When we do marketing, we face a fundamental choice:
Do we treat our customers as intelligent beings capable of making informed decisions? Or as impulsive creatures driven by emotion and instinct?
Did you know you have a choice? Most marketers don’t.
This isn’t a new debate.
Aristotle believed human function is fundamentally rational—that we’re thinking beings, capable of weighing options and choosing virtue. Freud saw us differently: emotional, reactive, and driven by desires we barely understand.
These worldviews lead to radically different kinds of marketing.
The Freudian view leads to tactics that treat people like lab rats, whose vulnerabilities can be exploited. It’s the foundation of most modern marketing: urgency, scarcity, dopamine triggers, and emotional manipulation. It sees copywriting as psychological warfare.
The Aristotelian view, on the other hand, treats people as rational agents. It says: if you clearly explain what you offer—and why it matters—people can make wise decisions for themselves.
This isn’t just theory. It’s a choice we make every time we write an email, create an ad, or design a sales page.
For me, the answer is simple: Market to others the way you want to be marketed to.
I want to be treated like I’m intelligent. I suspect you do too.
That’s part of why I titled my book Simple Marketing for Smart People. It’s also why Aristotle appears in the book, and Freud doesn’t.
Because how you approach marketing says a lot about how you see your customer. And ultimately, it shapes the kind of business you build—and the kind of reputation you earn.
Worth thinking about.
