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Hello! The Streisand effect is a phenomenon in which information that they carefully tried to hide becomes, on the contrary, publicly available and resonant. And today we will consider options for how to use this phenomenon in professional activities, and just life, in order to get what you want. For example, increase sales or advertise your company, product, services, etc.
History of occurrence
This phenomenon is named after the American actress and singer Barbara Streisand. Accordingly, it was discovered not so long ago, in comparison with other effects in psychology. It happened in 2003. As part of some research project, it was necessary to take pictures of the California coast. They hired a photographer who did an excellent job of taking over 1000 photos. And everything would be fine if one picture out of 1000 did not include a house that belonged to, you guessed it, Barbara.
She considered this an invasion of her privacy and sued the company that ordered the pictures. Demanding to remove it, as well as 50 million dollars in compensation for moral damages. But it was not there. She lost the case, remaining in the red. Because she was obliged to pay this company 150 thousand for legal costs. The picture itself was seen by millions of people, because it instantly spread over the Internet, causing a lot of interest, what did the actress want to hide so much.
And already in 2005, a journalist named Main Masnik decided to call such cases the Streisand effect. Because indeed, the greater the desire to hide something, the more likely it is that the maximum number of people will know about it. In addition, finding more incriminating information.
Examples
Herostratus
Despite the fact that this phenomenon was discovered a little over ten years ago. He made himself known even in ancient times. The guy Herostrat lived in the ancient Greek city of Ephesus, who dreams of being famous. He couldn’t come up with anything sensible to be remembered for centuries, so he decided to just burn the temple of Artemis. He was caught and, having learned the reason for such an act, they decided to execute him, keeping even the name of the culprit secret.
But it was not there. Theopompus and Herostratus learned about this conspiracy, although posthumously, but achieved his goal. Now, in the 21st century, thanks to his example, we explain the effect of the Streisand phenomenon.
Uber
What it is, I think, no need to explain. In short, Uber is a program for gadgets on a mobile platform. It allows people who have a car to work as a driver, and for those who do not have it, use their services as a passenger.
So, Uber has become quite popular in European cities, so much so that it interfered with the work of ordinary taxi services, “selecting” customers. They now have the opportunity not only to choose a car with a driver, but also to track by GPS how soon he will arrive. Taxi drivers could not withstand such competition and in 2014 took to the streets of London with a protest. Thanks to which the popularity of the new program has only increased. Imagine, within a week, the number of app downloads increased by 859%.
Potatoes
Potatoes appeared in Europe only in the second half of the 16th century. And then, as a houseplant, because the population considered it poisonous. Sometimes called «white truffle». And as one scientist, pharmacist Antoine-Augustin Parmentier did not try to prove to them that the potato does not cause any harm, but on the contrary, it even helps to remove scurvy from the body — no one wanted to listen to him, fearing death from this tuberous plant.
And then he came up with a way to convince the people. Having planted his plot of land with potatoes, he fenced it with a fence and set up guards. Having ordered to protect such a valuable product only during the day. The result was not long in coming. People became interested in what is happening there in Parmentier’s garden that he hired specially trained people to guard it? In general, curious and hungry residents of the city began to climb to him at night. Moreover, they even ate raw roots. It didn’t take long for the «white truffle» to be judged on merit.
Pussy Riot
Translated from English, «Riot of Pussies» is a company of girls who performed punk rock. They sought to draw attention to themselves, which is why they often performed in the subway and even on the roof of a trolleybus, a building opposite the special receiver of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. But fame did not come and did not come. Until one day in 2012, they decided to stage a protest against Vladimir Putin, who was running for president. Do you know how? Having played a concert in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Of course they were arrested. At least those who managed to detain on the spot.
This act turned out to be so resonant in society that the girls received not only fans, but also truly worldwide fame. Believers, the Russian Orthodox Church, the Parties — were angry, they fought to ensure that the participants were given a long sentence. But, in the end, the convicts received the John Lennon Peace Prize. Moreover, in Russia they were the first to receive this honor. Also in 2012, according to ArtView magazine, Pussi Riot was ranked 57th in the ranking of the 100 most influential personalities in contemporary art.
Turchinsky
Vladimir was a famous Russian sportsman, actor, showman. But in 2009, his heart suddenly stopped. And one of the police or ambulance workers took a picture of his dead body on the floor. And not only did it, but also posted it on the network. Without thinking twice, one fotozhaber (a kind of photomontage) did a couple of works with his frozen face.
Of course, people familiar with the activities and work of Vladimir were outraged. And not only them. After all, this act was equated with mockery of the dead. Journalist Vladimir Solovyov even organized a fundraiser to catch this cynical photo-jab and bring him to justice. But it was not there. Only some pictures were deleted from the Internet, as new ones appeared. Because the idea was picked up by others, creating at least 100 photoshops in the end. There was no point in fighting with so many photos and people. Why, with the loss of interest, the number of works also decreased.
Books
Vladimir Sorokin’s novel «Blue Fat» might not have become so popular if it were not for a lawsuit from the court directly to the author himself, as well as to the publishing house for distributing pornographic material. There was a stir and all copies were sold out instantly. The same thing happened with Alexander Nikonov’s book «Monkey Upgrade». He was accused of covert propaganda of drugs. Why had to withdraw its sale. But on the Internet resources, it has become a real bestseller. Everyone was interested to know what was so terrible and forbidden there.
Recommendations
In general, if it happened that compromising information appeared on the Internet, the media or somewhere else, in no case take active steps to destroy it. So you will attract even more attention. Even those who previously did not know about the existence of your person can learn about you. There are people, let’s call them trolls, who seek to hurt, to hurt feelings.
If they understand that you are trying to hide something, then they will certainly not lag behind the topic until the interest of the people completely fades. Yes, they have no sympathy and conscience, so you should not rely on the kindness of the soul. Just remember the example of Vladimir Turchinsky.
If you pretend that you are not offended by some information that has become publicly available, then people will not have a reason and energy to linger on it for a long time. There is so much going on in the world that you will be forgotten almost instantly. You can even try to troll yourself.
But only if you show that you are worried and trying to get out of the current situation, there may be those who, for the sake of sporting interest, will look for dirt on you, starting almost from birth. The main thing is not to lose your temper, threatening the court and demanding to remove the material.
No wonder they say that black PR is also PR. With the help of the above examples, you could verify this. So, if you want to make your company more famous, don’t forget about this effect.
Completion
And that’s all for today, dear readers! Subscribe to the blog, there is a lot of interesting information that you can use in your life with benefit. Let’s say the Hawthorne effect will help you increase the productivity of your employees. So, good luck to you and be happy, drawing new knowledge and developing every day.
The material was prepared by a psychologist, Gestalt therapist, Zhuravina Alina