Tricks of brands to manipulate us
Let's
not fool ourselves, companies are prepared to seduce us when we go
shopping. They have studied our brains and they know more than ever
what inspires us when it comes to buying. They use the information to
hide the truth, to manipulate our minds and convince us to buy more
than we need.
For
example, it is pretty common for companies to spray their vegetables
with water to appear more attractive to us or even research how many
bananas should be in one bunch. Even Coca- cola measures how many
bubbles should be shown in their commercials.
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Children
are a top priority for business because 53% of adults use brands they
remember from their childhood. The younger we are when we start using
a brand or a product, the more likely we will continue to use it in
the future. That's why, at the age of 18, many teenagers receive a
gift from Gillette with the slogan „Welcome to manhood.” Shell,
meanwhile, has an agreement with Lego to make its brand appear
in toys.
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Usually,
companies enjoy activating our most hidden insecurities, such as fear
of germs. The most popular method is called “the purity strip”.
On almost every jar, we see a small piece of paper, holding the lid,
which is a very simple trick assuring the product freshness. In
addition, by unscrewing the jar, we hear that comforting click
(noise) that increases our confidence. This sound, created in a
laboratory, manipulates us. Likewise, hotels use a similar technique
placing a strip of paper on toilet seats and on the bathroom cups to
create the illusion that no one else has used that toilet or drink
from that cup.
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We
all like to think that what we consume is natural. Our irrational
minds are convinced that the products are cooler when they are in a
bed of ice - especially, when the soda or the juice sweats a little.
The cooler machines for drinks intentionally keep the exact low
temperature, just for this sweating to appear on bottles. In the same
way, it is also known that supermarkets have been spraying vegetables
with water for years.
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uploads/2016/12/wet_red_apples_800.jpg
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We
must not forget that one of the secret ingredients of some successful
brands is “desire”. That's what drives us to go to the fridge at
two in the morning or what drives us to devour the whole bag of
chips.
In
short, knowing the tricks that companies use to seduce us, will not
stop us from buying, but it makes us more conscious. And now, we are
ready to raid the mall.
- Are you aware of advertising manipulation?
- Do you think those tricks affect your life?
- Do you know more tricks used by famous brands?
Sources:
„Brandwashed:
Tricks Companies Use to Manipulate Our Minds and Persuade Us to Buy”
by
Martin Lindstrom
Book
Link:
https://books.google.pl/books?id=17op5NDsZBMC&printsec=frontcover&dq=brandwashed&hl=pl&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwivt6ymqZXUAhUH2SwKHbc1C3cQ6AEIJjAA#v=onepage&q=brandwashed&f=false
Unfortunately, currently there are a lot of such tricks. For example TVs shown at the exhibition usually work in a special demonstration mode for this occasion. The image is artificially sharpened, the brightness and contrast set to the maximum, and the looped video is selected to look as good as possible and encourage to buy one. Or placing the bread at the end of the store so customers have to go through the store.
ReplyDeleteHow to defend yourself against these tricks? First of all keep a sober mind and for example before shopping , make a shopping list and do not buy products outside this list. I do not trust sellers and before buying I wonder if this product really is needed to me and is this product worth its price.
Of course I know that brands manipulate. But I didin't know about trick with jar. Personally I check ingredients and price for one kg. You have to be very careful. It maybe interesting infromation for everyone that products from Lidl, Biedron or Auchan are made by the same producers as products of popular brands. It's interesting that not many people know about it. So it's a good idea to read information on products. Why should you pay 3x times more.
ReplyDeleteProducts for animals like "whiskas" are also interesting. Did you know that they have only 2% meat? It's scandal when you look at TV advertisement for example that it is made of chicken. You should read information on product.
Are you aware of advertising manipulation?
ReplyDelete– Yes, I'm aware. Normally, I'm trying to spot them and I don't trust evrything I see. It is said if something looks to good it must not be true.
Do you think those tricks affect your life?
