Traveler's observations: South America is still prehistoric in mark...

Good thing of traveling is that you get a chance to observe so many things, while not being a part of it. Let's cover marketing in South America today.

The formula is pretty simple:

Repeating stuff - instant profit

At least that is what people in South America think. Example: I am walking in the street and a guy jumps and shouts in front of my face "Printer services, printer services". You know, I was going down the street without any need to print and suddenly I just feel the urge... not.

Same stuff goes to socks, oranges, TVs, taxi service, bus tickets, and anything you can think of. Talking about bus tickets, yesterday I was sitting in a bus station in Cusco, counting how many times this one lady says "Arequipa" (note - all the companies are selling tickets to same directions. Everybody knows that) in order to attract clients.

Results: one lady says "Arequipa" 20 times per minute, thousand times per day, and that adds to 1.6 million times per year. I'll be damned. There are like a hundred of those ladies in one station. Double damned...

If that lady works in a bus station for 20 years, everything adds up to 32 million times she lets "Arequipa" go out of her mouth.

My brain already softened after that one hour in a bus station, so I bet that in 20 years, I would become an insane vegetable with a hundreds of voices in my head saying "Arequipa".

source

What the hell is the reason behind it?

I am writing this from my hostel. For the last 2 hours, I can hear a man shouting "Mangos" nonstop, without a any rest.

Honestly, after 10 months of traveling around Latin countries, I am pretty used to it, but still... Please, someone tell me the reason of this marketing. Do they just enjoy shouting, or is it really working? Or maybe it is it the case that someone shouted for fun and others followed without thinking, till the point of no return? I am still trying to figure this out, but having a real hard time.

So, as a traveler and graduate in finance, I can tell you that marketing in South America is still on prehistoric level. Staying here, you have to be prepared to hear the same word being repeated non-stop. That word might be different depending on location, but the pattern is clear.

P.S. I would like to know what is my most used word and how many times I used it. I bet that lady in a bus station could beat my record in 2 days.

Updated: The more advanced ones are using microphones to shout louder. Anyone need some platanos? One guy is crossing the street now with his platanos and mic, I could take some...