Irrational behaviour Archives - Everything I know about life I learned from model aeroplanes

We are constantly encouraged to buy stuff we don’t really want, ideally without thinking about it. The Airfix Red Stripe era was peak Mad Men and our young consumer was up against some serious marketing. But in those days, it wasn’t confronting us in every single waking moment.

A long-running perfume ad campaign went on about how men in particular “can’t help acting on impulse”, but the sensory cues coaxing us into impulse buying model aeroplanes were definitely visual. Overdramatic box art really came into its own – if an exotic aircraft wasn’t tempting enough on its own, all sorts of mayhem would be going on in the background.

As the song says, “enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think”. In other words, life is finite and time is short. And this doesn’t just apply to pets, and people with interesting obituaries.

Or as another song put it, “the future’s uncertain and the end is always near“. On that occasion Jim Morrison not only knew what he was talking about, he even managed to explain it coherently.

But what light can building model aeroplanes shine on our habitual denial of mortality? As it turns out, a few insights around fragility and stockpiling. Not stockpiling essentials in the face of existential threat or pointless political disruption, but something else entirely.

But let’s start with fragility, because it’s more intuitive – most of us have been told at some point, “Don’t touch that or you will break it”.

Tag: Irrational behaviour

Can’t help acting on impulse

It’s later than you think – 1: The fragility of model aeroplanes