Simple Sadism
Marty April 14th, 2009
I was at the doctor’s office today for an exam. I’m seriously overweight, so weight-loss is a normal topic with my doctor. I’ve been losing weight slowly and still have a long way to go.
Jokingly he suggested getting on "Biggest Loser". After we both laughed, I said something like, "they really torture those folks don’t they?" He answered, "Yeah, they really do."
It came to me suddenly. The more astute probably already realized this, but all of these reality shows are so popular because we are all basically sadists. It’s fun to watch someone else be tortured. It’s okay since they don’t use bamboo shoots under the nails, or water torture, just humiliation and failure. We get to watch fat people tortured because they can’t eat what they want, or they cheat, and they are riddled with guilt, as they admit what they have done and humilate themselves in front of the TV audience.
But I bet you can make money doing this locally. Maybe a local show with local people who sign up to be tortured in front of the local TV audience. You can probably even get the participants to pay you since they would pay for weight loss programs anyway. Getting local health clubs to host some segments and to advertise on the show, food providers, and even weight loss doctors and clinics could be both featured and provide advertisement. Success rates would be about the same as weight loss programs in general, so standard disclaimers apply.
If you use this idea, be sure and send me some part of your first million.