"Deconstructed" BS

I was binging (bingeing? why is that perceived to be spelled wrong? oh well) Master Chef and Gordon Ramsay, whom I love, was listening to a contestant describe the dish he baked to be judged that night. This is a normal occurrence of course, but this time the contestant was warning Gordon that his creation had wacky, crazy flavors that he thought were going to be worth it and continued to spout more "words?" Yea, let's call them that for now. Well, Gordon was not having it at all after he saw what the contestant had baked and tells him that he sounded like he was giving a marketing spiel. This got me thinking.

Why do we tend to turn things, everyday unedited life moments, into marketing spiels? Is it a defense mechanism? We're always told that we need to sell ourselves anywhere we go and to always have our elevator pitches ready because you never know when you might land a job in only a matter of minutes. Usually there's nothing wrong with that, but I also think that sometimes people get stuck in just giving marketing spiels for everything and even over doing them when they are called for.

What I'm trying to say is, why do we beat around the bush? Not even alternate facts, better known as stretched lies, the skim milk of lies (separate post). But straight up BS-ing your way through something knowing you don't have an answer or the answer isn't a good one, thus, you sounding fake as you give it. 

For example, later on in the show, Gordon is even more over the contestant talking once he uses the word "deconstructed" to describe his dish that we all watched him fail at cooking. He didn't get it right, so he just threw the pieces on the plate with his other ingredients and tried to go with it in hopes that the chefs wouldn't think he failed. He wanted them to think he did something different, artsy, or "elevated". There's another buzz word for ya. If you've ever watched shows like Chopped or Cut Throat Kitchen the word "deconstructed" lands half the time. Maybe less.

This contestant, however, completely failed and is trying to BS his way through it and Gordon, again, doesn't take his words as truth. Gordon tells him what the dish is, plain and simple. It doesn't come off well. All Gordon wanted was the truth about what happened during the process of the dish being made and since he doesn't get that off the bat, his respect for the contestant goes down because he doesn't come off as seriously understanding where he went wrong. 

A lot of times in life we are in situations where we are asked for our honest opinions on our work, someone else's work, an idea, or whatever, and we play it off with BS in the form of a marketing spiel. Why? Maybe it's because we feel the need to make our answer sound appealing and throw off the other person so they think way more brain power went into our answer than it really did. We may talk around the question (beating around the bush) so we don't have to say what's wrong  and come off as maybe rude, incompetent, or uninterested. Instead, we highlight the things that don't really matter and hope the other person, or group, don't notice the slight of hand trick as we pull a coin from behind their ears. 

It's not cute. We've all done it and may continue to do it, knowing we shouldn't.

We're only human right? Unless you're not. That's cool too. As long as you don't sparkle in the sunlight, we're cool.

Regardless, it's annoying and disappointing to whoever we're answering. Even if they won't like the real answer, they'll appreciate you more for telling the truth rather than covering a brick with frosting and telling everyone it's cake. (Please do this April 1st, 2019 please. Thanks!)

Once, in college, when I was Graphic Design for a semester, I rushed a project the night before because I thought it was due the next day. It was horrible looking. I knew it, but I was hoping that once I got to class I could finesse my way through describing it somehow and that my teacher would think it was artsy or edgy. It was so bad... I took a picture and showed my mom, whom, by the sound of her voice as I talked to her, didn't want to tell me that she didn't like it. The next day my teacher basically told me I would've gotten a failing grade on it if it was due that day, but I had another two days until the actual turn in date. Thank God. I did so much better and received a low A or high B for the new design. I did what this contestant on Master Chef did five years before and it didn't work then, thus, it'll never actually work now when people are looking for you to be honest and take whatever it is serious. If not, then you come off as not caring enough. 

Even if you are in marketing, I'm sure you know that even when you're speaking with such jargon filled language, even if it sounds sales-y and pitch-y, it's all right. Why? Because whatever you're selling actually works and is as you say it is. You're just refusing to use plain and mundane words to describe it because the more excited, sales-y way sounds better (I know sales-y isn't a word. Neither is ain't but I'm still going to use it for reasons). Like saying 'fire truck red' over just 'red' for a lipstick shade. Look at Crayola Crayons, they're overly descriptive, but oddly accurate, crayon colors are more appealing to use and buy than a brand using just standard color names.

Now, if whatever you're selling doesn't work at all and is a rip-off, then your whole spiel is BS that you're trying to cover in hopes that no one realizes that your words don't match what they were expecting. It's the people that use these types of sales and marketing pitches to make the crap they're trying to sell to you seem better than what it is because they don't care. And/or they need money but that's beside the point. As a consumer you automatically know these people are lying and it's pretty funny when you do because this person is just trying to blow air into an already popped balloon. Some people like this are so dedicated that you may even still buy the crappy item because they seem so sure of themselves. The pity/entertained buy as I shall call it.

Marketing speeches, elevator pitches, or anything that falls into this category are not bad. I don't want anyone to think that I'm attacking them as horrible mechanisms to sell a product or yourself, because I'm not. If you're not selling your products in an attractive and eye catching way that's actually smart and makes sense, then you should reevaluate your marketing plans and/or hire a professional to do it for you. We can't do everything. (Cough cough my life)

Handle these situations as you like but if someone is BS-ing to save their own asses when you just know they're wrong, you should call them out on it and see if they'll be truthful. Sometimes we're afraid of what others may think so we BS it and maybe this contestant was feeling this or he was just arrogant and didn't see why he was wrong. The many times Gordon had to yell at him makes it seem like he's just arrogant and hard headed, but we should listen to people and understand why they do stuff like this.

It's odd. Interesting, but definitely odd.