Lighter/Erotica

You don’t think lighters are erotic? Well then you obviously haven’t read this.There is nothing more erotic than a man and his lighter. Oh, the sweet feeling of plastic against flesh as one thrusts upon the button causing the flint to grind, climaxing in a burst of fire. If you’re like the rest of us these thoughts probably don’t go through your mind, as you light up a smoke, at least not consciously.

According to psychoanalysts, however, this is what happens in our unconscious. Don’t dis it too quickly, because Ernest Dichter will tell you (if he was still alive) “it has been proved beyond any doubt that many of our daily decisions are governed by motivations over which we have no control and of which we are often quite unaware.”

Dichter, the father of motivational research, took Freudian psychoanalytical concepts to the advertising industry. Even if you think it’s a load of horse shit, psychoanalysis is being used in adverts to penetrate deep into your psyche. But now back to lighters.

Dichter believed that the main reason we use lighters is to feel powerful. Going far back into the history of man, our triumph over the elements, the ability to command fire has always been seen as one of our crowning achievements. The lighter provides modern man with the training wheels version of fire starting.

The very fact that a lighter is so quick and efficient enhances this feeling of power. However, if a lighter fails it frustrates us because we cannot accomplish our need for a feeling of mastery and control. Of course it wouldn’t be psychoanalysis without throwing in some sex, thus, the lighter is fused unconsciously with the idea of sexual potency.

So, whenever a lighter fails to work for you, you are experiencing something similar to impotence. Think about that the next time you light up. Oh, and plus this basically means smokers are people who feel weak in life and smoke to overcome this (unless of course they are into lighting their cigarettes by rubbing two sticks together).

Note: The preceding argument was based on one by Ernest Dichter in The Handbook of Consumer Motivation and The Strategy of Desire.