IS RECESSION THE MOTHER OF INVENTION

Marketing consultant Martin Lindström (‘Buyology’) says in NYTimes March 14: ‘Two concepts apply. First don’t ask consumers what they want; figure out what they need. (No one knew they wanted an airbag, but they knew they wanted safer cars.) In recessions, affordable, small luxuries, like chocolate and perfume, hold their own, as do cheap entertainments like movies. Second, practical features give consumers a reason to make a purchase. Wellington boots sell because they’re useful — and have clever designs. Products that protect our assets and homes also do well, like anti-virus software. Shopping doesn’t stop in recessions, but consumers need a reason beyond just impulse. ‘ To me this sends a strong message to design anthropology: anthropologist should know how to get to understand user needs I think – but my dear colleague Wendy Gunn and I have been over it many times – she resists to talk a bout need. As I take it she – and many others - resists the ontological part. Frankly I do not understand their argument, but maybe this recession will be a dawn, not only of inventions, but also of a renewed epistemological debate beyond social constructivism? Bateson’s ‘Mind & Nature’ would be a point of departure as pointed out by Jesper Hoffmeyer in his Introduction to ‘A Legacy for Living Systems: Gregory Bateson as Precursor to Biosemiotics’, Springer 2008, where he quotes Bateson in Mind & Nature, p. 14 ‘ … a story is a little knot or complex of that species of connectedness which we call relevance.’