---
title: "\"Washing Your Face with Foot-Washing Water\" Is the Ultimate Topic of Business"
description: "A humorous anecdote illustrates the 'framing effect' (or 'basket effect'), showing how the same thing in different contexts or with different names can be perceived completely differently. This principle is crucial in business, from product categorization to marketing, and even shapes our understanding of society."
author: "苗庆显"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2024-04-15"
language: "en"
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# "Washing Your Face with Foot-Washing Water" Is the Ultimate Topic of Business

> A humorous anecdote illustrates the 'framing effect' (or 'basket effect'), showing how the same thing in different contexts or with different names can be perceived completely differently. This principle is crucial in business, from product categorization to marketing, and even shapes our understanding of society.

In ancient times, a clever fellow went visiting and bought some pastries at the market. He happened to see a basket weaver and, thinking he needed a manure basket, bought one. He casually placed the pastries in the basket and went to his host's house. The host was a bit displeased: "Why put food in a manure basket?" The clever fellow said, "What does it matter? It's a newly woven basket." Unexpectedly, the host was even more of a trickster. He sent his family to the market as well. At lunch, lo and behold: rice was served in a feeding trough, soup in a spittoon, and wine warmed in a chamber pot. The host even enthusiastically instructed his son, "Quick, bring a basin of hot foot-washing water for your uncle to wash his face!" The same thing placed in different baskets changes its nature entirely. The same matter described differently gives a completely different impression.
A female college student engaging in improper work is seen as depraved; a woman of the night striving to study and enter college is inspiring. Praying while smoking is disrespectful to the gods; smoking while praying is extremely devout. This is the famous "framing effect," which Old Miao likes to call the "basket effect." Nobel laureate and psychologist Kahneman wrote in his book: When patients are told that surgery has a 90% success rate or a 10% failure rate, the former significantly increases their likelihood of choosing surgery. The success rate is identical, so why do people prefer 90% success over 10% failure? Because the frames you give them are different: the former "basket" contains "success," the latter "failure."
Mr. Duan Yongping, who says "Marketing is not important at all; the product is most important," started his career making game consoles. In an era of fierce competition among red-and-white console games with controllers, Mr. Duan added some features and renamed the game console a "learning machine," which immediately won the enthusiastic welcome of parents. "Subor" became a legend of the last century. Which "basket" is more attractive to parents: "learning" or "games"? The conclusion is obvious. Mr. Ries, the "father of positioning," believed that the most important concept in positioning theory is "category." He said that the driving force of business development is category differentiation; customers think in categories and express with brands. A few years ago, Jinmailang launched a very popular brand called "Liangbai Kai" (cool boiled water), followed by Uni-President's "Liangkaishui" (cool boiled water) and Master Kong's "Hekaishui" (drinking boiled water). Thus, a category called "shushui" (cooked water) emerged, harvesting the purified water market. What's the real difference between "cooked water" and "purified water"? Let's put it this way: the physical difference between them is ten thousand times smaller than that between twins. Water molecules are all H2O, microorganisms must not exceed standards, and no substances can be added. But the names are different, and the "baskets" you give users are different. After creating the "cooked water" category, "Liangbai Kai" conveniently gave competitors a basket—"raw water." One is boiled and purified water, the other is purified water. Although both meet the same drinking standards, in a nation with a tradition of boiling water for thousands of years, most people still prefer "boiled."
The application of the framing effect goes far beyond category creation; it is ubiquitous in business. We accept that the same beer costs twice as much in a five-star hotel as at a barbecue stall, because you have two different baskets in your mind: one called "things in a five-star hotel," the other "things at a barbecue stall." The same dish sold at a market, in a supermarket, online, or from a truck at a residential gate—you have different expectations for each. A certain brand sold high-priced ice cream for only a few years before becoming a "ice cream assassin," while Häagen-Dazs has sold high-priced ice cream for years and still sells well. Because no matter how that brand promotes its "new consumption," it remains in the "ice cream" basket, whereas Häagen-Dazs never jumped into that basket; its consumers place it in the "witness of love" basket. For most products, the higher the price, the fewer sold, but for Maotai and similar brands, the higher the price, the more people scramble. One emphasizes practical value, the other face consumption, even investment. In behavioral science, this "basket" has a special name: "mental account." You don't mind a car or house being a thousand yuan more expensive; you grit your teeth and accept a phone or computer costing a thousand more; but if an ordinary piece of clothing costs a thousand more, you'd want to cut off your hand; and if someone tries to charge you an extra thousand for two watermelons, you'd think they're crazy. Different products correspond to different mental accounts. The same thousand yuan buys different things, and its importance to you is completely different. Do higher-income consumers spend more? Not necessarily. If you get a thousand-yuan bonus for good performance this month, you might treat friends to a meal; if you get ten thousand, you're more likely to save it. Different amounts of money enter different "baskets." Ten thousand is not simply ten times a thousand. Similarly, the source of money also puts it in different "baskets." Money won at mahjong or from stocks is spent most freely; money earned from hard labor is spent with pain.
