{"id":940,"date":"2012-09-24T14:13:09","date_gmt":"2012-09-24T08:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/teekhapan.wordpress.com\/?p=940"},"modified":"2012-09-24T14:13:09","modified_gmt":"2012-09-24T08:43:09","slug":"women-are-easily-persuaded-by-romantic-ads-men-respond-to-sexual-innuendo-and-women-in-bikini","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vivekkaul.com\/2012\/09\/24\/women-are-easily-persuaded-by-romantic-ads-men-respond-to-sexual-innuendo-and-women-in-bikini\/","title":{"rendered":"Women are easily persuaded by romantic ads\u2026 Men respond to sexual innuendo and women in bikini"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nWhat\u2019s the first word recognised by most kids all over the world? No it\u2019s not Mum! Or Dad for that matter \u201cDonald \u2013 a variation of McDonald\u2019s is the word. In fact the word beats even the most simple (and emotional word): Mom,\u201d says brand guru\u00a0Martin Lindstrom<\/strong>. \u201cTrue, most 18-month-old babies cannot physically articulate the word \u2018McDonald\u2019s\u2019, but what they can do is recognise the fast-food chain\u2019s red and yellow colours, roofline, golden arches and logo. Then they can jab their chunky little fingers at a McDonald\u2019s from the backseat of a car,\u201d he writes in his new bookBrandwashed \u2013 Tricks Companies Use to Manipulate Our Minds and Persuade Us to Buy.\u00a0<\/em>Such is the power of brands. In this interview to\u00a0Vivek Kaul<\/strong>, Lindstrom talks about In the thorny issue of consumer manipulation and gives a full-frontal expos\u00e9 of the wanton trickery employed by many conglomerates, iconic brands included, to squeeze money out of their loyal customers.
\nExcerpts:
\nTo what extent can companies go to engineer desire to get us to buy things?\u00a0<\/strong>
\nThere\u2019s a fundamental difference between creating a need and activating a need \u2013 in my books I do not believe it is possible to create a need simply because it is against our instinctual behaviour \u2013 instead I believe it\u2019s all about \u201cactivating a need\u201d i.e. a fundamental need we all have \u2013 and thus which can be fulfilled in a new way. Our basic need is to be entertained \u2013 justifying the existence of the iPod, our fundamental need is to be stimulated \u2013 justifying the need for computer games etc.
\nCould you explain that in a little detail?\u00a0<\/strong>
\nSo when we talk about engineering needs I think it is fair to say it is more a matter of engineering new ways of fulfilling pre-existing needs. Needs can be activated in many ways. The typical tools of persuasion would be fear, guilt, aspiration, sex etc. Close to 45% of all advertising in the U.S. today either is based on fear, guilt or sex \u2013 fear of not belonging to our group, fear of losing our jobs or fear of death, deceases or theft. Guilt of being overweight, not looking good, not cooking a meal for our kids (simply because we don\u2019t have these cooking skills any longer etc) etc. A lot of communication these days press those buttons \u2013 like fuelling the idea of you attracting some disease, or the fear of witnessing some stranger breaking into your home.
\nAn example of fear being used to sell us something that is a hand sanitiser. Why have we welcomed the hand sanitisers into our lives as a cheap, everyday, utterly essential staple, even though they are not very useful?
\n<\/strong>After the release of SARS followed by swine-flue in 2003 and 2008 we\u2019ve witnessed an amazing uptake of hand-sanitising products. What\u2019s ironic is that none of those products \u2013 such as Purell actually do any better job than soap and water \u2013 however we\u2019ve led to believe it is the case. The companies has done a extraordinary job in building their brands on the back of the fear created by those global viruses \u2013 indicating that we\u2019ll be safe using these brands \u2013 once we\u2019ve begun using these \u2013 this habit will stay for life. The ironic side of the story however is that the life expectancy in Japan is decreasing for the first time in history \u2013 why \u2013 because the country simply have become too clean \u2013 the Japanese have weakened their immune system as a result of overuse of hand sanitising products.
\nHow and why has fear mongering become a favoured tactic of the marketers?
\n<\/strong>Because we\u2019re all hardwired to be seduced by fear \u2013 fear is the number one soft button in our brain \u2013 it is a survival instinct. Fear is used by most insurance companies and even Colgate who claimed in one ad that they could remove the risk of cancer by the usage of their toothpaste.\u00a0You talk about how certain websites rewiring our brains to get us hooked on the act of shopping and buying. Could you explain this in detail with an example?
