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Please note, this article is an expression of the author's opinions. It is not meant to infer that either the company or their agents are aware of, or deliberately use, the techniques discussed here. 5. Are you worth it?OK, this isn't news, but it is certainly current - and an interesting example of how advertisers use the technique known to NLPers as "reframing". The subject of this article is the series of TV and other adverts put out by the beauty products company L'Oreal, and in particular the punchline of those adverts: "Because you're worth it." In some ways, the beauty the greatest social evils around today. That is to say, it makes vast amounts of money by selling women on the idea that they need to wear various forms of allegedly appearance-enhancing products in order to be acceptable - to themselves, to other people or just in some rather vague sense of 'how one should be'. On this basis the beauty industry is nothing short of a scam. The adverts tell us what is "attractive", and naturally the models always perfect hair, flawless skin and so on. Even in a series of ads featuring older women in the nude the models were always all slightly tanned, and posed so that any signs of aging were minimized. So what does all this do to the general view of things? Does it encourage us - men, women and children - to value ourselves and each other for who we are? Not a chance. Superficial appearance is everything. In Britain and America (and maybe other places, too), there are some very powerful reasons for dying one's hair blonde, for example, based on people's perception After You Stop - What Then? Any NLP approach to dealing with drug addiction has to start by recognising where the real problem lies. That is to say, there are now several forms of treatment which make getting off drugs - even cocaine, heroin, crack, etc. - remarkably easy. So actually stopping taking drugs really needn't be a problem at all. But if "getting off" is so easy, what is the problem? In two words: Staying off. And that really does present problems, especially if it isn't taken into account right from the start of any rehab programme. Very few rehab programs show addicts how to replace their addiction with a well formed outcome. Okay, that may seemm simplistic. And it would indeed be foolish to suggest that just having a well-formed outcome would, of itself, resolve every case of drug addiction. What I am suggesting is that NO drug rehab program stands much chance of producing long term success stories unless it includes some form of training in this essential skill. After all, for many (most?) drug addicts, the business of finding, buying and taking drugs is the centre and focal point of their lives. And when they're not actually getting and taking drugs, large amounts opf time are devoted to hanging out with other addicts discussing stuff - like the peice of drugs, who's got drugs, the best drug experiences they ever had, the worst drug experience they ever had - in fact drugs, drugs and more drugs. Coming off drugs is not merely a question of ceasing to physically take drugs - it means giving up a whole way of life. Taking on a task like that without a well-formed goal, accompanied by a well-formed plan as to how that goal is to be achieved, makes as much sense as " What is clearly happening here is a "clash of maps", so to speak. I believe it was Einstein who said: And these word games aren't merely crude propaganda. They are doubly dangerous insofar as they help to conceal the fact that certain important, possibly even more important maps are missing from the scene. |
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