Wanting what we can't have

Behaviour Change

During a famine in 1774, Frederick ordered a national cultivation programme. In a response typical of many towns, the people of Kolberg declared: “The things have neither smell nor taste, not even the dogs will eat them, so what use are they to us?”

Frederick’s initial response was more a violent “shove” than a nudge - he threatened to cut the noses and ears off any peasant who did not plant potatoes. However, he soon changed tack. In modern parlance we’d say that he used a bit of “psychology”.

Legend has it that instead of issuing further threats, Frederick ordered his soldiers to establish a heavy and visible guard around the local royal potato fields, yet also instructed them to be deliberately lax in protecting them. At the same time, the local peasants noticed their king’s conspicuous admiration of potato flowers as well as the tubers themselves, and sneaked in to steal and plant the “royal crop”. Within a short time, many potatoes were stolen and soon being widely grown and eaten.

Threaten people with mutilation and the potato tastes of authority. Guard it badly and it becomes contraband.

The tale is a legend, which is the proper confidence level for repeating it. What makes it travel is the reversal. Frederick’s threat removed agency. The conspicuously guarded crop made the same people feel they had discovered something valuable and pinched it from under his nose. Humans can be wonderfully childish about wanting the thing behind the rope.

Naturally, marketers heard this story and invented fake scarcity.

Only three left.

Offer ends tonight.

Invitation only, provided you have an email address.

A waiting list for unlimited digital access is not scarcity. It is theatre with a database. It may produce a burst of desire, but it also teaches customers that the seller lies recreationally.

Real limits need no fibbing: a small production run, a cohort requiring personal support, early access for users willing to tolerate rough edges. The boundary gives participation meaning because it corresponds to how the offer actually works.

And scarcity is still only seasoning. It can sharpen appeal, not create value forever. You may make me climb a wall for the royal potato; if it tastes like damp loft insulation, I shall not build a personality around eating a second.