When Corps Manipulate Us Into Buying An Item-Do Consumers Really WANT It?

Corporations have professional market researchers who figure out what designs/features will subconsciously manipulate people into buying an item. This goes into both product development when they're working on the design/contents and then advertising later on.

Corps say they are giving us what we want, but in reality they artificially produce demand.

SUV's are a prime example. The grills, wheel hubs and large size were all very specifically designed with input from psychological experts who chose design features especially for appeal to the aggressive, reptilian brain. Never mind these vehicles are gas guzzlers, less safe for their owners and deadly to OTHER drivers. A big reason people buy these autos is because of the subconscious manipulation that leads them to think it was desirable.

Fast and Junk food is another example. Even though the food is ultra sweet, salty and fatty and tastes like chemicals... Corps start advertising to children. And once you've begun eating that stuff, you become addicted (it produces chemical reaction in brain)and also unable to eat regular food because it seems bland & tasteless in comparison.

Tobacco is also a great example. Corps knew their product killed and caused disease, but added extra nicotine and chemicals to keep the cigarettes burning and people lighting up... and advertised to kids (Joe Camel) while denying their products, as knowingly designed, were harmful.

Are corporations giving us what we want or taking advantage of us with advertising?

Should they be held accountable for their advertising and the deleterious effect of their products?

Should they be allowed advertise to children?

Lawsuits against Fast Food Corps are coming down the pike. DU'ers need to think twice before dismissing them as a case of "personal responsibility".

These corps spend millions annually not just to sell their products... they spend to make us WANT their products even when it's not good for us... and they spend to make it seem their products are absolutely necessary and acceptable.

not everyone is influenced by their marketing schemes so it's not that diabolical. Some poeple are just mre sheeplike and think they need all those things. Pampered nation

are subject to subconsious manipulation sometime.

yet I cant gt with the subconscious manipulation bit just yet, especially on the car aspect. Exactly what part of our subconcious drives us to purchase SUV's?
That fast food and drugs such as nicotine can become addictive I've no doubt especially when introduced to children at young ages. Yet the parents still have to take responsibility for the well being of their kids, I don't find that 100% satisfactry either knowing how many parents out there aren't educated enough to know better or wrse yet, just dont give a shit but it's a reality. Corporations are only as powerful as their pockets are deep, people quit buying what they are selling then they got nothing.

When you see an ad for a car, they're not selling you a mode of transportation, they're selling you values we all cherish. For example, for a ride targeted at moms: a safe ride, a happy brood of children, a sense of responsibility and accomplishment, good living, emotional security. For the guys who like trucks: ruggedness, virility, independence, freedom to go anywhere, living large, blabla. And the U.S. obesity epidemic: People don't eat to feed their bodies, they eat to feed their emotions. And clothing: It's not because it just keeps you warm - it also hopefully makes you desirable and feel good about yourself.

I'm not saying all people are influenced to the same degree by this crap but the more you're aware of the intentions and manipulations of the media, the less vulnerable you are to it.

"... the more you're aware of the intentions and manipulations of the media, the less vulnerable you are to it."

I totally agree but don't advocate punishing companies unless they actually misled the public and harm was done. Making someone think they will be more comfortable in a new car or that it might make them feel more rugged is just appealing to their ego and if they think they are more macho for driving a 4x4 then both parties got what they wanted.

There are some companies I like because they treated me nicely. Like Apple. I've been veeeeeery impressed by them so far! Ditto with a lot of smaller companies.

Sprint, on the other hand, should be thrown into a pit to rot.

always has been, always will be . . .

or contributes to skyrocketing diabetes?

as long as the product will turn a profit, they will try to create demand for it . . . and worry about the repercussions later . . .

It's the sheep who haven't been "enlightened" that fall for the corporate psy-ops barrage.

I for one have no desire to go to Mickey D's a wolf down a few Big Macs, buy a 6,000 lb. 8 mpg SUV, or go get the latest iPod, XBox 360 at my local Wal-Mart.

we all have blindspots... and at some point in all our lives, we've responding unthinkingly to something and relied on info subconsciously fed into us.

The so-called 'science' of Marketing has crept into almost every aspect of our lives. Fact is, human minds are far more easily swayed than we care to admit, especially when the stakes do not seem very high (such as when you're shopping for something, etc...).

Also, realize that the exact same techniques used to sell soap are now used to sell candidates and policy agendas. In fact, nowdays it's often the same marketing firms selling BOTH soap and candidates. In addition, marketing techniques are becoming far more similar to classic 'brainwashing' techniques -- ie., 1) Make a person believe they are in peril (of WMD or bad breath or loss of self-esteem) 2) Provide a 'solution' to the 'problem' created by step one -- and of course that solution is their product or candidate. Most military/interrogative 'mind control' techniques are based upon these simple two steps.

So, yes -- They DO 'make' us want to buy their products, even if they aren't good for us. It doesn't work on everyone, but it's a rare person who doesn't end up with some effect from the 24/7 barrage of marketing assailing us.

