Massimo2002
Active Member
Why are certain things popular a lot if not most people know the popular thing and why are some things obscure one one or a handful of people know about the obscure thing ?
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What makes something popular and what makes something obscure ?
- Thread starter Massimo2002
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Advertising
I find that I often know about obscure things but don't know much about what's popular - at least nowadays. I think I figured out at an early age that I'll never really be able to understand or keep up with what's popular, so I stopped trying. But I knew others who seemed to always want to be on top of whatever was popular - whether it was a popular song, hairstyle, fashion, fad, or whatever it may be.
Didn't exist as such for most of human history. What other explanations would you offer?
Bigger question - is something that is believed to be popular actually popular or it is this simply believed to be so by certain individuals? That is, without actual data, how do we assess what is or is not popular? With data, at what point is something said to be "popular?"
Nor were products as popular
Twilight Hue
Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
It's all because of Marsha Brady.
Massimo2002
Active Member
It is a big question but that's why I asked it but yes you are right most of the time it's different reasons involved making it hard to figure out why something is popular or obscure and unknown.
Nah...it only took up about 1/16th of my screen.
It's interesting that you bring that up, since The Brady Bunch was most definitely a popular TV show for its time. It was pretty funny, although not necessarily "cool" in terms of the styles and persona of the characters. That, and The Partridge Family, who were a bit cooler than the Bradys. But the cool kids back in those days were into, like, totally different stuff.
Do we know this? How do we know this? Dunno about you but I recall learning about "trends" (aka, what was "popular") in culture studies courses. For example, some interpret the fact we have domesticated companion animals at all to them being "popular" thousands of years ago. Again, what other explanations do you envision for social trends other than advertising? What is it about these things that led them to catch on?
I believe your animals example was also fown to advertising, word of mouth advertising but none the less.
Erebus
Well-Known Member
It isn't possible to cover every conceivable manner in which a thing might become popular. However, I think you can identify a few broad trends.
As @PureX said, one of the major reasons that a thing becomes popular is due to it fulfilling a commonly held need or desire. Salty foods are incredibly popular for example both because they fulfil the basic need to eat and cater to humans' natural desire for salt. There will always be a market for salty food.
Outside of that, other factors include accessibility, convenience and social pressure. Can we use the thing without specialist knowledge or skills? Does using the thing make life easier in some capacity? Are the people around us saying we should use the thing?
As @PureX said, one of the major reasons that a thing becomes popular is due to it fulfilling a commonly held need or desire. Salty foods are incredibly popular for example both because they fulfil the basic need to eat and cater to humans' natural desire for salt. There will always be a market for salty food.
Outside of that, other factors include accessibility, convenience and social pressure. Can we use the thing without specialist knowledge or skills? Does using the thing make life easier in some capacity? Are the people around us saying we should use the thing?
Twilight Hue
Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
I liked how the character of Marcia Brady was always talking about being popular, which is why I included this as an example. ;0)
That's a very modern, very capitalist way of interpreting "word of mouth." It's certainly a testament to how inundated modern, domesticated humans are to capitalist advertising - that process of bringing a product to bear and the convincing others that they need it or should buy it - is made synonymous with something like "word of mouth."
In ancient times word of mouth was the only way,
Nah, there are other ways things spread. Folks are too quick to overlook the influence of the environment on the ways of things, but as someone with a strong background in ecology I consider it routinely. Regardless of how one wants to define "popular" there has to be access to said thing. Words are not needed for access, not unless we are talking about a strictly oral tradition and the spread of ideas. The most basic of access is governed by ecological processes - rice as a staple became "popular" in regions where rice grew.
In terms of memes/ideas some are more infectious than others, that may always be a factor
I see what you are saying though i was considering more than local to make something popular.
Yes, rice and was eaten where rice grew, though it didn't become popular outside those areas without some sort of advertising be that word of mouth or mass media.