Apocryphal Marketing Tales

look around. have you been changing your phones way too often? have you found yourself inundated with endless pairs of shoes that are enough to equip a small army? are you charged for your subscriptions every other day, like you've been court-ordered to pay war reparations? is the number of cords, wires, and charging cables around you enough to hang half the world's spree killers and war criminals? this episode will help you sniff out egregious manipulations that contribute to a sinister phenomenon of perceived obsolescence.

can you say that your knowledge of the USSR is largely based on a bunch of hackneyed cliches and stereotypes? even if it's low-key so, you'd be surprised to learn how much it had in common with Western civilization and how the differences weren't always for the worse. listen to this episode to find out how and why.

you absolutely have to experience failure before you can succeed. to be a good winner, you need to be a good loser. these bromides only work if you learn your lessons and hire the kind of people who know their onions. the companies mentioned in this episode apparently have a problem with this. but that's a golden learning opportunity for you. don't blow it.

this company originated in the industrial hub of Northern England, edged the heavy-hitting household names for the tea crown, desensitized the tea-drinking crowd both to human cruelty and animal cruelty, teamed up with Britain's most iconic movie franchise, erased its name from its most popular product, and even abandoned the home market altogether — all in the name of serving up a record-high 35 million mugs of pretty average tea a year. take a good sip of yours and have a listen.