I started publishing a surfing magazine and promoting surf contests. It was all about marketing. Making sure we had hot bikini babes as hostesses, because that is what that "market" responded to. ("Responded to" = would open their wallets for). In the eighties, I worked my only corporate job, for the nation's second largest women's clothing retailer. I wrote and designed the manuals telling store personnel how to "sell," how to compliment the customer, how to suggest clothing which flattered her figure. I only last there for four 1/2 years, then moved on to work for myself as a creative consultant for a couple Fortune Fifty companies. I developed a line of recycled paper products back when that stuff was hot, because that is what people responded to. I could give you a dozen other examples. But, there is a give and take. Often, we marketers can CREATE a market where none existed. Like coming up with a cool new product, like an iPod. A great product creates a market. Often, a horrible product creates a market, too. Chia Pets. Talking wall-mounted bass. Products better left on the drawing board.

But one thing we marketers know is that there are http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2119rank.html">295,734,134 potential customers in this country, and most of them have a few bucks they're just waiting to spend on something new and cool. If we only responded to "needs," you'd see nothing in stores but basic food and clothing. People also have WANTS, though. Sometimes we create those wants. If we create the right "wants" we make a shitload of money.

It's when we get so greedy that we start caring more about the profit than the customer when things go awry. And that is the problem with our current capitalist society. We don't answer or respond to the customers, we answer and respond to the shareholders of the corporations selling the shit we're marketing.

And here's the crazy part...selling shares of stock to people is also just MARKETING. Why do you think every commercial on Cabal News is for a brokerage house? It's just another market. It's a viscous cycle. Marketing generates the money which keeps the machine going. If a company starts to make less money than they did the previous quarter, we panic and call them "failing." It is an unsustainable pyramid. Perhaps it just at that point where the Ponzi scheme is about to collapse.

Aren't you glad you asked?

A very interesting read. And that's why you can go to the poorest areas in the U.S. and find people with big-screen TVs and satellite dishes but no money for decent food.

marketing area myself :)

When we were kids, you had to melt your own wax :D

And, IIRC, the first commercially available wax was "Mr. Zog's Sex Wax"... now there's some great marketing right there.

Another brand that seems lurking in my memory is Lightning Bolt?

Honestly, I'd love to hear more about your experiences.

It's a real eye-opener. Catch it on DVD, or wait for Sundance to run it.

Trailer
http://www.independentmediasource.com/video_p3.htm

The movie site
http://www.thecorporation.com/

C-o-r-p-s is a word. If you use it you're talking about a drum corps, the Marine Corps, or maybe the Corps of Engineers, but don't use it to talk about corporations.

Neither a group of drummers, the Marine Corps, or the Corps of Engineers, should have to share their moniker w/ the likes of corporations.

Sheessh, how low can you get.

As for marketing and corporations ... they can do what they like. It is a free enterprise and they can use whatever images needed to stir emotions and get people to buy their product.

However, if they're using misleading facts or straight up lies then the government should be there to hold them accountable. In Shrub's world that doesn't happen, and corportations are not only getting a get out of jail free card, they're not even going to jail in the first place.

Sure, corporate violations are down ... if you cut back the money going to fund the agencies that investigate and you fill the government w/ cronies. What the fuck does anyone think is going to happen?

No investigations, no or very few inspections, and currupt inspectors = we're fucked.

In history class we used to read about the old snake oil salesmen and how that was gone because companies are held to standards. Well ... guess what? Good bye standards ... welcome back snake oil salesmen.

While there's already enough of this going on w/ herbal remedies and such, get set for this to take place all over the board. The cont. race to the bottom.

Sad.

It has been proven time and again that watching television elevates your alpha waves, putting you into a light hypnotic trance. And when a person is put into such a trance, they are more suseptible to doing things that they normally wouldn't do. That's where the brainwashing aspect comes in. Joe Blow is laid out on the couch, brain parked in hypnosis, and he is sold, sold sold crap that he neither needs nor desires, but still has this weird urge to go out and buy anyway. And it works, all to well.

Another reason why the RW echo chamber works so well, Fox News hits people when they're entranced, and then the people will believe the most outrageous shit.

As the saying goes, TV shows are just the filler between the real action, the ads. That is what TV is all about, sell, sell, sell to the entranced masses.

As well as The Corporation.

Century of the Self is by the same guy who made The Power of Nightmares (which is required viewing!).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/century_of_the_self.shtml
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/persuaders/

If you have broadband and can download torrents, they are both available at chomskytorrents.org

I'd have to go home and get the book, but my wife had a "Consumer Psychology" class as an elective in college and she kept the textbook.

While she was in college as long ago as i was, there is an interesting study in there that i've never forgotten.

The gist of it was that no amount of advertising could ever get you to buy anything you didn't need or want. The purpose of good advertising was to get you to choose their brand AFTER YOU HAD ALREADY MADE YOUR OWN DECISION that you needed or wanted something.

In other words, i've never stopped at Taco Bell because of the commercials if i wasn't hungry or wasn't in the mood for a cheap taco. But, if i AM hungry and already decided i'm stopping for fast food, the commercial might get me to think "Hey, i might as well stop at Taco Bell."

This was, per the textbook, and very extensive and scholarly study, but since i don't have her old textbooks here in my office, i can't cite it right now. But, i'll try to find it if anybody wants to know.
The Professor