THE CONSULTANT: Why are we so scared of Friday the 13th?

The Marketeers – Friday the 13th and how Superstition can affect Your Business - See more at: http://www.ukbusinessmarketplace.co.uk/marketeers-friday-13th-superstition-can-affect-business/#sthash.cujOKaof.dpuf

THE number 13 has had a bad reputation for a long time.

Fear of Friday the 13th, also known as friggatriskaidekaphobia, plagues our society. The diagnosis brings together "Frigg," a Norse goddess and Friday's namesake, and "triskaidekaphobia," fear of the number 13 in general.

Every year, the world loses $700 to $800 million on Friday the 13th because people won't conduct business as usual. Many especially refuse to fly.
On top of that, almost 80% of high rise buildings skip the 13th floor. Many airports exclude gate 13, and hospitals regularly avoid room 13.
So where does this superstition originate? The roots link back to religion — of all denominations and time periods.

History of a superstition

First and foremost, the Last Supper's 13th guest (and last apostle), Judas betrayed Jesus, according to the Bible. Then, His Crucifixion occurred on a Friday. Some scholars also believe Eve tempted Adam on a Friday.
Also, Babylon's ancient Code of Hammurabi skips number 13 when listing laws. Egyptians considered the afterlife the 13th phase of life.
But the number thirteen's cursed beginnings fall outside the rise of Christianity, too. A similar story occurs in Norse mythology. The 11 closest friends of Odin, the father of all gods, chose to dine together when Loki, the god of evil and chaos, crashed the party. One of the gods, Balder, the god of joy and happiness, died that evening.
Much later, King Philip IV of France certainly didn't help by ordering the persecution of the Knights Templar on Friday, October 13, 1307. In the following years, several thousand faced torture and execution.
If those tales don't convince you, math also has a stake in why people get bad vibes from the number thirteen. First, 12 appears a lot in our culture — 12 months in a year, 12 hours on a clock, 12 signs of the zodiac, 12 apostles of Jesus. We love 12.
12 is a "pseudoperfect" number, according to Wolfram. The sum of some of its divisors equals the whole number. For example, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 go into 12. Both 2+4+6 and 1+2+3+6 equal 12.
On December 12, 2012, a boy in Alabama turned 12 at 12:12 p.m. People started calling him everything from "the chosen one" to a sign of the impending apocalypse.
Thirteen has a tough act to follow.
Regardless of where, when, or how this superstition started, we've perpetuated our own fear. "If nobody bothered to teach us about these negative taboo superstitions like Friday the 13th, we might in fact all be better off," Stuart Vyse, psychology professor at Connecticut College in New London, told National Geographic.

This week includes an important date for 2014, the one and only Friday the 13th of the year, so this week we’ve decided to tiptoe around luck. We’ll start

with an outline of ritual and superstition, take a quick look at how those ‘lucky’ items that people like to have on their desks could be beneficial for your

business, and investigate the history of Friday the 13th. So if you’re sitting comfortably, grab your lucky charms and I’ll begin.
Many people are mildly superstitious; they touch wood, cross their fingers and, in more extreme cases, count steps into their office or try to ensure that they park their cars in the same place every day. These actions, although largely brought about by habit can become deeply ingrained as part of one’s daily ritual. Any deviation can result in the individual being so put out by even the smallest change it’s blamed for anything that goes wrong throughout the day. These quirks can be amusing in a work colleague, but mock it at your peril; many athletes including Serena Williams and Tiger Woods also follow rituals or wear ‘lucky’ items of clothing to play their sport.
Although most of us actually feel uncomfortable if we deviate from normal habits, not many of us blame a minor routine change for any subsequent mishap. But listen carefully to jokes that your

colleagues crack about meetings not going their way and you might find that any problems are down to a failure to wear lucky socks. On the other hand, personalisation of one

’s workspace or lack thereof, causes a lot of debate. Familiar surroundings help employees feel more secure and settled, thereby resulting in a more productive workforce. This, in turn, could be translated as being lucky for the business. People nowadays spend an increasing amount of time at work so, unless their environment demands strict hygiene or safety standards, many employees feel that their workspace should be customised to create more pleasing surroundings. Should more confirmation be needed to allow people their metaphorical security blankets then look no further than Albert Einstein who famously said ‘If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?’ And I don’t think that anyone really could accuse Einstein of having an empty mind.
So now, on to today. Why, exactly is Friday the 13th thought to be so unlucky? Well, Fridays and the number 13 have been considered unlucky for years across many different cultures and beliefs. There are even two names for it; paraskevidekatriaphobia, taken from the Greek words Paraskeví (Friday), dekatreís (thirteen) and phobos (fear or morbid fear) and friggatriskaidekaphobia (from the Norse goddess Frigg (Friday) and the Greek tris (3) kai (and) deka (10) phobos (fear)). These came into use fairly recently although triskaidekaphobia meaning a general fear of the number 13 has been in common usage since the early 20th century. The origins of the fear of the number 13 are lost in the mists of time but here

are some possible beginnings:

