THE COMMON HERD STRIKES AGAIN

Log on to today’s Globe and Mail (Saturday Jan 23) to read one of the saddest stories (it doesn’t mean to be sad) about herd mentality. I confess, I am going to violate a promise I made to myself, to lighten up on bashing the current generation . But I do save myself because this bizarre behaviour is not exclusive to the current generation of 20-somethings. It has been happening for generations. It is a topic that might have been addressed by Malcolm Gladwell in his best-selling “The Tipping Point.”

The question: what is it that suddenly creates a need to “be there?” What hidden social mechanism propels people, especially the younger and more impressionable, to line up for hours to get into a mediocre restaurant? (According to the story in the Globe “hours” is not an exaggeration.) This is nothing new. I can remember at least thirty years ago, when there were huge line-ups outside a new watering hole. People were attracted by the line-up.In fact, the owners used an old marketing technique: make the product look scarce and everyone will want it. The line-up would be waiting to get in while in fact there was virtually no one in the place. The presence of a visible line-up made it attractive.

Is it simply the herd mentality? Perhaps. Or is there an underlying need to “belong" a need to be seen to be on the cutting edge, to be “where it’s at? The proprietors of popular watering holes know what comes first. It is not quality, It is not price, It is not location. It is “buzz.” (Not all of them of course, there are still restaurants that get by on – are you ready – great food.) At the heart of the herd mentality is an underground system that only the insiders really know about. That is the secret. To be the first to know something that no one else does and to find that single element that will make it a big hit.

The Globe story is about new restaurants (it names many of them) that have suddenly become the place to be. There are characterized by lower prices, and above all - no reservations taken. The story implies that the no-reservations policy weeds out the older, less hip, less cool mom and dad whose presence will throw a wet towel on any kind of real “fun.” In fact, it characterizes the epithet that something fun is: “so fun.”

The paradox is that the younger and often wiser generation will proclaim that: “I do it my way. I’m not affected by advertising. I wear what I want, I go where I want. Which is why almost everyone under 30 has a tattoo.

Lest I point the finger unfairly, let me make another observation. Publicity people for major events know how to create a hot ticket.” It usually means a celebrity somewhere is involved. Movie studios make A mediocre movie a big hit by having a marquee star in the cast. Concerts pack people in if the star is a headliner. My wife and I are avid concert goers. We buy subscription series which include artists no one has ever heard of. There is one superb pianist who is billed as: “the best pianist you have never heard of.” His concerts are heart-stopping. But the seats are never full, often only half a house. If he were a hot ticket – say Bruce Springsteen or Itzak Perlman – people would rush for tickets. And whether the performance was great or not it wouldn’t matter – they were there. They were “where it’s at.” It’s a variation on The Emperor’s New Clothes.

The irony with restaurants is that the very people who "discover" a new place and "put it on the map" are totally fickle. Pity the restaurateur who thinks he has "arrived" because he is feeding turnaway crowds. Tomorrow they'll find another hot place and desert him without so much as a look back.

There are leaders and there are the led. Nothing changes. Only the years go by and we get older. But wiser???