– In some ways. It's more demanding from myself to spot the manipulation. Basically, those kind of little tricks prepared by comapnies are decreasing my trust in them.
Do you know more tricks used by famous brands?
– One, the most famous one. Packs of crisps is always half empty to give you a feeling you buying more for cheap price.
The children are more susceptible to advertising manipulation than adults. I’m aware of their tricks. I’m good with fresh look vegetables. I prefer this view more than foul. Of course I try to read all labels on products and in most cases I choose that which have natural composition. I’m not sure if these tricks affect my life. There are around us so probably we don’t see it and not pay attention.
ReplyDeleteMany shops use special aroma to attract customers. For example in shoes shop you can smell of skin odor. I noticed that many shops use that kind of methods.
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ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I am aware of the manipulation of advertising, so I don't buy anything hastily and check the composition of the product, or the price per kilogram, beacuse this usually deals with manipulation. The tricks of the business are sure to affect my life in some way, I must be more careful and distrustful.
ReplyDeleteProvides a link to the 10 most famous marketing tricks and most probably most of us would agree with the content. For me the most popular trics is "magic 99gr" :)
http://www.forbes.pl/10-najpowszechniejszych-sztuczek-marketingowych,artykuly,192772,1,1,3.html
To start with I agree with your article, big companies want to take control in our lifes and made us to buy products, not only food, but also toys brand new clothes etc. They always that their promoted product has the best "new" condition and it can be use many,many,many times. Also you have some tricks, how to get more knowledge about products.
ReplyDelete1. I'm not aware of manipulation technics, because I often have to use it :) That's why I know how to check product which I want to buy.
2.Sometimes they do, but I'm trying not to be manipulated by companies.
3.Large number of graphics work until product don't look perfectly. Photoshop is working 24/7. And you have to special people, who say something like that: "this product is great you must check it". They got salary from promotion
I think that we live in the world where commercials are everywhere. Big companies are trying to effect on our decisions to buy their products. When the technology is very much developed, companies use BigData to predict want we want to buy. When you google some products on the Internet a few seconds after you have many ads on different pages which encourages us to buy.
ReplyDeleteI know the trick which is use in supermarkets. Why you always have the bakery at the beginning? The smell of fresh bread causes that we want to buy more because we are getting hungry. The other trick use in supermarkets is reorganizing products on shelves. If we are making shopping in the same store, we have to walk through all alleys to find the products which previously was on other place. That causes that we can buy some other products which we even don’t need.
The other trick which is use in big Shopping Centers is music. When a Christmas time is coming we are always hear moody music and always we want to buy more presents to our family.
1. Are you aware of advertising manipulation?
ReplyDeleteOf course yes. There is more and more manipulations... So there is a big risk when you buy something. The best way is to depend on reviews from truested friends.
2. Do you think those tricks affect your life?
Sometimes it makes it harder to make a decision. But mostly I wouldn't depend on adverts. I'm trying to avoid watching them etc.
3. Do you know more tricks used by famous brands?
Manipulating photos and videos by apps like Photoshop. So in result you see totally different product in adverts than in reality.
Are you aware of advertising manipulation?
ReplyDeleteYes, nowadays media focus on methods how developing their business. We could see the difference how media look before developing social media and how they look now. Types of campaign are selected according to the target group. Target group is a society which determined which one buy the most particular product. Reasons, why they buy this particular product may be different. They could depend on the price, political views, product branding, commercial and many other.
Do you think those tricks affect your life?
Yes, but I think that, I am more conscious consumer, because I know this market to a large extent. I am person who, created visual brand image according to their assumptions. Catchy passwords and pictures have a task attract the attention of as many consumers as possible.
Do you know more tricks used by famous brands?
Yes, I know. Sometimes, we do not know how many tricks are used by famous brand as product placement by influencer on their social media profile. Marketing automation which, focused on reminding us of the services we have reviewed recently.
