Have you ever questioned why fads and trends occur? Most likely, you haven't bothered to worry about it. As a society, when it comes to what is the latest thing to wear, or the coolest word to say, the majority of us either jump right into the loop of things, or take a convicting stand as to why we choose otherwise. Surprisingly enough, there is a term for this behaviour known as the bandwagon effect. The bandwagon effect is when people choose to follow others without thinking over their actions. The effect grows as more people join on and eventually can lead to something huge. (Smith). Effects can lead to both positive effects, such as movement to stop global warming, and negative effects, such as the numerous amount of people who believed in Hitler’s ideas of eradicating the Jews.
Dr. Seuss's story, “King Looie Katz” demonstrates an example of the bandwagon effect. In the story, the King of Katzen-stein, King Looie, decided his tail was too lovely to drag on the ground. Thus, he ordered another cat, Fooie, to hold up his tail. Fooie, upset with his tail dragging on the ground, ordered another cat to hold up his tail. This charade followed on with the other cats, and everyone began holding each other’s tail, until the last cat took it upon himself to throw down the tail he was holding. This effect continued until all the cats were no longer holding anyone's tail, other than their own. Seuss’s stories, regardless of being fiction or not, hold a sense of truth to them. “King Looie Katz”, sets an example of how one cat following another can create a bandwagon effect. It's easy to see how the plot from the story can be relatable to the real-life situations and similar occurrences, whether it is in the fashion industry, in social networks or even among children’s toys. The bandwagon effect happens on almost every level of human interaction (Smith).
Looking at the very popular social-network site known as Facebook, it is clear that there are many similarities between the story of “King Looie” and this website. In King Looie, the cat who was told to hold Looie's tail, didn't really object or question him. Was this because of Looie's authority, and his influence upon the people of his city? Avril Autopsy, a regular Facebook user says, “I felt pressured into opening my facebook account. All those invitation emails and questions from friends pushed me to set up my profile. When I didn't have my account I felt out of the loop. When I didn't have an account I wouldn't be invited out as much. Facebook allows me to see what everyone is up to and to add myself into the picture”. Feelings of acceptance are vital to humans as we constantly need reminders of importance to others such as family and friends. Perhaps the reason the cats followed King Looie was because they didn't want to feel left out, or punished. But how was it that the tail-holding caught on so fast? Avril says, “I first started to notice Facebook when invitation emails began filling up my inbox.” Facebook allows you to import all of the contacts in your address book into invitation emails, that way you can inform everyone you know in a matter of seconds. This being one of the most powerful viral marketing strategies (Newton). Similarly the cats in Katzen-stein most likely used some form of communication to spread the word, or otherwise just made the other cats aware by visually spreading the word.
In fashion, the bandwagon effect is usually always present. Many fashion trends become popular after people see them on a celebrity or someone that is admired. People such as Jesse Jackson, Reggie Jackon, and Michael Jackson were large in the 1970's, not only noted for being large media icons, but for their fashion statements they made with the hair; the afro. The hairstyle was symbolic to the Black consciousness movement, as it represented “a shift away from the "conservative" peace movement of the civil rights era to the more aggressive, militant expression of Black power” (Badfads.com). In “King Looie Katz”, it can be considered that the king was the figure that every cat looked up to. If it was an ordinary cat. chances are, the bandwagon effect would not have taken place. Usually, the fad was around before that person made it popular, but what makes it popular was the person wearing it.
Another fad, which has become popular again in today's date, is Chuck Taylor's Converse. First made in 1917, Converses only became extremely popular in the 1980s when the famous basketball player, Chuck Taylor adopted them as his preferred shoe. After this was established, billions of pairs were sold worldwide. Despite the cheap rubber and canvas material, people pay approximately $70.00 per pair, and buy many different pairs. This is another example of the bandwagon effect because people jumped on the Converse Wagon, without thinking about whether they're worth the money.
