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Vice is Nice
By Bizbox
Art reflected life in season 3 of The Sopranos, which was set in and aired during the (in retrospect, and in comparison to what we're facing now, brief and mild) recession that hit in 2000-01. Worried about his bottom line and despondent over the slowing of payments that have been kicked up to him, Tony screams at his crew that "This thing of ours is supposed to be recession-proof." 
There are certain things that people simply won't give up, the thinking goes, and some of those things--because people need a release valve during tough times; because some people have nasty compulsions--are vices like gambling, drugs, and prostitution, which is how Tony puts his family in that lovely house in Essex County.
We certainly are not advising you to enter such businesses. We don't like breaking the law, we don't like most of what Tony sells in and of themselves, and we'd point out that being in such a business causes Tony no small amount of agita (if not quite as much as that mother of his does). But, as Entrepreneur.com points out, just because you're selling perfectly legal and wholesome products doesn't mean you can't market them with a hint of the risqué. Vice sells; and never more does it sell than during bad times.
The article mostly documents businesses who are in a good and obvious position to do this. A wine-seller, for example, is expecting increased business as people up their booze purchases during bad times. But the article's larger point, again, has to do with marketing: how can you tickle that part of potential customers who are looking for a little, let's call it "safe sin" in their lives, especially in this poor economy? How well you answer that question could have a dramatic effect on your business over the next several months.
Comments (0)November 6, 2008 2:12 PM