Yes, I’m aware. I think it’s a core of modern marketing. People stay more suspicious, because they know that is the true and how market really works, so ad manipulation must present. What is more advertising manipulation must be very effective to sell something. Nowadays, it’s hard to bring new product. Market is very mature, people are mature. People, I mean consumers. We our kings on market, costumer our lord, isn’t it? I’m not sure if I can call this advertising manipulation, but adverts Polish beer brand „Zywiec” are awesome, even if I don’t like beer, this adverts makes me laugh. Check this one: http://marketingwpigulce.pl/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/zywiec.png. The best one, really. I’m not sure if tricks affect my life. As I said above, this one ad make me interested in product, so maybe other also? I think, my friends should told you I am affected but I think I’m reasonable person, so my answer I so no, I’m not affected. What is more, I don’t have TV, I don’t check ads in the Internet. I have a lot of ad blocker and similar stuff. It’s hard to reach me in field you described. I’m not so interested in marketing, so I don’t know any tricks related with marketing but I’m sure now I am more aware and I do care about this stuff.
ReplyDeleteThanks for an interesting article. This problem is important in our life. On each way companies shows many form of advertisement. I think that probably all of tv productions have a hidden product prezentation - product placment. This is most popular method for financing productions. In UE this type of marketing is partly controlled. Each of product placment should be sign of by specific orange image with label.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunetly, I think that this methods affect for my shopping decisions, but not directly, because I do not watch much tv and other media.
On the other hand I always read labels product in shop. I know what I buy
I think that, polish movies are not good for usage this method. ;)
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=product+placement+klan
Are you aware of advertising manipulation?
ReplyDeleteYes of couse. Some time age I read a lot about sales techniques. The author proposed an experiment where for 20 minutes driving he ordered counts of ads in every form. After a few minutes of driving through the city I have always lost focus, but for these few minutes the number of ads was scary.
Do you think those tricks affect your life?
Honestly I think that yes but if it works in the case when I do not know to what end I want to buy.
Do you know more tricks used by famous brands?
Magazines with photos of models for example Playboy, CKM, Maxime use photoshop to make the model more attractive, the reader is more likely to use the newspaper.
1. I think so. I try not to choose products with commercials. Of course this is not always possible:)
ReplyDelete2. Unfortunately there is a possibility that I do not realize it. As you mentioned, I used to use products from childhood.
3. Yes. You have unlimited time to return like in IKEA. Of course I buy something I do not need, and then I do not want to go and give it back
I'm aware of tricks that big companies use in ads, but I think that I'm resistant to it. On the other hand, I on some training we've got task to open our fridges in the evening and take out products, that we've never seen on tv. When I did it, not much left in my fridge...
ReplyDeletePopular trick, which comes in my mind, is to manipulate volume of the product. For example - on monday you buy 0,5l of milk and on next monday you buy same milk for the same price, but with volume of 0,4l.
I am aware those tricks. But I am open for it.
ReplyDeleteEven if I realized that I am influenced, I will not move back.
It is nice to know what happens, how we are influenced. But I am not afraid of that. I think it is natural. And I am convinced it was also in past, but in less scale.
And It is really funny that somebody believes they are not influenced by ads :)
I am aware of the most known marketing tricks. I've read a couple of articles and watched several documentaries. However, I can bet that salespeople didn't give up and are working on new techniques of luring customers. Therefore, I believe that there are situations when I am deceived by a fancy label or advertisement. Anyway, I try to be an aware customer - I read labels, compare products, check unit prices and don't make a decision under a pressure.
ReplyDeleteSome time ago I watch a documentary where they described that food companies lobbied against a nutrition labelling based on a traffic light symbols. The idea was that most people are familiar what red, yellow and green colours mean. Usually, producers focus on the good features of their products and neglect more harmful ones. For instance, a pudding-like dessert could be an equivalent of a full glass of milk but at the same contains a daily dose of sugar. In this case, the protein level could be labelled green and the level of sugar would be red. But producers were afraid that people would stop buying their products and their income would drop. In the end, we have symbols that are much less clear for a regular customer. Labels present nutrition values per a single portion, but a size of the portion is not unified. Therefore, a frozen pizza that usually is eaten by one person has a label that claims that a package contains servings for four people and nutrition facts present values for a quarter of the pizza. This is misleading.
