Advertising

Adverts are everywhere. Some think they do not have an effect, however they would not be everywhere if they didn't! Here is a quick reminder of what advertising is doing to all of us:

• Increasing consumption - we are being repeatedly told to mindlessly consume at a time of ecological crisis were need to wind back consumption.
• Encouraging materialistic value sets that measure our worth by the amount of expensive items we own — these value sets lower happiness, distract everyone from each other and obfuscate higher values which gives real satisfaction in life.
• Our true desires for greater social connection, enhanced freedom, quality leisure time, satisfying sexual relationships etc. are appealed to by the ridiculous claim that some magical product can deliver these things — this diverts attention from the political achievements that can actually satisfy our social desires: equal political power, the end of exploitation, less work, more free time etc.
• We are made to feel inadequate', compared to cultural ideals' that are mostly impossible and not necessarily desirable, contributing to a range of mental health problems.
• An effect of constantly being sold something is an inherent distrust of the motives of others ('they only smile so they can rob you'), and we begin to accept we should only look after ourselves just like everyone else is — adding to political cynicism and disengagement.
• We are made to feel irrelevant in our cities, and inferior in a 'culture' that we have no influence over — instead a spectacular lifestyle is presented above us, one that we can never really achieve, but must continuously chase after through an ever-escalating series of purchases.
• The overwhelming mass of image-based consumerist-propaganda that normalises and reinforces all the problematic attitudes (sexist, racist, homophobic, ableist, classist, transphobic, list goes on...) that it should be our priority to overcome.

Psychological Tricks

There are a variety of tricks the advertising industry rely on to increase consumer demand. These human hacks tend to take advantage of ancient human heuristics, most common of which include:

Number encoding

• Small first digit - Our brain encodes numbers so quickly that a smaller first digit is enough to make the price seem much smaller for instance $3.99 feels like a lot less than $4.
• Smaller words - even though people don't usually say prices out loud, studies show that people perceive phonetically shorter prices as being cheaper (i.e. twenty seven dollars and eighty two cents seems more than twenty eight dollars and sixteen cents due to more syllables) .
• Removing the comma - research shows that removing commas makes a price seem lower ($2,799 vs. $2799).
• Offer installments - consumers tend to get anchored on a smaller price subconsciously, even if they know the total price. Breaking the price down into how much it costs daily (or comparing it to a cup of coffee) makes the price seem more affordable.
• Odd numbers - consumers are more likely to choose something at a price ending in an odd number that is right under an even whole number, like $4.97.
• Maximise perceived discount - retailers use the biggest number possible to label discounts. For example, 20% off a $50 vacuum seems better than $10 off, even though they're both the same amount.
• Ditch the currency symbol - research shows that menu items that include prices without dollar signs ("nachos 5") get diners to spend more than menus with dollar signs ("nachos $5")
• Red colour numbers for men - Studies show that men are more likely to buy products when the prices are displayed in red. Men seem to process ads more quickly and use color as a visual heuristic, and "red" equals "discount."
• Decoy pricing - Imagine that a small popcorn is $4, a medium is $8, and a large is $8.50. Many people will go for the large since it is "only 50 cents more" than the medium. The medium only exists to boost sales of the large.

Touch and mimicry

According to research, a woman's touch—such as a quick pat on the shoulder—makes patrons of either gender feel more comfortable making purchases. Additionally, you could be more inclined to buy if a salesperson of either gender mimics your gestures.

Using words related to small amounts

Descriptions like "low maintenance" are more appealing to consumers than "high performance," even though both qualities are valued.