Why do we do these things?

We do it for the experience. Everything else that happens around the sales pitches — the food, the rides, the atmosphere, and (in the case of the Superbowl ads) the ability to talk about the ads the next morning at the office watercooler. And that's what any retailer or marketer should strive to achieve: an experience (whatever that may be) that makes the desired customer want to be there.

Because in these cases we choose to take in the message.

We choose to go to the events (street fairs), all part of the entertainment factor, we don't have to buy, but often get caught up in the spirit, the excitement, the social. Same with Super Bowl ads, they have become an event, if you don't watch them you are left out. (Super bowl ads were not always the rage they are today).

I like exercising my resistance to the whole world wanting a piece of me. The Web is the above examples, only concentrated and multiplied. Everyone wants me to visit their site (you included), or listen to this, or see that, or buy the other thing.
Come to think of it, I hate a lot of those examples.

Because we are complex beings, contrary by nature. We know that looking at a car accident just to see the horror is wrong, yet we slow down every time. We know that we should not look for our holiday gifts after Mom and Dad go out, but we do. We know the stove is hot, yet we touch it. We know the contents of our gym bag will smell horrific after sitting there for three weeks, but still we must have a whiff.

If you tell me to like it, I won't. If you tell me not to, I will. If you tell me it's forbidden, it becomes my obsession.

In each of those cases, the power balance is in our favor. We can choose which tent to look under, ignore the barkers (or chalk them up to tradition and charm), and change the channel.

Amusement is cognitive recess for the diligent in a sober world, which is why carnivals (including sports and People Magazine) is found in nearly every culture.

When I watch Super Bowl ads I watch them to see how good they are. To me good = entertaining, it's not a matter of good equals sales. (Although the companies that have the ads would probably disagree with that assessment.) I'm sure that a lot of other people watch for the same reason, entertainment, not advertising.

In the case of the street fair, on some level it's about the community coming together. Every year in my hometown they have a 4th of July picnic, full fair style (rides, food, music, etc). It's loud, hot and the tickets for rides are outrageous. But it's where the community celebrates every year. In some cases, it's where people see friends that they don't get to see very often. Not every street fair has this type of community involvement, but I can think of three in the cities I've lived in that do.

As Ann mentions, giving us the opportunity to talk about the ads around the watercooler the next morning are about community and sharing an experience with others.

As far as the barkers go, personally I dislike amusement parks. There's no engagement.

…because nobody wants to be evangelized to, but everyone wants to believe.

…because people aren't moved by someone trying to push an agenda- selling more units, getting 60 seats in the senate. They're moved by other people who are passionate- believing in their product enough to make ads that are comedy sketches, not hard sells. Believing in a cause enough to not care about re-election or poll numbers.

…because when you sell to someone, they know you're trying to take advantage of them. When you engage, entertain, or enlighten someone, they want more.

We hate salesmen trying to sell us stuff but we love going to street fairs with lines of merchants wanting to sell us stuff. Why?

The adventure.

We hate high pressure sales but we love going to expos like the Big E where barkers shout out the highest pressure pitches you could possibly ever receive. Why?

The experience.

We hate advertisements of all kind in our media but we love tuning into the Super Bowl for the ads. Why?

The gathering.

This would be an interesting study. Your hypothesis seems to be that the people that go to street fairs and expos are no different with regard to their feelings about sales situations than those that don't. In other words, since they feel the same, expo people are conflicted in their view of the sales process. Research could be done as to the tendencies toward sales pitches of those that go to these events, except the superbowl as that's probably a different question, and compare that to people that don't go to these events. That would show if the premise is correct, that people that attend these events don't like the sales process any more than the people that stay home, but for some reason see a carnival barker and a used car salesmen as different. This could be seen as an irrational conflict and tie into existing research in behavioral economics.

Good question this. I bet there is some marketing PhD in training that would love to do it. Of course, even if they did find that the premise of conflict is correct, it would be a more difficult matter to prove why it happens. Other postings here have suggested entertainment or experience, the control over the situation, inbound vs. outbound nature of the events, etc. All worthy of being tested as well, just harder to get a valid result. Lots of good research could be done around this. I take it back, this isn't a good question, it's a GREAT question.

I would argue fairs are kind of like the mall. The purpose you're there is transparent. Many times it's community oriented, helping friends and neighbors, finding the small, one off batch of blueberry honey, etc. It's the bespoke, unique, non-mass produced all in one place, that you'll never find in the mall- The Purple Cow mall, in essence.
Carnivals, even things like the Car Show or Home Expo with its more high pressure and niche pitches have brought their share of ginsu knives into my house (And I have to admit I still love those silly knives- they work as promised.) I am not big on high pressure pitches, but I do know what to expect in those places, so I am prepared, and if I decide to bite, I know what I'm doing.

The Super Bowl ads, in contrast, I think have become the academy awards of the advertising industry- it's the largest and most expensive platform in TV, so we watch to see how people are using this short-format to try to win the prize- and to see what the long tail effect it has (or doesn't) for the company. We're even less concerned about the actual products than we are on how they pull off the creativity required for this high stakes game. It's “Advertising Survivor” ™ – boom or bust for the ad agency and the client.

But the heart if the question is this- people are perfectly happy to opt in to situations where they have an opportunity to buy or engage with something new or unique. It's time limited, it's not every day. It's what Seth Godin talks about in permission marketing.. People who show up to these events know what's in store and give their permission to market your socks off to them- but that's not the case with most interruption methods of ads.

4 photos, limited text and you just produced a very powerful article that invokes a large amount of thought. Very cool.

1. We love small businesses and hate big corporations.

2. Barkers are AWESOME and we all wish we could do that.

3. Super Bowl ads are HILARIOUS! We normally hate advertising because it is not entertaining and not relevant. Here, they are vastly entertaining, sometimes even more than the main program!

Why do we do it? It's like loving someone with flaws. You know they have flaws, yet you still love them. We go to these type of events because we want something out of it, maybe a hot dog, maybe a bootleg CD, maybe one of those silly temporary tattoos or an animal balloon—it could be anything. What we don't want is to be exposed to the barkers and pushy hawkers, but we go anyway, because we want the rest of the experience, enough that we are willing to put up with the things we don't want. The good quite simply outweighs the bad. That is, until we go and realize that it is too crowded, too hot, too many crying kids and too many pushy hawkers. Then we leave and swear, “We'll never do that again.” Then we'll forget what bugged us a few months down the road, and it starts over, all fresh.

Great post.

For me…
Each example has a social component to it. We choose to engage, to interact, to experience. It's why inbound marketing works well. Provide the right medium (maybe one, maybe more) and let your customers come to and/or find you.

Why do we do it? It's like loving someone with flaws. You know they have flaws, yet you still love them. We go to these type of events because we want something out of it, maybe a hot dog, maybe a bootleg CD, maybe one of those silly temporary tattoos or an animal balloon—it could be anything. What we don't want is to be exposed to the barkers and pushy hawkers, but we go anyway, because we want the rest of the experience, enough that we are willing to put up with the things we don't want. The good quite simply outweighs the bad. That is, until we go and realize that it is too crowded, too hot, too many crying kids and too many pushy hawkers. Then we leave and swear, “We'll never do that again.” Then we'll forget what bugged us a few months down the road, and it starts over, all fresh.

Great post.

For me…
Each example has a social component to it. We choose to engage, to interact, to experience. It's why inbound marketing works well. Provide the right medium (maybe one, maybe more) and let your customers come to and/or find you.