When you were about to go to a convenience store to buy an ice cream to cool off the heat, you carefully avoided the expensive "Menglong" and the upstart Internet celebrity "Zhong Xuegao", and deliberately chose an ordinary-looking one. Ice cream, I was secretly happy that I didn

Summer is here, and it’s the season to show off watermelons at home and eat ice cream!

It's just that under the peaceful surface, undercurrents are surging, and "danger" is quietly approaching...

When you are going to a convenience store to buy an ice cream to cool off, you carefully avoid the expensive " Menglong " and hide. I opened the upstart Internet celebrity " Zhong Xue Gao " and deliberately chose an ice cream that looked ordinary on the outside. I was secretly happy that I didn't fall into the trap.

But when the cashier system rings the price, "Please scan the code to pay twenty-three yuan," you suddenly realize that you have been attacked by the "Ice Cream Assassin"!

01

The buzzword "ice cream assassin" is synonymous with "sky-high price ice cream".

specifically refers to some ice creams that look unremarkable, but when you pay, they will sting you with their price.

Whether in major supermarket chains or corner convenience stores, there are "assassins" hidden in the ice cream piles in the freezers.

They look small, the packaging is not outstanding, the colors are fresh and simple, and they are not much different from the cheap products around them.

But when the cashier scans the barcode, the number pops up with a beep, and you realize what "the unbearable weight of life" is.

Two days ago, there was a hot search on Douyin - #女spends 160 yuan to buy ice cream, then breaks down and cries when she gets home#.

The girl in the video took the ice cream and was too embarrassed to return it. When she looked at the price - 160 yuan!

So, after returning home, I could only cry while eating: "I feel like that, a big injustice..."

There was another Weibo netizen who picked up two ice cream sticks and saw the price - 37 yuan 5!

So, he decided to change two of them, and the price turned out to be 45 yuan!

heard him change his shape on the spot. The superiority of an adult is not worth mentioning in front of the "Ice Cream Assassin".

High-priced ice cream is not unaffordable and intolerable to people, but it is actually "not worth the money".

A report in " Beijing News " analyzed: the cost of an ice cream is only one digit, but it has been suddenly increased to three digits by various gimmicks.

Ice cream from the factory to the terminal, the manufacturer's gross profit margin is about 20%, the dealer's gross profit margin is about 30%, and the terminal's gross profit margin is about 40%-60%.

This means that the terminal price of an ice cream with a factory price of 3 yuan will reach 8 yuan to 10 yuan.

"This is normal. If you lower the price, you will lose money."

This also attracted netizens to complain:

If you just empty your wallet, it will cause a certain degree of economic harm, but you can appreciate the wonderful taste of food, and the injury So what's the problem?

But if you are stabbed by ice cream and find that it is expensive and has no guarantee of quality, you will inevitably doubt yourself.

Is this assassination worth it?

02

French scholar Jean Baudrillard believes that modern society is gradually upgrading from an economic society to a consumer society.

"Symbolic value" surpasses "use value" and "exchange value" proposed by Marx, and has become the key to symbolic consumption.

Material production is extremely rich, and consumption is no longer simply about enjoying the use value of goods and services, but also about "producing and controlling social symbols".

The value of a product lies not only in its simple practicality, but also in its symbolic meaning, symbolic value and cultural connotation.

The manipulation of symbolic value in the consumer society has gradually alienated consumption. People's consumption is no longer based on their own substantive and realistic needs, but based on fictitious symbolic value and displays their status and status through symbolic consumption. value.

So there are those products with specific meanings such as famous brands and limited editions.

In fact, purchasing certain products and services is not to satisfy actual survival needs in the traditional sense, but to satisfy desires that are constantly stimulated by modern culture.

In Moments, Weibo, and Xiaohongshu, many users are eating "Internet celebrity ice cream", not just for tasting, but more because of the brand effect , and after purchasing, they will also want to socialize "Show off" in the media.

