the United States was the origin of this
derogatory material, thereby reducing cooperation with the United States. Source:
Psychological Warfare, page 123).
The film "Atomic Cafe" is highly recommended in its portrayal of US propaganda directed
toward its own citizens during the Cold War era
Propaganda efforts often "backfire" as in this recent case:
Bush Teleconference With Soldiers Staged
by Deb Riechmann, AP/
October 14th, 2005
WASHINGTON - It was billed as a conversation with U.S. troops, but the questions President
Bush asked on a teleconference call Thursday were choreographed to match his goals for the
war in Iraq and Saturday's vote on a new Iraqi constitution. U.S. President George W. Bush
waves to members of the 42nd Infantry Division (Mechanized) National Guard unit stationed
in Tikrit, Iraq, via video teleconference hookup from the Eisenhower Executive Office
Building in the White House complex October 13, 2005. REUTERS/Staff
"This is an important time," Allison Barber, deputy assistant defense secretary, said,
coaching the soldiers before Bush arrived. "The president is looking forward to having just a
conversation with you."
Barber said the president was interested in three topics: the overall security situation in Iraq,
security preparations for the weekend vote and efforts to train Iraqi troops.
As she spoke in Washington, a live shot of 10 soldiers from the Army's 42nd Infantry Division
and one Iraqi soldier was beamed into the Eisenhower Executive Office Building from Tikrit
the birthplace of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
A brief rehearsal ensued.
"OK, so let's just walk through this," Barber said. "Captain Kennedy, you answer the first
question and you hand the mike to whom?"
"Captain Smith," Kennedy said.
"Captain. Smith? You take the mike and you hand it to whom?" she asked.
"Captain Kennedy," the soldier replied.
And so it went.
"If the question comes up about partnering ? How often do we train with the Iraqi military ?
who does he go to?" Barber asked. "That's going to go to Captain Pratt," one of the soldiers
said.
"And then if we're going to talk a little bit about the folks in Tikrit, the hometown, and how
they're handling the political process, who are we going to give that to?" she asked.
Before he took questions, Bush thanked the soldiers for serving and reassured them that the
U.S. would not pull out of Iraq until the mission was complete. "So long as I'm the president,
we're never going to back down, we're never going to give in, we'll never accept anything
less than total victory," Bush said.
The president told them twice that the American people were behind them.
"You've got tremendous support here at home," Bush said. Less than 40 percent in an APIpsos poll taken in October said they approved of the way Bush was handling Iraq. Just over
half of the public now say the Iraq war was a mistake.
White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Thursday's event was coordinated with the
Defense Department but that the troops were expressing their own thoughts. With satellite
feeds, coordination often is needed to overcome technological challenges, such as delays, he
said.
"I think all they were doing was talking to the troops and letting them know what to expect,"
he said, adding that the president wanted to talk with troops on the ground who have
firsthand knowledge about the situation.
The soldiers all gave Bush an upbeat view of the situation. The president also got praise from
the Iraqi soldier who was part of the chat. "Thank you very much for everything," he gushed.
"I like you."
Paul Rieckhoff, director of the New York-based Operation Truth, an advocacy group for U.S.
veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, denounced the event as a "carefully scripted publicity
stunt." Five of the 10 U.S. troops involved were officers, he said.
"If he wants the real opinions of the troops, he can't do it in a nationally televised
teleconference," Rieckhoff said. "He needs to be talking to the boots on the ground and
that's not a bunch of captains."
Source: 2005 The Associated Press.
URBAN LEGENDS
URBAN LEGEND: A realistic but basically untrue story coming from an anonymous source
with an ironic or supernatural twist about some alleged event
Characteristics of Urban Legends:
1) Strong Story Appeal (fun to tell)
2) Seem believable
3) Teach a lesson
Legends help us to deal with ambiguity (new technology, sex, embarrassment, etc)
Common themes:





--Automobiles
--Drugs/Gangs
--Expensive Recipes
--Nudity
--College Life
Check out some of the urban legend sites on the Web! http://www.urbanlegends.com
or snopes
Top Web Hoaxes and Pranks
Whether they take the form of a comic image of a giant cat or a desperate plea from a sick
child, chain e-mail messages and Internet frauds are elements of the online landscape that
we've all encountered. No topic is off limits: a medical warning, a promise of free money, or
a believably (or shoddily) Photo-shopped image. But at the end of the day, they're just
elaborate hoaxes or clever pranks. Here are some of my favorites.
