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Trendiness is in the
Eye of the Early Adopter
by Mad Dog
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Being
trendy doesn’t exactly bring out the best in us. It makes us wear
unflattering clothes, eat food we don’t really like, watch TV shows we
can’t stay awake through, and read unreadable books because everyone
tells us how much they loved them. |
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Cleanliness may be next to
godliness, but trendiness, well, it’s way down the bottom of the list
sharing a spot with ugliness. If you don’t believe it, just look at
any woman over the age of 30 wearing a Paris Hilton miniskirt and crop
top, the kid next door who’s wearing huge baggy jeans that not only
look like oversized Bermuda shorts but are the size of their namesake
country with the waistband hanging below his, uh, hips and his underwear
pulled up to where his waistband should be, or anyone wearing Uggs. Hey,
there’s a reason their name is short for ugly and a homophone for ugh.
But full length mirrors have never stopped anyone from a following a
trend. Face it, if you want to be trendy you just have to give up some
things. Like self-respect.
Being trendy doesn’t exactly bring
out the best in us. It makes us wear unflattering clothes, eat food we
don’t really like, watch TV shows we can’t stay awake through, and
read unreadable books because everyone tells us how much they loved
them. Or would if they ever managed to get through more than half a page
before picking up the latest copy of People and reading it cover
to cover. It’s why we listen to gangsta rap while sitting in our
pristine suburban house, and why we drink bottled water that costs more
per gallon than gas instead of the cheap stuff that comes out of the
tap. It’s also why we walk around wearing glowing Bluetooth earpieces
24 hours a day. Nothing says “I’m trendy and important” like
spending every waking moment with what looks like my grandmother’s old
hearing aid stuck behind an ear.
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If this is the first you’ve
heard of flaxseed — hey, you can thank me later — then you’re a
laggard. If you’ve been using it for a while, you’re an early
adopter or early majority. If you’re still mourning Jerry Falwell’s
passing, you’re a silent majority, but that doesn’t mean you
shouldn’t be eating flaxseed. |
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Trendiness is why we like restaurants that serve food that’s so
intricately arranged it looks better than it tastes, or ones that offer
a whole menu of appetizers renamed as small plates because lord knows no
one would ever think of sitting down and sharing a half dozen appetizers
that each cost as much as an entrée should. It’s also the driving
force behind flaxseed, which is the trendy food supplement of the week.
Flaxseed, for those of you who have been too busy mailing foie gras to
the Los Angeles County jail so Paris won’t starve to keep up with what
the hip people are eating, is the Wheat Germ of the New Millennium.
It’s high in fiber, has lots of omega-3 fatty acids, and it’s being
added to just about everything from tortilla chips — “Now with
organic shade grown fair trade flaxseed!” — to cereal, to brownies.
And if, perchance, you accidentally buy something that doesn’t have
flaxseed in it, you can sprinkle some on top. It adds ant-like specks,
more fiber than a cardboard box, and an earthy flavor. You know, like
dirt.
If this is the first you’ve heard
of flaxseed — hey, you can thank me later — then you’re a laggard.
If you’ve been using it for a while, you’re an early adopter or
early majority. If you’re still mourning Jerry Falwell’s passing,
you’re a silent majority, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be
eating flaxseed. Heck, you can probably find some Sinless Communion
Wafers with flaxseed added without any problem. If you invented
flaxseed, you’re not only an innovator, but God. If that’s the case,
please forgive me if I said anything to offend you.
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Think
of the tipping point as the moment when the sleeping trend cow tilts
just enough to tip over and fall on its side. It’s the moment when
something unusual becomes common. In other words, when something fun
becomes boring. |
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These classifications aren’t made up — well, they are, but
not by me — they’re part of the diffusion of innovations theory,
which was formalized back in 1962 by Everett Rogers in a book called,
amazingly enough, Diffusion of Innovations. Hey, no one ever said
Rogers was an innovator. In it he states that adopters of any new
innovation or idea can be categorized as innovators, early adopters,
early majority, late majority, laggards, and Luddites, who wouldn’t
touch a trend with a 10-foot old-style pole. Just kidding about the last
category, I innovated there. Hurry and adopt it before it gets too
trendy.
See, the problem is, by the time an
idea gets past the early adopters it’s on the way out and you should
avoid it like this year’s recycled leg warmers. Hey, even Jennifer
Beales isn’t wearing them this time around. Though Pat Benatar might
be. The point where something goes over the edge and becomes popular is
called the tipping point. Malcolm Gladwell spends a whole book talking
about this, a book called The Tipping Point, yet another example
of an author who isn’t a title innovator. Think of the tipping point
as the moment when the sleeping trend cow tilts just enough to tip over
and fall on its side. It’s the moment when something unusual becomes
common. In other words, when something fun becomes boring. It’s when
Crocs stopped being a strange, weird shoe you saw someone hip wearing
and your grandmother gave you a pair for Christmas. It’s the moment
you heard your favorite undiscovered band’s music in the dentist’s
office. It’s when your parents set up their own MySpace pages. And
invited you to be their friend.
Remember: Trendiness is in the eye of
the beholder. Following a trend is easy, being a trendsetter isn’t.
And honesty is the best policy, so do what you want, not what everyone
else is doing. With luck this will start a trend. Just don’t forget
where you heard it first.
©2007 Mad Dog
Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
These columns appear in better newspapers across the country.
Read them before they become too trendy.
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