On the other hand, due to the obvious "differentiation" of consumer communication in modern society, there is a vigorous pursuit of individuality and distinctiveness.

This also means that the characteristics of "style communication" are becoming more and more prominent, the popularity of goods and services is getting stronger and stronger, and the popularity period of goods is becoming shorter and shorter.

As a fast-moving consumer goods, ice cream has frequent quality problems. Whether it is the ingredients of "Menglong" with double standards or the "double yolk" E. coli exceeding the standards, these have all caused consumers to worry about food safety, and at the same time damaged the credibility of the company. .

When Internet celebrity ice cream becomes an instant hit with its gimmick, how long can such popularity last?

03

The reason why Internet celebrity ice cream is expensive is that manufacturers invest a lot of money in brand building and marketing promotion, which are ultimately borne by consumers.

Although people have strong consumer demand for quality, brand and service, the cost of raw materials for ice cream is actually not high. The huge gap between raw material costs and pricing will inevitably lead to resentment and complaints from consumers.

In addition to making a fuss about cultural symbols, the long-term development path for manufacturers is to ensure that the products are genuine, clearly marked, and balanced between products and prices.

And as consumers, we must also avoid falling into the "consumerism trap". ?

Consumer psychology believes that consumers are not rational people in the decision-making process, but are often affected by various environmental factors. It contains many psychological laws and phenomena, such as:

Cost of Silence: How to Promote a Big Commitment from a Small Request;

Sensory Marketing: Sound, light, smell, etc. will affect your shopping behavior;

Psychological Accounting : People will behave differently Attitudes toward different expenditures and benefits lead to different decisions and behaviors;

also has the herd effect, contrast effect, pricing psychology, edge clues, etc.

is also a high-end ice cream. Why does Haagen-Dazs appear in the open in the form of a counter without making people feel uneasy?

On the contrary, the "ice cream assassin" with a hidden identity is in the dark, leaving us bruised and bruised?

Because we are unable to respond promptly and correctly to traps caught off guard.

When you go to an independent store to look at the menu and place an order, it feels completely different from being ripped off by the expensive ice cream from a small store.

The core of the consumerism trap is the belief that consumption is the only way to demonstrate wealth and status.

But in fact, wealth is wealth and status is status, and their existence does not need to be revealed.

People will not improve their quality of life just because they eat expensive ice cream. At most, they can take a photo and post it on Moments to ask for likes.

Then, if we want to refuse the trap of consumerism to control our lives, we need to do,

First, generate a consumption warning

Early warning means that our original attitude may be challenged, so we have established a defense mechanism in our hearts in advance to prevent Be prepared to resist persuasive messages.

If applied to me, it would be "Be careful! Be careful! She is creating concepts for me, what kind of expensive ice cream is good? Expensive ice cream will not harm the body, so I will be fine if I don't eat it."

Second, distinguish Needs and wants

For example, it is excusable for my roommate to go to the beauty salon because he was under a lot of work pressure some time ago and has a lot of clefts on his forehead.

Her original intention was to find a beautician to help her clean the cleft on her forehead.

can see that the demand starts from the inside.

-I am hungry, so I want to eat

-My skin has been very dry recently, so I want to buy some hydrating masks

However, after entering the beauty salon, my roommate learned about her skin from the beautician’s mouth There may be many problems, and if these problems can be dealt with, she will have fair and glowing skin.

can see that this desire was generated after she saw the stimulation from the outside world.

Therefore, if you don’t want to be tricked by merchants into buying additional products, you need to keep in mind what your needs are when shopping.

Fromm said that with the prevalence of consumerism today, people have lost the pleasure of being consumers, and have gradually become objects of manipulation and control of economic activities such as consumption.

Merchants want to seize market opportunities and quickly harvest through the trap of consumerism.

Then you must be prepared to be abandoned by consumers after your true colors are revealed.

If morality is not matched, there will be disaster. This principle also applies to ice cream.

Author: Xinghe

Typesetting: Mo Yi

Reviewer: Yongfang

Artist/VI: Xiao Zhou