Though some of these deceptions originated years ago, the originals--and dozens of variants-continue to make the rounds. If you keep a patient vigil over your e-mail, you too may
eventually spot a message urging you to FORWARD THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!! And if
you haven't had enough when you finish reading this article, take a hoax test at the Museum
of Hoaxes, and then hop over to Snopes, the premier myth-dispelling site for coverage of
zillions of other falsifications.
The Accidental Tourist (2001)
Quite possibly the most famous hoax picture ever, this gruesome idea of a joke traveled
around the Web and made a grand tour of e-mail inboxes everywhere soon after the tragedy
of September 11. It depicts a tourist standing on the observation deck of one of the World
Trade Center towers, unknowingly posing for a picture as an American Airlines plane
approaches in the background.
At first glance it appears to be real, but if you examine certain details, you'll see that it's a
craftily modified image. For starters, the plane that struck the WTC was a wide-body Boeing
767; the one in the picture is a smaller 757. The approach of the plane in the picture is from
the north, yet the building it would have hit--the North tower--didn't have an outdoor
observation deck. Furthermore, the South tower's outdoor deck didn't open until 9:30 a.m.
on weekdays, more than half an hour after the first plane struck the WTC. The picture is a
hoax, through and through--and not a particularly amusing one, under the circumstances.
___________________________________________________________________________
Sick Kid Needs Your Help (1989)
This gem had its roots in reality. It all began in 1989, when nine-year-old cancer patient Craig
Shergold thought of a way to achieve his dream of getting into the Guinness Book of World
Records. Craig asked people to send greeting cards, and boy, did they. By 1991, 33 million
greeting cards had been sent, far surpassing the prior record. Ironically, however, the
Guinness World Records site doesn't contain any mention of Craig Sherwood or a "most
greeting cards received" record, presumably because the fine folks at the site don't want to
encourage anyone to try to break his mark.
Fortunately, doctors succeeded in removing the tumor, and Craig is now a healthy adult, but
his appeal for cards has turned into the hoax that won't die. Variations on the theme include
a sick girl dying of cancer, and a little boy with leukemia whose dying wish is to start an
eternal chain letter.
A recent iteration tells a tragic tale of a girl who supposedly was horribly burned in a fire at
WalMart, and then claims that AOL will pay all of her medical bills if only if you forward this
e-mail to EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!! Okay, enough already.
___________________________________________________________________________
Bill Gates Money Giveaway (1997)
No, it's true. I thought it was a scam, but it happened to the roommate of my cousin's
boyfriend. It seems that Microsoft is testing some new program for tracing e-mail, and the
company needs volunteers to help try the thing out. He forwarded me an e-mail that he
received from Microsoft--and get this, from Bill Gates himself! Two weeks later, as a reward
for participating, my pal received a check for thousands of dollars! Sure he did. Another
version of this hoax claims that AOL's tracking service is offering a cash reward. Tell you
what--when you get your check, send me 10 percent as a finder's fee, okay?
___________________________________________________________________________
Five-Cent E-Mail Tax (1999)
"Dear Internet Subscriber," the e-mail starts. "The Government of the United States is
quietly pushing through legislation that will affect your use of the Internet." It goes on to
reveal that "Bill 602P" will authorize the U.S. Postal Service to assess a charge of five cents
for every e-mail sent. Not a bad way to cut down on the number of dopey e-mail chain
letters and lame jokes people let loose on the world. But credulous curse averters and
connoisseurs of boffo laffs can relax: This e-mail alert, which popped up in 1999 and comes
back for a visit every year or so, just isn't true. Still, it sounded plausible enough to fool
Hillary Clinton during a 2000 debate when she was running for the Senate.
