Catch Red Flags for Scams, Fads, and Bad Products
Fraudsters rely on stories to push bad ideas on unsuspecting people. Understanding the most common stories can keep you from falling for them.
You couldn’t have missed Taylor Swift and Travis Kelse during the 2023-24 NFL season. Their love story combined two massive fan bases. That combination had major impacts. Front Office Sports reported that Taylor Swift “generated an equivalent brand value of over $331 million for the Kansas City Chiefs and the NFL.”
The Swift-Kelse story was an enticing one. Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour brought generations of Swifties together to remember her greatest hits and what those songs meant to them. It was regular pop-star fandom combined with nostalgia combined with every strong feeling Taylor Swift’s music elicited from people going through everything from heartbreak to triumph.
No wonder her fanbase responded so powerfully to her relationship with Travis Kelse.
The great Swift-Kelse romance may be 2023’s greatest pop culture saga, but not every group of stories results in romantic headlines and jersey sales. Other groups of stories can hack the same feelings to lead people to questionable financial decisions. Robert Shiller’s book, Narrative Economics, shows how to catch those red flags.
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