Warning: this post might offend you …but you should read it anyway!
A stereotype is a commonly held public belief about specific social groups, or types of individuals. The concepts of “stereotype” and “prejudice” are often confused with many other different meanings. Stereotypes are standardized and simplified conceptions of groups, based on some prior assumptions.
Social Code
A town where I live is located in the middle of the desert Negev and throughout the day I come in contact with many Arabs. And although those are not the type of Arabs that ride donkeys and sit in a circle to smoke a hookah, their basic instincts still pre-dominate their behavior.
It has been 10 years since I moved into this town, but to this day I have trouble with accepting them as a part of the community, since their animalistic attitude is pissing me off.
Lately, I’ve been researching on the topic of social code and I came to a conclusion that no matter where we live there are A-holes surrounding us.
This led me to another conclusion: my prejudice towards Arabs is nothing but a strong stereotype which was engraved in me since I was a little kid by my dad.
I recall that ever since we moved to Israel, wherever we go, I hear racial comments from my father about Arab behavior and culture. I believe that I overtook that inner hate towards the nation and let my emotions drive me and control my attitude.
Following the chain of interesting conclusions, I now realize that we all act upon our stereotypes, even in internet marketing. Although we have a wonderful community of entrepreneurs, family men and aspiring youngsters (like yours truly), we still let our bigotry cloud our judgment.
Below I describe 7 most common marketing stereotypes and the way most of us perceive them:
1. The Scammer
That’s a no brainer isn’t it? The person behind the sales page is automatically perceived as a scammer. This happens because we don’t know and most importantly don’t trust that person.
2. The Guru
Difference between the Guru and the Scammer is that Scammer always talks about how great he is while the Guru is humble and you discover his greatness via printed material, a friend, a gift or another Guru.
3. The Motivational Speaker
A person who’s constantly cheering others up, even if they are not asking for it. His vocabulary consists entirely of the words like wisdom, courage, persistence, motivation, success, inspiration, desire, achievement, vision and quotes of successful people.
Motivational Speakers are like high school friends-it’s nice to run into one once in a while, but if you meet more than 2 in a day-it’s annoying.
4. The Procrastinator
A person who’s always whining about EzineArticles’ strict submission guidelines and how it’s impossible to get traffic unless you have a ton of $$$ to invest in PPC.
5. The Social Media Fan
A person who’s tweeting 127 times a day, shoots 9 YouTube videos a week and harassing you to join his group on Facebook notwithstanding the fact that you’ve ignored his request 36 times already.
6. The Spammer
Similarly to the Social Media Fan, the Spammer is bombarding your Twitter timeline, Facebook wall and Stumbleupon inbox with the same offer.
7. The Faker
A person who follows the “Fake it ‘till you make it’ credo. Although I don’t think that it’s wrong, I still do not necessarily support this approach to marketing.
Safety Issue
Often we develop stereotypes and prejudices as a defense mechanism (unless we just accept other people’s prejudices as our own). Our newly acquired attitudes prevent us from getting hurt.
That’s exactly what I used to think two month ago, but not today…
“Don’t judge the book by its cover” Author Unknown
More often than not our “defense mechanisms” cloud our perception of reality and lead us to bad judgment.
I realized that in the past 2 month. Before I was accustomed to perceive every Arab as a violent being. Now I realize that I was wrong judging every single Arab I meet on the basis of my previous encounters. Throughout the last 2 month I came to know quite a few nice Arabs, who have jobs, families, dreams and interests just like the rest of us.
To conclude this post in a nutshell: Don’t Judge People!