Homer Simpson’s Homerisms

Homer Simpson—Everyone knows him and everyone has a little Homer in them. 

 

There are certainly branding and image lessons we can learn from Homer Simpson.  Most of them, of course, are not entirely positive.  Even my six-year old cousin can list Homer’s faults and tell me what makes him a terrible personal brander.   Homer sleeps on the job, creates catastrophes that harm others, and is a self-depreciating drunk.  It is in my opinion, however, that in order to be a great personal brander, we need to be able to see the positive in others, even if that someone is Homer Simpson.  What are the positive lessons we can learn from the recent movie star?

 

 

Homerism # 1:  Homer is Consistent

 

Consistently drunk and consistently lazy, Homer is nonetheless consistent.  Homer dresses so ugly he can make an onion cry, but he’s still always Homer.  There is nothing worse for personal branding than doing the rollercoaster, that is, one moment your are sky-high hitting on all cylindars and dressing sharp and the next moment it looks like you’ve hit rock bottom and you’ve stopped performing, stopped being timely, and you’ve stopped being the person you know you are .  The main point that we can take away from Homer is that consistency is a good thing, just do it the right way.  Think about how others are percieveing you!

 

Homerism # 2:  Homer is Self-Confident

 

As unlikely as it seems, Homer is one of the most confident cartoon characters out there.  Despite his ignorance, alcohol abuse, and exposure to nuclear waste, Homer always has a vision.  He’ll run for President, lead a cult, or confront his CEO if he needs to.  There is certainly something to be said about being confident.  Confidence allows us to take risks, allows us to be great, and allows us to learn about ourselves.  This is certainly an admirable characteristic which pushes our limits.  It also leads me to Homerism # 3. 

 

 

Homerism # 3:  Homer Always Realizes His Mistakes

 

Everyone has seen a Simpsons episode.  If you haven’t, then you’ve certainly been missing out on two decade of laughs.  The stories in Springfield all have a similar plot.  Homer causes a problem, and then by some miracle, manages to muster up the small amount of wit that he has, to solve the problem by shows end.  Its amazing that someone that claims to be so stupid and inept can realize his own mistakes show after show.  There is certainly a lesson we can learn.  Given that most everyone would consider themselves smarter than Homer, we should act to prevent mistakes from happening.  But even more importantly, like good Homer, we should realize when we’ve made a mistake, admit it, and then do everything we can to make the problem disappear.  What does this show your audience?  This shows that you are humble, honest, and determined enough not to let a mistake rattle who you are.