\n<\/strong>Rewiring is a big word \u2013 that said some websites indeed are designed to hook us \u2013 an example would be the count-down-clock on Amazon.com \u2013 which kicks in during the Holiday Season \u2013 and begin ticking the minute you\u2019ve landed on the site \u2013 this gives you a sense of urgency \u2013 pushes the dopamine levels in your brain and result in you acting more irrational (or emotional). In the future we\u2019ll see more and more sites based on gaming concepts \u2013 i.e. encouraging us to participate, earn points or in some cases secure access to products before everyone else.
\nOne of the interesting things that you write in Brandwashed is that \u201cOur brand and product preferences are pretty firmly embedded in us by the age of seven\u2026I\u2019d even go so far to suggest that some of the cleverest manufacturers in the world are at work trying to manipulate our taste preferences even earlier than that. Much earlier. Even before we\u2019re even born.\u201d Is it really so?
\n<\/strong>Before I even was born I fell victim to this very phenomena as my mom and dad danced every evening to their favourite Bossa Nova (a well-known style of Brazilian music developed and popularised in the 1950s and 1960) song. The day I was born the record player dropped on the floor and broke in to pieces \u2013 as a result it never played again \u2013 and never played from the very day I was born. Ironically I love Bossa Nova \u2013 and have done so from the first day I was born my mom and dad, tell me.
\nSo what is the point you are trying to make?
\n<\/strong>Based on numerous experiments we today know that what mothers eat and listen to during pregnancy affects their un-born babies \u2013 this is the principal some companies are tapping into.
\n<\/strong>Kopiko in the Philippines is a scary example of how far this can go \u2013 the manufacturer has for decades been known for its coffee candy \u2013 yet recently they entered the coffee market. Their technique to enter the market was to hand out free Kopiko coffee infused candy to pedestrians and doctors for them to give to pregnant mothers. Today Kopiko is one of the leading coffee brands \u2013 a position they\u2019ve secured within only very few years.
\nYou write that \u201cin general women tend to more easily persuaded by ads that are more romantic than sexual\u2026 Men, on the other hand, respond to sexual innuendo and women in bikini.\u201d Can you explain this in some detail through examples?
\n<\/strong>Women prefer to be able to continue the storyline \u2013 men prefer to see the end of the storyline \u2013 sex can play a major role in both scenarios \u2013 yet the role of sex would have to change in order to stimulate us accordingly.
\nWhat is the ultimate male fantasy? How did Unilever use it to make the Axe brand?
\n<\/strong>A man sitting in a hot-top-spa with two naked ladies on each side \u2013 popping a bottle of Champagne. Unilever, the manufacturer of AXE discovered this very observation based on thousands of interviews and observations of men worldwide \u2013 realizing that this very fantasy indeed seems global \u2013 and today explaining why AXE uses this very imagination as the foundation for all their ads.
\nYou talk about the migration of the male consumer into a traditional female arena is overturning the rules of marketing and advertising. Can you explain that through examples?
\n<\/strong>Cosmetics is a great example \u2013 until recently men wouldn\u2019t dare even thinking about buying a moisturiser. Today it\u2019s different. This is far from a coincidence \u2013 the world\u2019s leading cosmetics companies has for years pushed this trend, by educating men to activate the need for beauty and cleanness. Unilever educated the man to liquid soap (due to cost saving reasons) in the shower in the U.S. something men avoided as they couldn\u2019t cope with the idea of touching their own body in the shower \u2013 something they felt was too feminine. The way to justify this change \u2013 the introduction of a washing device which would separate the guys hand from the body. And P&G separated the aisles of cosmetics \u2013 so that men would have one section far away from the women \u2013 ensuring that they wouldn\u2019t be shy buying a cream.
\nYou point out that people get addicted onto brands in two stages, the routine stage and the dream stage. Could you discuss this in detail?
\n<\/strong>Routine \u2013 means daily duties \u2013 i.e. using the iTunes service on our iPod, while watching movies on our iPod streamed from our iTV is easy, because we don\u2019t have to think \u2013 we just plug and play \u2013 it\u2019s a routine. The dream stage is when a brand allows us to dream \u2013 or disappear into a dream. Let\u2019s say that you went to Ibiza in Spain for the holiday \u2013 you had great fun, drank a lot of Red Bull\u2019s and then return back to the grey-everyday-life. Once you see the Red Bull brand again \u2013 in your everyday life you feel the brand helps you to escape back to this dream world \u2013 the life you had for just 1 week but which \u201ckind of\u201d can be extended by drinking a Red Bull.
