Marketing to weak minds

I enjoy reading Seth Godin's material, very stimulating ideas. Check out this blurb about his upcoming book: Seth Godin is coming out with a new book in May called "All Marketers Are Liars: But Great Marketers Tell Stories We Want to Believe."
This from the Portfolio summer catalog:
Every marketer tells a story. And, if they do it right, we believe them. We believe that wine tastes better in a $20 glass than a $1 glass. We believe that an $80,000 Porsche Cayenne is cooler than a $36,000 VW Touareg, which is virtually the same car. We believe that $225 Pumas will make our feet feel better than $20 no-names...and believing it makes it true.Seth Godin argues that it doesn't matter if something is actually better or faster or more efficient. What matters is whether the consumer believes your story. Godin teaches readers how to create a powerful story (even if it's a fib).Marketers succeed when they tell us a story that fits our worldview, a story that we intuitively embrace and the share with our friends. Think of the Dyson vacuum cleaner and the iPod.Marketers fail when they are selfish and scurrilous, when they abuse the tools of their trade and make the world worse. Think of telemarketers and Marlboro.This is a powerful book for anyone who wants to sell things people truly want, as opposed to commodities that people merely need.

This gets me to thinking about the message of the Gospel. (Two parts -- 1. You are far worse than you can imagine. 2. You are far more loved than you ever dared to hope.) Mr. Godin would argue that it only matters that the sales message align with people's desires, not whether it is needed or even true. The Gospel aligns not only with the desire of our hearts -- to be loved, to be known, to matter, to understand our place and purpose -- but is also objectively true. A clear winner!

Godin's ideas here also make it easier to understand why we settle for such lousy substitutes that the world offers us, no matter how pricey.