Do You Know When You Are Being Sold To – Marketing
Do You Know When You Are Being Sold To
Joanna Ferndale
Britney Spears has recently caused controversy with suggestions that the ad campaign for her new fragrance range uses subliminal or hidden messages in its efforts to convince potential buyers. Advertisers have long been aware of the power of appealing to our subsoncious minds, so what methods exactly do they employ, and how widespread is the practise
Broadly speaking, there are three methods in common use - Product Endorsement, Product Placement, and Hidden Subliminal Imagery.
Why do advertisers use these methods
As consumers, we tend to make buying decisions based on emotion rather than logic. When see a product, we make up our minds very quickly about whether we want it or not, based purely on the way the product is presented to us. Any accompanying sales pitch is merely there to help us justify the purchase to our more logical selves. Advertisers know this of course, so they spend huge amounts of time and money marketing their products in ways that appeal to our emotions and subconscious mind.
So how do the three methods work
Taking each in turn:
Product Endorsement
This is possibly the most up-front and honest method. Quite simply, a product is endorsed by a well known figure