Advertisements are everywhere in our daily lives. We see billboards, tv commercials, promotion signs, songs etc. They are so routine to us that we don’t even realize just how effective companies have been in conditioning us into wanting what they provide, knowing them for these certain products and feeling certain ways because of them. Modern advertisement is an industry far more powerful than one may think. They engage in deceptive subliminal advertising, which most us are unaware of. You may think you’re in total control, but whether you realize it or not, companies have found way to appeal to and manipulate our subconscious minds for their personal gain.
People don’t like to think they are easy persuaded and obedient and so you may find some people who think that advertising has no affect on them. What they seem to be misunderstanding is that companies aren’t out to make you immediately stop what you are doing to go invest in whatever it is they are selling. Companies are looking to leave a memory of their product with you. Though it may not be immediately, they are looking to influence you in the long run about the brands you invest in, ultimately hoping that when you need anything, their store or brand is what you’ll go to. In the United States 70 billion dollars is spent on advertisement alone.
Can you recognize a brand simply by looking as a sign? or hearing a tune? How about a catch phase? “Just do it?” “Have it your way?” Surely you can tell what companies these are just by hearing the sayings. You can most likely even tell which companies are presented in the picture below. The idea of things such as logos and jingles are simply to familiarize you with a brand.
Today, the average person sees up to 5,000 ads a day and surely not all of them go ignored, but to ensure their success, companies take a number of steps. They look to make their ads interesting, memorable and catchy. Creating interesting slogans that will engage their target markets and spread the word of their brand. Also, going for the seemingly innocent vibe so that potential customers don’t initially notice the manipulative nature of trying to sell a product.
Take the Super Bowl for example! It’s the most watched event in the year, averaging over 90 million viewers, and the exposure makes it worth the money for some companies. They spend millions trying to make a commercial that will succeed in attracting peoples’ interest.
There are plenty of others ways a brand may try to appeal to potential customers, ways we don’t initially notice. They’ll often try to surround their product with things people generally like and enjoy to promote positive feelings for what they are advertising. Other times they’ll use the method of compare and contrast (refraining from listing all of their own downfalls btw) to present it as better. Even associate celebrities with their products to build the illusion of it being popular or chic in some way.
In conclusion, advertising is a business far more complex than some may realize. So much work and billions of dollars go into making sure people can simply remember their brand. So, before you claim you’re not influenced by advertising like other people, remember that even you can recognize a few logos and sing a few jingles!
Sources
https://www.neumann.edu/academics/divisions/business/journal/review09/hood.pdf
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/08/why-good-advertising-works-even-when-you-think-it-doesnt/244252/
http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2011/02/15/the-psychology-of-advertising/
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/15/business/media/15everywhere.html?_r=0
Over summer session I took Philosophy media and ethics which was a course that strongly discussed the many issues and immorality that is demonstrated through advertisements today. I found this blog post very interesting because so many commercials nowadays seems so important and are presented as if the audience absolutely needs the product being advertised. False advertisement is a huge problem in the industry of entertainment and journalism, I learned a lot about this during summer, however your blog taught me even more information on the matter. It has become easier and easier for advertisements to persuade the audience because of the insecurities and difficulties people presently feel from all of the media today. Here is a link that discusses more on the subject of advertisements today, http://www.ftc.gov/news-events/media-resources/truth-advertising
As an advertising major, I found this really interesting. I cannot believe that the average person sees at least 5,000 ads a day! I have learned that technology has both increased the amount of ads we see, and decreased them at the same time. For example, we can pick and choose which ads we want to see on certain sites now and sites like Facebook even tailor ads to our interests. So, we aren’t seeing such a large variety of ads in that aspect. However, advertising agencies have also made it very easy to sneak ads into the web without you even knowing it. Apparently, marketing budgets for technology have increased 3.5% this year! http://adage.com/article/btob/tech-marketing-budgets-increase-3-5-year/295120/
I take a class called propaganda and persuasion that is basically everything you just described but shows it throughout history. It’s pretty interesting to see how way back before any media, people were still able to influence each other through advertising. I plan on being a marketing major so I find all of this stuff very interesting. I think you did a really great job of describing how advertising can get inside your mind. One of the biggest times I notice it is when I am sitting in the movie theatre watching the advertisements before the movie comes on. If they show 5 commercials, I almost always leave there wanting to see all of them! The atmosphere, sound, and way the display the commercial in the theatre makes it so much more appealing than when I watch it on my own TV. This article below really helped me to better understand what advertisers do after reading your blog!
http://lifehacker.com/5824328/how-advertising-manipulates-your-choices-and-spending-habits-and-what-to-do-about-it
I found this post very interesting as I feel as I’m always a sucker for commercials or what I see in the media. I catch myself thinking about the images ill see on a commercial when I get hungry and thats when I know that damn commerical worked. Just like you said about commercial imaging too, just by seeing those logos and advertisements every day in our normal routine, they get seared into our brains and then when we need that particular item our brains automatically put what we’ve been seeing all day as the first item in our minds. Whether or not from there we give in to that or not isn’t the point. Chances are the item you most commonly see you are going to want more and whose product you are going to purchase. I hate to admit it, but advertising really works.