___________________________________________________________________________
Nigerian 419 E-Mail Scam (2000)
"DEAR SIR," the e-mail starts. "FIRSTLY I MUST FIRST SOLICIT YOUR CONFIDENCE IN THIS
TRANSACTION; LET ME START BY INTRODUCING MYSELF PROPERLY..." I'm sure you've
received one of these--a confidential, urgent e-mail message promising you a reward of
mucho dinero for helping this person convey money abroad. All you need do in return is
entrust your name and bank account number to the government bureaucrat (or his uncle,
aunt, or cousin, the ostensible "credit offficer with the union bank of Nigeria plc (uba) Benin
branch") who needs your help.
It's the Nigerian con, also know as an Advanced Fee Fraud or 419 scam (so called because of
the section number of the Nigerian criminal code that applies to it). Ancestors of these
scams appeared in the 1980s, when the media of choice were letters or faxes--and they're
still wildly successful at snagging people. In fact, Oprah recently featured a victim of the
Nigerian scam on her show. And if you think that smart, educated folks couldn't possibly fall
for it, you'll be surprised when you read "The Perfect Mark," a New Yorker magazine article
profiling a Massachusetts psychotherapist who was duped--and lost a fortune.
___________________________________________________________________________
It's Kidney Harvesting Time (1996) (actually, organ harvesting has become quite lucrative)
The subject line is laden with exclamation points: "Travelers Beware!!!" If that's not enough
to get your attention, the chilling story certainly will. The message warns that an organharvesting crime ring is drugging tourists in New Orleans and Las Vegas, snatching their
"extra" kidneys, selling the organs to non-Hippocratic hospitals, and leaving the victims to
wake up in a bathtub full of ice and find a brief note that explains the situation and
conveniently identifies the phone number of the nearest emergency room. Hey, maybe
they'll get lucky and the hospital will have a compatible replacement kidney on hand. But
travelers, fear not!!! According to the National Kidney Foundation, this scenario has never
actually occurred--though it does have the makings of a great horror flick.
(actually the EU just busted an organ harvesting ring--so, maybe the story has some
truth?)
___________________________________________________________________________
You've Got Virus! (1999 and on)
There's isn't a Teddy Bear virus. Nor is there a sulfnbk.exe or A Virtual Card for You ("the
"WORST VIRUS EVER!!!...CNN ANNOUNCED IT. PLEASE SEND THIS TO EVERYONE YOU
KNOW!!!").
The jdbgmgr.exe hoax (also known as Teddy Bear because the jdbgmgr.exe file is
represented by a teddy bear icon) warned recipients of the e-mail message that they were at
risk of infection from a virus sent via address books or Microsoft Messenger, and that they
should delete the file immediately. But in reality there was no virus--and unfortunately,
jdbgmgr.exe was a necessary Java file. The sulfnbk.exe hoax nailed even advanced users with
its insistence that the file--a legit one that's used for fixing long file names--was a virus. Lots
of people removed it.
Similarly, A Virtual Card for You claimed that McAfee had discovered a virus that, when
opened, would destroy the hard drive on an infected system and would automatically send
itself to everyone on the user's e-mail contacts list. Of course, it didn't do anything except
scare people. So before you forward an e-mail virus warning to anyone (especially to me),
look it up on Sophos or Vmyths to make sure it isn't a fraud.
___________________________________________________________________________
$250 Cookie Recipe (1996)
The woman loved the cookie she had just nibbled at a Neiman Marcus cafe in Houston, so
she asked her waiter for the recipe. "Two-fifty," he said, and she agreed without hesitation,
instructing him to add it to her tab. But when the woman's Visa bill arrived, it read $250,
instead of $2.50. Bent on revenge, she proceeded to ask you to blast the recipe to--okay,
ready?--EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!! Like many hoaxes, this one predated the Internet, only to
resurface in the electronic age. It appeared in a cookbook in the late 1940s as the $25 fudge
cake, popped up in the 1960s as the Waldorf-Astoria red-velvet cake recipe, and re-emerged
in the 1970s as the Mrs. Fields cookie recipe.
___________________________________________________________________________
Free Vacation Courtesy of Disney (1998)
Dear Goofy... Forward this e-mail chain letter to everybody under the sun and, once 13,000
people have received it, Walt Disney Jr. will send five grand each to 1,300 lucky people on
this list. And "the rest will recieve a free trip for two to Disney for one week during the
summer of 1999." Is that Disney World, Disneyland--or Walt's house? The "Jr." after Disney,
in reference to a nonexistent person, ought to have been the first clue that this was a hoax.
