Advertising: Difference between revisions

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The direct effects of being bombarded daily with hundreds of advertisements are intuitively understood by most people:
'''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:


* We are being pushed toward materialistic value sets that measure our worth by the amount of expensive shit we own — these value sets lower our happiness and distract us from each other & the higher values which give us real satisfaction in life.
* '''Increasing consumption''' - we are being repeatedly told to mindlessly consume at a time of [[ecological crisis]] were need to wind back consumption.
* at a time when we need to wind back consumption to avoid environmental catastrophe, and to think seriously about global injustice and its historical & structural basis, we are being repeatedly told that the more we mindlessly consume the happier we'll be — if we are somehow still concerned by the problems of social injustice and environmental degradation, we are told consuming certain products will address these problems for us — consumption is presented as the solution to every problem we could possibly face.
* '''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.
* children, who are yet to develop the strong identities and critical analysis skills that enable any kind of resistance, are directly targeted — and even advertising aimed at adults negatively affects a child's perception of the world and their developing identities.
* 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 have a ridiculous gender binary pushed down our throats that alienates us from our full, true selves — increasing division between genders and causing immense suffering, especially for those whose gender identities openly defy the false binary.
* '''We are made to feel inadequate''', compared to '''cultural ideals''<nowiki/>' that are mostly impossible and not necessarily desirable, contributing to a range of mental health problems.
* 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.<ref>https://thoughtmaybe.com/advertising-and-the-end-of-the-world/</ref>
* An effect of constantly being sold something is an '''inherent distrust''' of the motives of others ('''they only smile so they can rob you''<nowiki/>'), 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 inadequate, compared to 'cultural ideals' that are mostly impossible and not necessarily desirable, contributing to a range of mental health problems.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.7
* it undemocratically grants the greatest and most powerful voice only to the richest entities — those that are both non-human and completely amoral in their single-minded pursuit of profit.


i hate to generalise, but advertising generally reflects the world-view of its creators — rich white men and their sometimes-gender-and-race-diverse acolytes ―
=== 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:


7 this phenomenon was identified in 1960's france by guy debord, a member of the situationist international, and was published widely, including in his book the society of the spectacle — although i thought his analysis was insightful i can't recommend the book because i found it impossible not to put down — lost in translation?
==== Number encoding ====


19
* '''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.


consequently we end up with an 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.
==== 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.


the advertising industry costs over a trillion dollars a year globally — this isn't just a shameful waste, it's a huge community expenditure that actively damages individuals, our societies and our environment — we should be spending this money fixing the world instead of fucking it further.
==== Using words related to small amounts ====
 
Descriptions like "low maintenance" are more appealing to consumers than "high performance," even though both qualities are valued.
but what I think is the worst effect of advertising doesn't seem to occur to as many people, and certainly doesn't get as much public criticism: advertising funds the for- profit companies that make up our mainstream media — installing for-profit media companies (representing their for-profit sponsors) as the grand arbiters of our popular culture, public discourse and political agenda.
 
this has enabled for-profit interests to manipulate our public consciousness and the political process of 'our democracy' for generations, having deep impacts across our society, all to the advantage of 'neo-liberal' globalised capitalism.
 
the effect of these manipulations over generations
 
20
 
becomes invisible and self-perpetuating — for example it is in the interests of globalised capitalism that the 'economic system' appears as a completely natural and unproblematic order of things, so for generations this is how it has been repeatedly presented, and as a result most intelligent 'educated' people of the 'developed democracies' actively participate in a collective ignorance/denial of the centuries of violent imperialism and colonialism that have constructed the current 'economic system' of continuing exploitation.
 
our entire global 'economic system' is a deliberate and gross injustice, stripping the resources and labour from the poorest people, concentrating wealth in the hands of the depraved few — we cannot act to address this issue if we continue to allow it to be publicly suppressed.
 
this is just one example of the verifiable truths that are effectively deleted from our public political consciousness by the calculated actions of the 'credible' streams of the for-profit media-advertising system — other notable deletions are the ecological limits we are currently recklessly accelerating toward, threatening a devastating collapse of the first truly global civilisation.
 
to gain a sound collective political consciousness — to actually face reality — advertising, its media, and the false consciousness it supports, need to be abolished.

Latest revision as of 21:56, 16 January 2023

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.

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