I work in advertising so I am pretty aware how much the product can get ‘boosted’ by proper treatement. Right sentence, sound or even a right colour can trick people into buying something that they don’t even need at the moment. I often catch myself buying something just because it looked nice on a photo or in a video – I mean, who can resist a can of coke once they hear the sound of ice cubes in a glass that is slowly being filled up with fizzling drink? Add 30 celsius degrees temperature outside to that and the product is sold.
ReplyDeleteThere is tons of examples of ads where we don’t exactly see the product as it is sold in supermarkets.
Let’s start with ice cream – photographers often use mashed potatoes instead of actual frozen dessert – it kind of makes sense since photo sessions can take a lot of time and it would just melt, but then again – isn’t that cheating?
Another one is soap bubbles being used when shooting a perfect cup of coffee – they last longer than a milky foam, so it’s easier to take multiple shots of the product.
The author has raised an interesting point in our daily lives. Ads are valued for our needs, they make us confident that we want to buy a product that we do not need in the end but acts on our "I want it." Tricks can be omitted if we maintain common sense and do not pick up. Even what may be a poor product, it turns the advertising process to change the course of production at a surprising pace. This is a strange feeling and weird to describe it, but yes I feel manipulated.
ReplyDelete1. Yes, I’m fully aware of it. Unluckily being aware and being susceptible are two different things ;) We know a lot about human. We spent a lot of time on researching our body and brain. It’s inevitable that scientific research can be used by business, or even led to meet business needs. Still, I’m not sure if I would use word ‘manipulation’. Commercials do not make us do things we wouldn’t do normally. They way how they affect us is very limited – they just trick us into buying products ;)
ReplyDelete2. Life? No. Buying decisions? Yes.
3. I don’t know which companies use which tricks to make us buy their products, however I know that a lot depends on how the products is presented to us. We prefer to buy nicely packed things, with design that attracts our attention. We tend to believe that if product looks nicer and is packed in a better way it’s more valuable and better quality. We also pay attention to the brand. Once we chose one brand and product works out well, most probably next time when we will be making decision between known and unknown brand, we are going to choose the one with which we have some positive experience. That’s why companies invest a lot of money into brand awareness.
ReplyDeleteToday everything is advertising manipulation.
1. typical television commercials - beautiful young woman advertises anti-wrinkle creams?
Eggs without gmo - older grandmother is advertising eggs. Happy hen carrying cheerful eggs! On the other hand the package is written "eggs from caged hens" ... this is the peak of manipulation and rude to me!
The second, the biggest manipulation is the internet. Popular celebrities, vlogs on youtube get co-branded and they recommend their products for money, they pretend that they really like these products - and they really got them for free or got money for it! We must be vigilant and do not believe the people advertising the products, but read the labels carefully on the products!
Yes, I know about advertising manipulation. Every time I go shopping, I try to purchase only necessary things. I am not able to answer the question whether advertising tricks influence my life. In order to provide an answer, I would have to spend a month in the world without advertisements. My account balance at the end of the month would be the answer to such a question.
ReplyDelete1. Are you aware of advertising manipulation?
ReplyDeleteI am trying to avoid manipulation but I am not sure if I do it well.
2. Do you think those tricks affect your life?
Yes, I think that I lot of tricks affect my life, mainly unconsciously.
3. Do you know more tricks used by famous brands?
Yes, for example BOGO which means buy one get one free.
It sounds good because you think that you will get one thing free but first ofl all you have to pay more than product is worth. Another problem with buy one get one free is that often times you do not need the second item.