The Tipping Point Analysis

In Malcolm Gladwell’s non-fiction novel The Tipping Point, published in 2000, he identifies a group in society and their special gifts though his theory the Law of a Few. These individuals play significant roles in the creation of social movements as they highlight different aspects of a message to aid the ease of its transmission in society. Gladwell explains to the reader: “What Mavens and Connectors and Salesmen do to an idea in order to make it contagious is to alter it in such a way that extraneous details are dropped and others are exaggerated so that the message itself comes to acquire a deeper meaning” (203). They are the translators that start rumors and fashion trends, and the factors that determine the success of advertisements.

An individual who can be described in a similar way is Edward Bernays, the father of public relations. Bernays believed only those who are connected to social institutions are capable of influencing the public opinion as they have the power to alter the details of the environment (Fletcher 10).

Along with this belief and his realization that individuals are greatly affected by the values of the group, Bernays used Sigmund Freud’s theories to take advantage of the unconscious brain in the sales industry (Fletcher 4). One of his accomplishments in public relations assisted Venida hairnets after the first world war when women had started to cut their hair into bobs. Concerned with their lack of sales, Venida hired Bernays to conduct a campaign. In order to regain the popularity of hairnets, Bernays contacted well known artists to support the style of hairnets and help identify the beauty in women who wore them. He also convinced labour experts to spread the idea that hairnets are essential when ensuring the safety of women in factories. The public’s opinion on hairnets eventually changed and Venida products were popular again, though the business itself was not mentioned in the campaign (The New York Times On The Web 1). In addition, with the same method, Bernays had popularized bacon and eggs as American breakfasts and made smoking in public acceptable for women (Turney

1). Bernays’ abilities and ideas fit extremely well into the description of a translator and Gladwell’s idea of a salesman. By focusing on details that were attractive to the targeted audience, Bernays had caused products to become contagious and sticky.
Contagion can exist unintentionally, seemingly beyond our control, and cause occurrences to consciously or unconsciously develop significance to an individual.

This chilling idea explains the increase in suicide rates in the Macaronesian society and the “suicide clusters” (Olson 1) in countries like canada. These occurrences are provoked by “permission-givers” (Gladwell 224), the suicides that are widely known in society due to the involvement of charismatic individuals or memorable situations. Permission giving individuals are similar to Gladwell’s idea of the Salesmen, whose personality is pervasive and contagious enough to provoke similar feelings in others: “In the case of suicide, […] the decision by someone famous to take his or her own life has the same effect: it gives other people, particularly those vulnerable to suggestion because of immaturity or mental illness, permission to engage in a deviant act as well” (Gladwell 223). The issue with these highly publicized deaths is the temporary increase in suicide rates that follows. For example, Marilyn Monroe’s death had caused a brief increase in suicide rates in 1962 (Gladwell 222). Whether the actions of the affected were conscious decisions or not is unclear as they seem like imitations carried out in great detail but without any clear mention of the publicized suicide. In Canada’s modern society, these occurrences are spread through a different medium. The connectivity of the internet allows private situations to

become easily well known. In 2012 the death of Amanda Todd circulated on social media, placing Todd’s death in a situation similar to that of a celebrity’s suicide. Her case brought up the issue of contagion once again (Olson 2). Furthermore, the rate of self injury is affected by the same theory (Alfonso 42). On various social media websites, multiple tags and searches relating to self injury can be found. Their circulation on social media has caused it to take on different forms, such as the greatly criticized #Cut4Bieber hashtag that trended on Twitter in 2013. The movement, started by a word of mouth epidemic based on an objective that seemed attractive to Justin Bieber fans, gave permission to those who were already vulnerable to engage in the act of self harm openly. It likely had also pressured those who had not thought about self injury to participate in the event as well. These decisions, though its dangers are apparent to others, are unclear to this specific group of teenagers. As a result of ignorance, adolescence tend to experiment with different activities. Experimentation is good, Gladwell mentions, however, these behaviours of self inflicted harm should not be explored (252). Social contagion is present in many aspects of society, inducing frightening acts of self injury and even death to develop an appeal. This dynamic is seen through history and in recent events through different mediums of publication.