And the misspelling of "receive" was the clincher--remember, hoaxters, "i" before "e" except
after "c"). Yet people forwarded the message around the world using the time-honored email chain letter adage: I'm sending it to you... just in case it's true.
___________________________________________________________________________
Alien Autopsy at Roswell, New Mexico (1995)
Roswell, New Mexico: ground zero of UFO controversy. It's also where the movie of the
Roswell alien autopsy was filmed 60 years ago. The story goes that a UFO crashed at this
site, and the U.S. government performed a hush-hush autopsy on the dead alien. In the mid1990s, unnamed individuals "discovered" the secret film and posted it for the edification of a
disinformed public. Looks pretty real, right? Now fast-forward to 2006 and a conspiracydeflating admission: The movie is a hoax created in 1995 by John Humphreys, the animator
famous for Max Headroom, in his apartment in north London....Or was it???
Apollo Moon Landing Hoax (1969)
You're aware that we never landed on the moon, right? It was all just an elaborate hoax
designed to score Cold War points for the United States against the Soviet Union in a world
of falling dominoes. The whole lunar landing thing? It was a video staged at movie studios
and top-secret locations.
Okay, you can stop laughing now, but some sites, such as Apollo Reality and Moon Landing,
still insist that the Eagle never landed. Of course, enemies of Flat Earthism will point to the
Rocket and Space Technology site, which does an in-depth job of debunking the hoax. But
true disbelievers should check out this terrific video spoof, complete with outtakes showing
lights and cameras.
___________________________________________________________________________
Lights-Out Gang Member Initiation (1998)
People have a tendency to believe e-mail messages that come from authority figures. In
1998, a message purportedly from a police officer working with the DARE program circulated
around the Internet. It warned recipients not to flash their lights to inform oncoming cars
that their headlamps were off. According to the message, a recently devised gang initiation
ritual involved having new gang members drive at night with their headlights turned off until
an oncoming car flashed its lights at them; then, in order to become initiated, they were to
shoot everyone in that car. It's just another urban myth--and about as silly as the one
claiming that gangs mark off their territory by hanging sneakers from power lines.
FADS, FASHIONS & CRAZES
Fad: A temporary form of conduct followed by a large number of people rather
enthusiastically.
The study of fads has a long history in Sociology: Georg Simmel (1904)
Fads are more common in societies that:
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

are open (e.g., democratic)
have discretionary income
are economically well-off
value individualism & free speech
Fads are classified as:
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


Useful Product
Novelty Product
Activity
Characters/Heroes
Words/Phrases
Fads have a cyclical lifespan; most are rediscovered. For example, indigenous people of
South America have been Bungee-Jumping for years!
1) USEFUL PRODUCTS
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

1958 FCC licensed about 100,000 CB Radios (Citizen's Band)
1973: 2 million CB Licenses issued
1976: 11 million CB Licenses issued
1978-1980 CB lost popularity
Other Useful Product Fads??
 computer
 cell phone
2) NOVELTY PRODUCTS *
The Cabbage Patch Doll
1977 Appalachian Artworks, Cleveland, Georgia
1983 Coleco Toys signed a contract but sales were slow
***MEDIA BLITZ***
200,000 dolls/week from Hong Kong
1983: $80 million
1984: $550 million
1985: $600 million
1986: $250 million (lost $111 million)
1987: $125 million (lost $105 million)
1988: Coleco declared bankruptcy
The Slinky
Richard James, marine engineer, Philadelphia
1946 Betty James markets the toy still
Silly Putty
James Wright, General Electric engineer for military
1949 Toy store owner buys supply @ $147 and packages
in plastic Easter eggs---made $6 mil/yr
3) ACTIVITY FADS
1957 Australian visits San Gabriel, California
Wham-O produces 20 million hoops for $1.98 (retail)
The hoop is not a new invention—Greek and Roman kids wheeled these around
Fads just keep coming around! Many are reinvented or develop from another fad
Roller Skates--inline—scooter—skateboard—scooter—
Skateboard - wheels + boot bindings + snow = Snowboard
The Frisbee
 1870 Frisbie Pie Company
 1957 Walter Morrison sells Wham-O "Flyin-Saucer"
 1959 Wham-O copyrights the Frisbee name
Streaking!