In recent years, the biggest progress in Chinese business is not internet thinking, not digitalization, and certainly not new retail, live-streaming e-commerce, or traffic thinking, but the enhancement of "scenario" awareness. Marketing certainly requires understanding needs; in the past, people tended to study consumers themselves—different ages, genders, incomes, cultures, urban elites, high-value groups, post-00s, mothers—each with their own needs. In recent years, people have begun to discover: **the variable that most influences "needs" comes from scenarios.** When buying a product, the considerations differ if it's for gifting versus personal use; different names for the same thing have different impacts on needs; the same thing in different places leads to different purchasing behavior; in the same place, whether others are present can change your needs; whether you're alone, with one other, or with a group, and your relationship with them, all affect your needs and further influence your consumption behavior. **Different scenarios are essentially different "frames."** Shi Yuzhu said, "For gifts, only Naobaijin," shifting Naobaijin from the "health supplement" basket to the "gift" basket; Ye Maozhong said, "You've washed your hair all your life, but have you washed your scalp?" creating a "scalp washing" basket, thus creating a scalp-washing scenario and a scalp-washing shampoo category.
Saying "the framing effect is ubiquitous in business" underestimates it greatly, because **"frames" are the most important tool for understanding society.** Whatever "frames" we accept shape our thoughts. Stanford research: if criminals are metaphorically described as rampaging beasts, readers receiving that message tend to favor solutions like "strengthen police and arrest criminals." If the crime wave is compared to a virus like COVID-19, recipients suggest solutions like "crack down on various bad venues and eliminate unhealthy conditions." We think we think independently, but all our decisions are influenced by "frames." One of sociology's founders, Simmel, believed that society is a collection of forms of interpersonal relationships; the key is form, not content. And all these forms can be called "frames." McLuhan said the medium is the message. And the medium is another kind of frame.
The basic functions of an enterprise are "marketing and innovation," and marketing is the process of creating, delivering, and communicating value. What is most easily overlooked here is: **"value" actually means "perceived customer value."** Adding "perceived" and "customer" reveals the role of "frames," because people rely on "various baskets" to perceive. **Only with perception is there cognition; only with perception is there scenario.** "Affordable goods" and "affordable stores" sound very approachable. They give the feeling that "I'm not making money off you; I'm selling at cost," which is impossible, and no one takes it literally, but the feeling is real. In the past two years, a new concept called "hard discount" has emerged—hard discount supermarkets, hard discount snack stores—sounding even more "aggressive": not only do I not take advantage of you, I let you take advantage of me. Naturally, it's even more attractive. A company's vision and mission are its most attractive "basket." "Make it easy to do business anywhere"—has it actually made business easier? At first glance, yes: open an online store and you can do business with the world; on second thought, maybe not: I used to make money by moving goods around, and you cut off my livelihood; most online sellers also don't make much money. That's not important. What matters is that business has advanced, consumption is more convenient, and more people are willing to join this "cause." Yes, it must be called a "cause," just as "Guazi Used Cars" cannot be called "Guazi Old Cars," even if some cars are third- or fourth-hand. Of course, for every good "basket," there are bad ones. The worst basket in the entire business field is undoubtedly called "yingxiao" (marketing). I once wrote an article—"Marketing Called 'Yingxiao' Has Harmed Many Enterprises and Marketers"—which Old Miao considers the most important since starting this account. The moment "Marketing" was translated as "yingxiao," it began to be stigmatized, destined to drift further from true "Marketing" and closer to "deception," "hype," "traffic," "trickery," and "routines." Every time I use the word "yingxiao," I feel like I've "washed my face with foot-washing water." Today, "yingxiao" has become an "evil term" (as strategy expert Wang Sai puts it), but most enterprises and "marketers" are still struggling in this "rotten basket," unable to see the brilliance of "Marketing" or feel its magical power.
If the name is not correct, words will not be smooth; if the frame is wrong, everything is in vain. Form and content are one of the ultimate topics in philosophy. Perceived value and physical value are a pair of unity of opposites in enterprise operations: all operational elements—product, promotion, brand, channel, positioning, target audience—operate within this contradictory unity. As the New Year approaches, it's time to review all the "frames" of your enterprise and yourself. Yes, all "frames."


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