Sex sells – but call it Maturialism for now

Springwise and its sister publication Trendwatching always seem to have their finger on the pulse of emerging business trends. So I was somewhat surprised to see what must be one of the oldest tricks in the book repackaged under the term Maturialism in their report on 10 consumer trends for 2010.

Let’s face it: this year will be rawer, more opinionated, more risqué, more in your face than ever before. Your audiences (who are by now thoroughly exposed to, well, anything, for which you can thank first and foremost the anything-goes online universe) can handle much more quirkiness, more daring innovations, more risqué communications and conversations, more exotic flavours and so on than traditional marketers could have ever dreamed of. In short; audiences in mature consumer societies no longer tolerate being treated like yesteryear’s uninformed, easily shocked, inexperienced, middle-of-the-road consumer. We’ve dubbed this MATURIALISM (mature materialism).

My favourite example of this racy new breed of business are The Icecreamists, who seem to me to have combined anarchist tendencies, punk design, fetish wear and ice cream into one unholy whole.

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The Icecreamists are an anonymous troupe of provocateurs and iconoclasts with a background in staging dramatic high-profile events.

Whilst engaged on these clandestine and legally dubious pursuits, they would on occasion be discovered by law enforcement officers, enjoying illicit chills with a tub of freshly-made artisans gelato. One day they read that ice cream could be subversive and was being used to undermine the government of Belarus, a state in the former Soviet Union.

Organised ice cream eating as political protest had begun, and the The Icecreamists were born; sub-zero missionaries destined to convert a cold, cruel unforgiving world to the life-enhancing gospel of freshly-made artisans gelato. Today, the founders are still hopelessly foul-mouthed, anti-establishment and politically incorrect, but they have purged themselves of their old law-breaking ways and dedicated their lives to pioneering a new ideology, what they describe as ‘Icecreamism’.

The Icecreamists sasys it’s a bit like socialism, only funnier, more addictive and tastes better. Now aficionados can enjoy Icreamism anywhere they fancy. Against the bar, against the wall or against the law.

icecreamists

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