Clotaire Rapaille

Dr. G Clotaire Rapaille, or Gilbert Clotaire Rapaille, is a marketing specialist. Born in France, he has a doctorate from La Sorbonne. Rapaille is also the CEO and Founder of Archetype Discoveries Worldwide, located in Palm Beach, Florida.

In addition to his books, he is known for advising politicians and advertisers on how to influence people's unconscious decision making. He moved to the United States in the early 80s.

However, several elements of his biography, client list, and the field of his doctorate, have been challenged in an investigation conducted by the newspaper Le Soleil in March 2010, following the award of a controversial contract to Rapaille by the city of Quebec.^[1][2] The embellishments on his résumé led to a cancellation of the contract.^[3][4]

Rapaille's work identifies the unstated needs and wants of people in a certain culture or country as cultural archetypes.^[5]

Personal life

His wife (Patricia Rapaille) owns a house in Boca Raton, Florida which is for sale^[when?] for about 12.5 million dollars. But this house was also owned by Dr. Rapaille until 2003.

Early career

Rapaille has a master's degree in political science and psychology and a doctorate in medical anthropology from the University of Paris–Sorbonne, and a Doctorate in Psychology.

Theories

Imprints

Dr. Rapaille developed his theory on the brain after working as a psychologist for autistic children and studying Konrad Lorentz theory of Imprints and John Bowlby theory of attachment.^[6][7] This work led him to believe that while children learn a given word and the idea connected with it, they associate it with certain emotions. He called that primal emotional association an imprint. This imprint determines our attitude towards a particular thing. These pooled individual imprints make up a collective cultural unconscious, which unconsciously pre-organize and influence the behavior of a culture.^[8][9]

Reptilian Brain

Rapaille subscribes to the triune brain theory of Paul D. MacLean, which describes three distinct brains: the cortex^{[disambiguation needed ]}, limbic, and reptilian. Beneath the cortex, the seat of logic and reason, is the limbic, which houses emotions. Camouflaged underneath those is Rapaille's theorized brain—the reptilian.^[10]

Rapaille believes that buying decisions are strongly influenced by the reptilian brain, which is made up of the brain stem and the cerebellum. Only accessible via the subconscious, the reptilian brain is the home of our intrinsic instincts. It programs us for two major things: survival and reproduction. Rapaille proposes that in a three-way battle between the cortical, the limbic (home of emotion) and the reptilian areas, the reptilian always wins, because survival comes first. This theory has become the basis for his thoughts on what a product means to consumers on the most fundamental level.^[11]

Rapaille’s mantra is “the reptilian brain always wins.”

Collective Cultural Unconscious

His consumer research seeks to understand what Dr. Rapaille has identified as the "collective cultural unconscious".^[12] In the opening of his book, 7 Secrets of Marketing, he says, "Cultures, like individuals, have an unconscious. This unconscious is active in each of us, making us do things we might not be aware of." ^[13] This collective cultural unconscious can be further defined as a pool of shared imprinting experiences that unconsciously pre-organize and influence the behavior of a culture.^[12]

Research Methods

Rapaille's claim of technique of "archetype discovery" stems from the psychoanalytic methods pioneered by the Viennese psychologist Ernest Dichter. This technique doesn't ask what people want, but why.^[14] These research methods focus on finding what he calls the “code”, the unconscious meaning people give to a particular product, service or relationship.^[15] Rapaille posits that sublimated emotional memories occupy a place between each individual's unconscious (Freud) and the collective unconscious of the entire human race (Jung).^[14]

Controversy

An article published by Pierre-André Normandin in Le Soleil de Québec revealed that Rapaille's client list and CV contained several falsehoods and exaggerations. Following those revelations his contract with Quebec City was terminated. Rapaille was hired in February 2010, at the approximative cost of $300,000, by Quebec City's mayor Régis Labeaume to analyze the city's image on an international level. The mayor terminated his contract early on March 29, 2010. Although he did not deliver, he negotiated with the city and got paid almost the entire sum.

Rapaille also caused controversy when during his investigation he said that the city of Quebec has a masochistic side to it. He also claimed his mother listened to Félix Leclerc during the WW2, before Felix Leclerc recorded his first album in 1951.

Also see

• 2004 Frontline episode "The Persuaders"

References

1. ^ Clotaire Rapaille décrypté: un homme et sa légende, Le Soleil, March 27, 2010. Mais voilà, les incongruités ne se limitent pas à son enfance. Il suffit de prendre sa biographie pour découvrir plusieurs contradictions. À commencer par son doctorat. Aux États-Unis, il se décrit com­me un docteur en anthropologie médicale. Or, dans ses livres La relation créatrice et Je t'aime je ne t'aime pas, publiés en France en 1973 et en 1974, il se présentait plutôt comme un docteur en psychologie. "But the incongruities are not limited to his childhood. It is enough to look at his biography to discover several contradictions. Beginning with his doctorate. In the United States, he describes himself as a doctor of medical anthropology. However, in his books La relation créatrice and Je t'aime je ne t'aime pas, published in France in 1973 and 1974, he held himself out instead as a doctor of psychology."
2. ^ Premier contrat dans le public pour Rapaille, Le Soleil, March 27, 2010.
3. ^ http://www.nationalpost.com/Quebec+City+cancels+contract+with+image+consultant/2741354/story.html
4. ^ Premier contrat dans le public pour Rapaille, Le Soleil, March 27, 2010. Début février, le Français naturalisé américain se présentait devant la presse de Québec pour tenter de calmer la controverse autour de son contrat de 250 000 $ (plus 20 000 $ en dépenses). Durant la rencontre, il explique avoir déjà travaillé pour plusieurs grandes villes, de Singapour à Dubaï (Émirats Arabes Unis) en passant par Macao (Chine) sans oublier Paris (France) et Venise (Italie).» [...]
5. ^ Hartley, Tom (2000-05-08). "Cruisin' for the right look". http://buffalo.bizjournals.com/buffalo/stories/2000/05/08/story2.html. 
6. ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20060715203023/www.randomhouse.com/broadway/culturecode/influences.html
7. ^ Patton, Phil (2002-03-18). "Car Shrinks Forget rear-seat legroom. Automakers have decided that the key to higher sales lies in meeting your deepest emotional needs. Here come the". CNN. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2002/03/18/319875/index.htm. 
8. ^ http://assets.browardpalmbeach.com/content/printVersion/131254
9. ^ http://www.archetypediscoveriesworldwide.com/learn.html
10. ^ http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/104/rapaille.html
11. ^ "Mind Games". Forbes. 2003-01-09. http://www.forbes.com/global/2003/0901/034a.html. 
12. ^ ^{a b} http://www.promenadespeakers.com/page8.html
13. ^ G. Clotaire Rapaille, 7 Secrets of Marketing, 9.
14. ^ ^{a b} http://www.creativityatwork.com/Newsletters/Aug00ReptilianBrain.html
15. ^ Rapaille. "Marketing to the Reptilian Brain." Forbes 03 July 2006: 44. Business Source Premier. EBSCO. Web. 15 June 2010.

• PBS Interview
• Video from '60 Minutes' (Rapaille at 5:17)
• Interview on cbsnews.com
• PBS Interview (part)
• [1]

External links

• Clotaire Rapaille's Home Page

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