Bandwagon phenomenons took place with children's toys as well. During the 1980's, the Cabbage Patch Kids was immensley popular. Each doll came with their own birthday, adoption papers, and birth certificate, being unique and one of a kind. In the year of 1985, they sold over $600 million in record sales (Patten). On a smaller, but just as odd scale, Pet Rocks also seemed to hit it big with the kids in the '70s. In fact, the original rocks were just ordinary gray stones, brought from store, and marketed as live pets. Other similar phenomenons took place with Raggedy Ann Dolls (1910's), Mr. Potato Head (1950's), Beanie Babies (1990's) and Barbies (first launched in 1959) (Hoffman). But what made these toys so popular? What made each child want to have one? Similarly, what made the cats want to hold up another cat's tail?
These examples all relate to the bandwagon effect. Many times, people follow others by word of mouth. The cats in Katzen-stein held up another cat's tail because someone told them to. Since everyone was doing it, they felt that they should do it too. In retrospect, parents of the 80's, or any generation for the matter, were most likely following the trend of the time by observing and listening to what other people had to say. Or it was because someone told them to? Most people aren't too keen on buying something, or following something that isn't popular or valued highly by the majority. However, when people hear good things or see other people with a certain product, they feel more comfortable to jump on the bandwagon. In essence, there's a comfort in large numbers and this follows through not only with the cats in Katzen-stein, but with toy industry as well.
The bandwagon effect is clearly displayed in Dr. Seuss’s, “King Looie Katz”. The cats in “King Looie Katz” jump on the bandwagon without considering their actions. They didn’t consider that they would be holding a selfish cat’s tail in front of them, without a fundamental purpose. In Suess's story, the reason to why the bandwagon effect occurs varies. Perhaps it was because none of the cats wanted to be singled out. Perhaps it was because they admired their king and followed him because he was popular. Perhaps it was because they saw every other cat doing it, so they did it too. Or perhaps it was all of these reasons that caused the effect.
Regardless, this phenomenon is also present in our everyday lives, whether it takes place in fashion, toys, or hobbies. So the next time one plans on doing something, they should wonder if they are doing it for themselves or just jumping on the bandwagon like the cats in Katzen-stein.
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Annotated Bibliography (so far - Uzma's)
Source #1:
“Afro Haircut” Badfads.com 2006. January 25, 2009. <http://www.badfads.com/pages/fashion/afro.html>
This small summery about the afro haircute was very useful the the essay. The website contains a numerous amount of fashion fads throughout the years. All of them were simple, giving a short back history to when it occured, and straight to the point. Previously, a different fad (Hot Pants) was used from this site, however, it was found that the afro hairstyle was more relatable to the topic at hand, as it could be relatable to a reason on why bandwagon effects take place.
Source #2:
Hoffman, Leah. “Popular toys of the last 100 years” msnbc.msn.com December 12, 2005.
January 16, 2009. <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10387831/ >
This article was helpful, as it noted the most popular toy trends of each era, starting from the 1900's – over 100 years ago. It gave some breif information on several toys that were quite popular and how much they have sold (Potato Head and Crayola). The article also gave insight on how “toys aren't always a hit the year, or even the decade, they're created.” Quickly brushing over some playthings that were one hit wonders. Overall, only a small part was used for the essay, however, it was a very insightful and interesting article on popular toys.
Source #3:
Patten, Denise Van. “Whatever Happened to Cabbage Patch Dolls?” About.com 2001.
January 17, 2009. <http://collectdolls.about.com/library/weekly/aa090101a.htm >
The article sheds light on the Cabbage Patch Dolls, and gave a lot of insightful detail on how popular the toy really was back in the day. Patten gives a good introduction and pre-history of the dolls. She also wrote about the craze of the toys, and “After the Craze, the Crash”. She ends with asking about what happened to the cabbage patch dolls, and giving “One Final Cabbage Patch Moment”. The article also gave side links to related resources and articles similar to the topic. In the essay, the article was used to give a little bit of the backstory of the dolls and what came with the package (adoption papers, names, etc).
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