The Romans associated 13 with ill omens, specifically death and destruction
The Vikings believe that the god Loki was the 13th guest in the Norse pantheon. Not only did he commit murder but that he was also the 13th guest at the funeral. This is possibly one of the origins of the superstition that if 13 people sit down to dinner then one of them will die within the coming year
Some Christians believe that at the Last Supper Judas, Jesus Christ’s betrayer, was the 13th to sit at the table although the Bible does not state the order in which the Apostles sat
The Ancient Persians believed that the months of the year were ruled by the 12 signs of the zodiac, each ruling for 1,000 years after which the sky would collapse. The number 13 was thus identified with chaos and avoided
A coven of witches numbers 13
Many hospitals, hotels and skyscrapers do not have a 13th floor and many restaurants do not have a table number 13. Julian Baggini’s article The Friday the 13th effect: why so many restaurants are missing a table 13 provides an insight and questions whether the top restaurants in the UK* have a table 13. (*at the time of publishing his article)

Conversely, the Ancient Egyptians also developed a superstition about the number 13. Based on their belief system, there were 12 steps on the ladder to everlasting life; they reasoned that if they took a 13th step they would become immortal. 13 for them signified good luck. You may also question the origins of a Baker’s Dozen. In the thirteenth century (unintentional, I’m sure!) some unscrupulous British bakers sold undersized loaves of bread. King Henry III passed a law to ensure weight standardisation and failure to comply resulted in beatings or jail. The bakers discovered that one way to get around it was to sell 13 loaves to anyone buying a dozen so that the extra loaf corrected the weight shortfall and the customers were delighted because they thought that they were getting a free loaf!
The ‘unlucky Friday’ theory is similarly shrouded in mystery and obviously came about long before the modern working week. Office workers love Fridays because they herald a weekend! Thanks to the article Friday the 13th: why do we fear it and how unlucky is it really? I found plenty of reasons as to why Fridays were not always as popular as they are now:

Christ was crucified on a Friday
Cain is supposed to have murdered Abel, his brother, on a Friday
Traditionally sailors do not begin a voyage on a Friday
Historically it was the day that people were hanged in the UK
Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales refer to the day as follows: ‘And on a Friday fell all this mischance’

So, what impact does Friday the 13th have on modern businesses? Jennifer Wang states in her article Turn Superstition into Marketing Gold that actually, it’s quite significant with America losing around $800million – $900million in business revenue on that day. And although in the West being superstitious in business is still regarded as a dirty little secret, in Eastern cultures it certainly influences consumers, especially in China and Taiwan mainly with regards to lucky colours and numbers. The number four is a good example of this. In the Mandarin dialect the word ‘four’ has a similar pronunciation to the word ‘dead’ and Taiwanese people will pay more for a pack of three tennis balls than a cheaper pack of four as they consider four to be unlucky.
I can’t close this blog without mentioning the Friday the 13th films. There have been 12 films across 19 years, the first had a budget of just $550,000 (about £330,000) and it grossed $59,754,601 worldwide (over £35,500,000). The franchise as a whole has grossed over $450,000,000 worldwide (over £276,000,000). Not exactly unlucky for the team behind those films.
Finally, my top tips to survive Friday the 13th 2014 are as follows:

Make sure your company is registered on Applegate, the UK Business Marketplace with a free profile. We’re not superstitious so if you get stuck please call our CSS team on 0845 600 7177 who’ll be happy to help you.
Grab your black cat (or not, if you’re reading this in the USA!), call your friends, lock the doors, bolt the windows and scare yourself silly watching a Friday the 13th marathon. Then remind yourself ‘they’re only films’.

And if you are a true paraskevidekatriaphobic console yourself with the thought that there’s only one this year and it’s a whole 8 months until the next one.
- See more at: http://www.ukbusinessmarketplace.co.uk/marketeers-friday-13th-superstition-can-affect-business/#sthash.cujOKaof.dpuf