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cover of episode Decoder Ring | How “Chicken Soup” Sold Its Soul

Decoder Ring | How “Chicken Soup” Sold Its Soul

2025/4/23
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Slow Burn
AI Deep Dive AI Chapters Transcript
People
A
Amanda Chicago Lewis
A
Amy Newmark
B
Bill Ruhanna
J
Jack Canfield
M
Mark Victor Hansen
W
Willa Paskin
Topics
Amanda Chicago Lewis: 我在青少年时期就读过《心灵鸡汤》，它让我相信一切皆有可能。它在当时非常流行，几乎人手一本。后来我惊讶地发现，这家公司不仅仍然存在，而且还涉足了与出版业完全不同的领域，例如收购Redbox和成为迷因股票，这让我感到非常好奇，并促使我深入研究这个品牌的故事。 Willa Paskin: 心灵鸡汤系列书籍的成功源于其作者巧妙地将吸引力法则的理念融入到温馨动人的故事中，并赋予其一个完美的名称。然而，公司后来的发展却走向了另一个极端，从出版业扩展到流媒体、金融工具等多个领域，最终走向衰落，这反映了商业模式的风险和管理的失误。 Jack Canfield: 我相信吸引力法则，并通过积极思考和可视化来实现我的目标。我克服了不幸的童年，证明任何人都可以成功。心灵鸡汤系列书籍的成功也印证了这一点。 Mark Victor Hansen: 我从小就擅长销售，并与Jack Canfield一起将心灵鸡汤系列书籍推向成功。我们相信积极思考的力量，并通过各种销售策略来推广我们的产品。 Bill Ruhanna: 心灵鸡汤拥有极高的品牌知名度，公司有很大的发展空间。我们通过授权协议积极扩张产品线，并试图进军好莱坞，但最终未能取得成功。 Amy Newmark: 我们致力于为消费者提供始终如一的陪伴和服务。我们相信积极思考的力量，并试图通过各种方式来扩展心灵鸡汤的品牌影响力。

Deep Dive

Chapters
This chapter explores the origins and meteoric rise of Chicken Soup for the Soul, starting from its impact on a young Amanda Chicago Lewis and tracing its evolution into a bestselling book series. It highlights the books' comforting nature and broad appeal, leading to their unparalleled commercial success.
  • Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul's significant impact on the author and many others during the 1990s.
  • The series' phenomenal sales figures, becoming the best-selling non-fiction book series of all time.
  • The books' role in disseminating the Law of Attraction philosophy, albeit subtly.
  • The franchise's expansion beyond books into various merchandise and brand extensions.

Shownotes Transcript

Chicken Soup for the Soul was the brainchild of two motivational speakers who preach the New Thought belief system known as the Law of Attraction. For more than 30 years, the self-help series has compiled reader-submitted stories about kindness, courage, and perseverance into easily digestible books aimed at almost every conceivable demographic: Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul, Chicken Soup for the Grandma’s Soul, Chicken Soup for the Golfer’s Soul, and on and on. Since 1993, these books have sold more than 500 million copies worldwide, becoming the best-selling non-fiction book series of all time.

But in recent years, the company has become many other things that seem lightyears away from inspirational publishing: a line of packaged foods, a DVD kiosk retailer, and a meme stock. In this episode, with the help of journalist Amanda Chicago Lewis), we tell the story of how this feel-good brand went from comfort food to junk.

This episode was written by Willa Paskin and Max Freedman and produced by Max. It was edited by Evan Chung, Decoder Ring’s supervising producer. Our show is also produced by Katie Shepherd. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director. Special thanks to Rachel Strom.

If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, please email us at [email protected]), or leave a message on our hotline at 347-460-7281.

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