Fat Penguin Mentality. By @laurenpeters123
By Lauren Peters
Fat Penguin Mentality.
Have you ever picked up something that wasn’t included in a meal deal but paid full price for it anyway, unable to summon the courage to change it? Or pretended to look at items you had no intention of buying because the person next to you was browsing the same thing? Perhaps you’ve sat in the aisle of a train before in a bid to avoid the indignation of shoving your reservation ticket in the face of the idiot in your seat? Or even gone as far as to dislocate your neck in a violent attempt to escape eye contact with your ex?
Whilst James Bond, the Queen and Adele would have the world believe we’re a cool and collected bunch, the reality is we’re a nation of awkward, always making sure to leave at least one empty step either side on an escalator. Despite the constant evolution of social norms, one thing that has remained particularly consistent is the awkwardness of small talk. Technology and social media may have broken down the barriers between individuals (yaddah yaddah something Google), but with increasing confidence in the virtual comes increasing anxiety to engage in real life.
What is needed is a bit of Fat Penguin mentality. Here at Fat Penguin we have made it our mission to break the ice and start billions of one-to-one conversations worldwide. We live by the greeting card maxim that ‘strangers are just friends you haven’t met yet’, and unlike many agencies out there, we’re willing to put in the necessary hours of contact, trust-building and slang development to create a safe space for genuine ‘WUBU2?’ colloquial natter, not ad spamming. So next time you see someone crying in the street, give them a hug. Whilst they may have a vast range of historical, psychological and deeply personal problems that cannot be answered with a ‘there there’, chances are, they’d appreciate the hug anyway. At the end of the day, we’re all relatively undifferentiated blobs of epithelial cells who live in houses, drive cars and shop at Tesco, so ‘WHY NOT?’ (Kyle Foreman, Patrick Collister’s Masterclass, 2016).
