The Persuaders

I'd like to start off this blog entry by just saying, as an advertising major, that I'm very unnerved by these videos that we've recently been watching. Maybe these videos share a common theme that advertising is an evil industry; maybe they just appear that way because they are exposing the industry for what it truly is: a money making endeavor. Regardless, it all appears so fake in these videos. Expositions of the tactics that companies use to try an appeal to senses, humor, feelings, emotions....it all seems so fake. In the end it is really a bombastic shield that fools consumers into thinking that advertising is something more than trying to sell a product and make money. It really isn't, though. I think this is what scares me the most. I think that thinking is something I need to do a lot more of, especially concerning the industry I'm studying and about to enter into. But now, onto the questions at hand.

1. Where are we headed? What's the future? What are your thoughts on how far the techniques of persuasion might go?

In my opinion, advertising will not stop for anything. As the video clearly states in the first chapter, once an advertising campaign gives up, it dies. As soon as brand or an agency enters into the world of advertising, they must not stop moving or like a dormant shark, they will die. They will be eaten alive by the competition and spit out faster than you can hum "I'm lovin' it." So how far will the techniques of advertising go? Well, they don't seem to be slowing down whatsoever. Viral marketing, e-campaigns, internet-based advertising, cell phones, text messaging, advertisements at the bottom of golf holes...the possibilities seem endless. In my opinion, advertising cannot be increased; there's already too much of it out there to begin with and the effort to "break through the clutter" is a rather fruitless one as illustrated by the movie. Once you break through the clutter, you become the clutter. So now the game becomes a matter of working smarter, not harder. Concerning "narrowcasting" as illustrated in the video, I think that a barrage on demographics and very specific marketing may very well be the next step that is going to be taken in advertising. With a magazine and a website for every little hobby, fad, or interest, it is becoming increasingly difficult to market a product to a vast audience. Consumers' interests are becoming more and more specialized. Therefore, narrowcasting people into many different categories may become a necessary device. In my opinion, people are all individuals no matter how similair they may seem. Therefore, it is certainly doing an injustice to people to categorize six billion people into a mere seventy categories as stated by the movie. But this may very well become the normative procedure. Soon enough, we will all become individual tarket markets and the type of person that the advertising agency believes us to be will determine how we are marketed to and what is marketed to us.

2. Is there something distinctive in the American character that makes us susceptible to this world of advertising and messages? "The Persuaders" program explores the idea that Americans are seeking and finding a sort of identity in buying/joining a brand. What is this about?

This is certainly a valid theory and one that must be taken into strong consideration with the new wave of "smart advertising" that we are currently heading into. No longer are products able to be marketed as "er" proudcts: meaning adjectives like tastier, stronger, and better will no longer have the effect they used to. Any product out there can be the best if it says it is. But as Americans, we are no longer content with which product is best; we need identity. We need to feel a connection and experience emotion when thinking of a product. The desire to own a product is no longer a derivitave of the fact that it works for us or that it is the best of its kind. It now needs a special place in our heart and we must create a loyalty to that product. I found it incredibly interesting that cult members, WWF fans, and product owners all had the same basic concepts about belonging to a group and finding an identity. As human nature dictates, we are social creatures and therefore, even through the products we consume, we want to feel as if we are not alone. I want to know that my friends are eating Cheerios in their homes when I wake up to eat breakfast before I wake up. I want to feel a sense of connection with fellow humankind when I pour that Downy laundry detergent onto my clothes. I want to lighten up and feel at one with others when I eat Wonderbread. Sound a bit radical? It certainly is. But advertisers have concluded that this is the best way to market a product and it is certainly working. Campaigns like the McDonald's "I'm Lovin' It" campaign have created a sense of community and solidarity amongst people of all demographics. The warmth of the brand no longer comes from the crispy french fries and savory hamburgers but from the warmth that one feels when they are eating with friends and family; it just so happens that McDonalds can give you this feeling. Interestingly enough, this apparent desire to be a part of something and form an identity through a product is counterproductive when concerning the "narrowscaping" tactics that are currently be embraced by advertisers. If we are trying to create an identity and loyalty as social groups towards a product, isn't it counterintuitive to break everyone up into minute categories and therefore take away that social/belonging aspect to the product? Just a thought.

3. What are the common elements in the persuasion/selling strategies of advertising and marketing? And how can we move about in this world with a degree of self-awareness as to what's happening, especially since all these messages are increasingly trying to move us to act and make choices on an emotional level?

Advertising is everywhere. It is on our televisions, in our magazines, on the airwaves, on our cell phones, and in our heads. You absolutely cannot walk anywhere, often even through your own home, without being exposed to some form of advertising. Advertising is a constant competition to break through the clutter which therefore creates even more of the said clutter. Therefore, there is no solution. We will always need "things" and as long as there is a demand, there will be a supply of products and an advertising campaign for them. Ads now appeal to consumers on an emotional, factual, empirical, and imaginiative level. To say that we are no longer safe from advertising is a bit strong; I prefer to say that we can no longer avoid it. This, of course puts a much larger amount of pressure on advertisers and companies to beat out the competition. The hardest, fastest, BEST company will win and the rest will cower under the power that is that company. So there is not doubt that the industry has a great responsibility and amount of pressure upon it. But as a result, this also puts a much larger responsibility on us, the consumer. It creates a necessity for us to learn how to filter. The average teenager, the most prosperous advertising demographic in the industry, will see 3,000 ads a day before they are eighteen years old, totaling over 10 million ads before they are old enough to vote. We must learn how to refrain from being swept up by the inundating wave of advertising that we are constantly barraged by. This requires a certain sense of self-knowledge and understanding what is important to one's self. We now have the responsibility to decide who we are and what products we believe in at a much earlier age. As college students, we are still developing brand loyalty but the age for developing this loyalty is becoming increasingly younger. We are now forced to decide what to buy and what we like at an eearlier and earlier age because advertising is so constant that we must choose at some point. By filtering out the erroneous ads that have nothing to do with out own lifestyles, we must become empowered individuals with the right to decide what we want to buy and what products we beleive in. Advertising in necessary and we must embrace some of it so that we may purchase the best products for ourselves. But we also must not allow ourselves to be fed any bullshit that we do not want to be fed. Consumers must be responsible in their consumption of advertising and product; this means not succuming to every mindless ad out there and thinking for one's self. This will allow a sense of liberating choice: the power to decide what we buy and how we buy it. Individuality, as little importance as it may hold for the ad industry, is the thing that we all have and therefore must not lose it. To allow ourselves to be broken up into specific demographics and narrowscapes only to be preyed upon by advertisers would be to give up our individuality as consumers and this cannot happen. This is where the responsibility lies for us as consumers and this is what is required of us in order to remain intelligent and knowledgeable indivudals about the world around us, especially conerning advertisements.