The Trickster: Myth and Magic in Great Ads

Simon Patterson and Peter Cooper

The `Trickster' phenomenon is a powerful source of communication and persuasion, which operates at a deep psychological level: it reflects the primitive part of ourselves that secretly desires the fantastic and escape from rationality and the everyday.

The Trickster: Myth and Magic in Great Ads

Peter CooperandSimon Patterson

Trickster origins

The Trickster archetype is that part of ourselves that secretly desires the fantastic, exaggeration, seduction and escape from the mundanities of life. It is older and more primitive than modern logic, order and rationality, hovering on the borders of the personal and collective unconscious. In neurophysical terms, it is buried deep in the brains limbic system where primitive feelings lie, in contrast to the rational workings of the cerebral cortex.

The Trickster is the master of flux, perpetuating old illusions and creating new ones. It...

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