generated the spectacular sales price rather than the blockbuster quality
of the movie itself?
Some comments from the auction participants provide impressive
evidence. First came a statement from the victor, Barry Diller, intended
to set future policy for his network. In language sounding as if it could
have escaped only from between clenched teeth, he said, “ABC has
decided regarding its policy for the future that it would never again
enter into an auction situation.” Even more instructive are the remarks
of Diller’s rival, Robert Wood, then president of CBS Television, who
nearly lost his head and outbid his competitors at ABC and NBC:
We were very rational at the start. We priced the movie out, in
terms of what it could bring in for us, then allowed a certain value
on top of that for exploitation.
But then the bidding started. ABC opened with two million. I
came back with two point four. ABC went to two point eight. And
the fever of the thing caught us. Like a guy who had lost his mind,
I kept bidding. Finally, I went to three point two; and there came
a moment when I said to myself, “Good grief, if I get it, what the
heck am I going to do with it?” When ABC finally topped me, my
main feeling was relief.
It’s been very educational.^17
According to interviewer Bob MacKenzie, when Wood made his “It’s
been very educational” statement, he was smiling. We can be sure that
when ABC’s Diller made his “never again” announcement, he was not.
Both men had clearly learned something from the “Great Poseidon
Auction.” But for one, there had been a $1 million tuition charge. Fortu-
nately, there is a valuable but drastically less expensive lesson here for
us, too. It is instructive to note that the smiling man was the one who
had lost the highly sought-after prize. As a general rule, whenever the
dust settles and we find losers looking and speaking like winners (and
vice versa), we should be especially wary of the conditions that kicked
up the dust—in the present case, open competition for a scarce resource.
As the TV executives now know, extreme caution is advised whenever
we encounter the devilish construction of scarcity plus rivalry.
HOW TO SAY NO
It is easy enough to feel properly warned against scarcity pressures;
but it is substantially more difficult to act on that warning. Part of the
problem is that our typical reaction to scarcity hinders our ability to
think. When we watch something we want become less available, a
physical agitation sets in. Especially in those cases involving direct
Robert B. Cialdini Ph.D / 199