\nHow do companies activate our cravings to get us to buy food products?
\n<\/strong>In many ways \u2013 by among other adding bubbles (or sweat as they call it) onto the cans and bottles \u2013 the more bubbles the more craving. Or by playing the sound of a cola being poured into a glass with ice (the worlds 5th<\/sup>\u00a0most craving generating sound) or by adding many chips on the front of a snack package \u2013 the more chips the more we believe there\u2019s in the bag \u2013 the more craving we generate.
\n\u00a0\u201cPeer pressure delivers a windfall for brands and companies,\u201d you write. Could you explain that in detail through some examples?
\n<\/strong>The entire social media space is heaven for brands as it allows to fuel peer pressure \u2013 and do it fast. Numerous studies show that this is incredible powerful including the $3 million study I did for my latest book Brandwashed where we realised that it only takes 5 people to convince 195 people to do the same. Pear pressure is everywhere from the recent release of iPhone 5 (I feel embarrassed running around with a iPhone 4) to fashion (you simply can\u2019t wear that tie from two years ago \u2013 it is too old-fashioned) to cigarette smoking.
\nWhat is a perceived justification symbol?
\n<\/strong>It\u2019s a way to convert intangible stuff into tangible stuff \u2013 to make the invisible benefit become visible. Let\u2019s take the dishwashing tablet \u2013 it has a white, blue level and a red dot \u2013 indicating the powerful magical clean button. The reality is that it\u2019s all the same but we get a sense of that something \u201cblack box\u201d stuff is happening \u2013 cleaning our plates. Another example is Duracell\u2019s power meter \u2013 which helps us to measure how much battery power there\u2019s left in the battery. Why is this a genius idea? Because consumers fundamentally believe that batteries hanging in the store looses power \u2013 and thus by installing such device \u2013 a PJS we\u2019ll be convinced otherwise.
\nWhy does nostalgia marketing work well in uncertain economic times?
\n<\/strong>It gives us certainty, comfort and creates a framework of safety around us. Studies show that we indeed recall past memories in a more positive light that present memories \u2013 this phenomena is called Rosy Memories and is used by many brands including Pepsi\u2019s recent Throwback \u2013 a replicate of the old Pepsi recipe and pack design to Coke\u2019s re-play of \u201cI want to teach the world to sing\u201d.
\nCan a famous face really have that much of an impact on how we spend our money? Are we human beings that na\u00efve?
\n<\/strong>We all need leaders around us \u2013 in today\u2019s world where fewer countries have royal families as leaders, where politicians are failing \u2013 celebrities becomes our leaders of our time. We\u2019re hardwired to be seduced by such leaders even though we know they might not be real \u2013 kind of like some people knock-on-wood for good luck \u2013 despite the fact that they very well know it has no effect.
\n(The article originally appeared in the Daily News and Analysis on September 24, 2012.\u00a0http:\/\/www.dnaindia.com\/money\/interview_romantic-ads-seduce-women-men-fall-for-sexual-innuendo_1744404<\/a>)
\n(Interviewer Kaul is a writer. He can be reached at\u00a0vivek.kaul@gmail.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What\u2019s the first word recognised by most kids all over the world? No it\u2019s not Mum! Or Dad for that matter \u201cDonald \u2013 a variation of McDonald\u2019s is the word. In fact the word beats even the most simple (and emotional word): Mom,\u201d says brand guru\u00a0Martin Lindstrom. \u201cTrue, most 18-month-old babies cannot physically articulate the … <\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"qubely_global_settings":"","qubely_interactions":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,23,43],"tags":[370,529,1244,1516,2233,2255,2715,3232,3313],"qubely_featured_image_url":null,"qubely_author":{"display_name":"Vivek Kaul","author_link":"https:\/\/vivekkaul.com\/author\/vivekkaul\/"},"qubely_comment":0,"qubely_category":"Branding<\/a> Daily News and Analysis<\/a> Interview<\/a>","qubely_excerpt":"What\u2019s the first word recognised by most kids all over the world? No it\u2019s not Mum! Or Dad for that matter \u201cDonald \u2013 a variation of McDonald\u2019s is the word. In fact the word beats even the most simple (and emotional word): Mom,\u201d says brand guru\u00a0Martin Lindstrom. \u201cTrue, most 18-month-old babies cannot physically articulate the…","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vivekkaul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/940"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vivekkaul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vivekkaul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vivekkaul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vivekkaul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vivekkaul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/940\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vivekkaul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vivekkaul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vivekkaul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}