 In the 1970s over 123 college campuses experienced this
mooning
Bungee jumping
telephone booth
Hacky-Sack
eating goldfish
dance marathons
A MODEL TO EXPLAIN FADS
Penrose (1952) said fads go through a 4-stage life cycle in the shape of a normal bell curve
1
2
Latent
Breakout
3
Peak
4
Decline
Why do we do these things??
 --Simmel said it is to BELONG and to BE DIFFERENT!!
It's a paradox
get it? (pair of Docs)
 --Blumer says we are facing some uncertainty or strain
 --Klapp says it is a pathological loss of self-identity
 --Smelser says it is a kind of hysterical craze caused by stress
How is fashion different from fad?
FASHION: a currently valued style of behavior, thinking, or appearance
 It lasts longer than fads
 It is less intense
 More people get involved
Simmel says fashion "trickles down" from the upper class
What are some examples of fashion that did not “trickle down” from the upper class as
Simmel suggests?
In 1899, Thorstein Veblen coined the term Conspicuous Consumption to describe the
“purchasing and displaying of goods, especially clothing, as a means of symbolizing wealth
and status” Here is aPatek Philippe Platinum World Time watch for $4 million
"Planned Obsolescence" is an interesting phenomenon associated with the creation of
products.
It reflects the conscious decision on the part of an agency to produce a consumer product
that will become obsolete and/or non-functional in a defined time frame. Planned
obsolescence has great benefits for a producer in that it means a consumer will buy their
product repeatedly, as their old one is no longer functional or desirable. It exists in many
different products from vehicles to lightbulbs, from buildings to software. There is, however,
the potential backlash of consumers that become aware of such obsolescence; such
consumers can shed their loyalty and buy from a company that caters to their desire for a
more durable product.
Planned obsolescence was first developed in the 1920s and 1930s when mass production
had opened every minute aspect of the production process to exacting analysis.
Estimates of planned obsolescence can influence a company's decisions about product
engineering; there is little business reason to make a product that lasts longer than anyone is
expected to use it. Therefore the company can use the least expensive components that
satisfy product lifetime projections. Such decisions are part of a broader discipline known as
value engineering. (Wikipedia)
In terms of collective behavior, our interest in Planned obsolescence is most closely related
to fashion and the fashion industry. Narrow ties, wide ties, single-breasted suits, doublebreasted suits, short skirts, long skirts, high heels, flats, etc., etc., The fashion industry counts
on us purchasing new wardrobes to be "in fashion. "
CRAZE
Intense & spontaneous mass action to achieve some goal or express a belief
 fewer participants than fad or fashion
 more frenzied and intense than fad or fashion
 shorter lived than either fad or fashion
Examples of Crazes:
Tulip Mania (1634)
Gold Rush
Fitness Pyramid
Schemes
Land Boom
Stock Market
Pyramid Scheme
An often illegal business plan based on the understanding of craze behaviors
The modern pyramid scheme has undergone slight tweaks in order to stay just with the
bounds of the law, and still keep the fun scam times going. When you strip away all the
pretty foil and chocolate, though, a naked Ponzi sits in the center.
It all stems from the basic idea of pay me $5 and I'll tell you how you can sign up five people
to pay you $5 each. Instant riches!
But, U.S. law likes to see some sort of tangible product involved. So then we get a multilevel-marketing company supposedly built around diet pills, travel arrangements, energy
resale, or lollipops, you know, "suckers." It doesn't really matter.
Your recruiter talks to you about salesmanship, relationship building, building up your team,
and of course, all the fabulous amounts of easy money you can generate
But somewhere along the line you're going to have to pay some fee. Often there's an
upfront "investment cost." Or maybe there's some fee that disproportionately large in
comparison to the service or good it's supposed to be covering, like could be $39.95 for
them to put up and maintain a webpage for you, or $49.95 per month for some nebulous
"support" the company provides. And right there, you've found what the company is really
about.
That's the juice that flows upwards through the ranks, the residual income that feeds your
recruiter, and his recruiter, and your recruiter's recruiter recruiter, and so forth. This fee can
come in all different colors and names and variations, but at the end of the day, it's all just
the same old scam.