How Did Advertising Get So Manipulative?
1950s
- the world was much different than today
- a time when advertising started to get serious and ad companies started using new ideas to “work people over”
A Couple of Preconditions
- in order to know how ads changed in the 50s, it helps to know a bit about that time
- Post World War II – people were in shell-shock over that war, people were still afraid to spend money and be wasteful, people were used to saving and being resourceful
- After those years of being thrifty, people weren’t spending and this was a problem, so thought the gov’t and corporations
- The economy works on spending by the people – if they don’t buy, the economy stalls – after the war, the gov’t wanted to get things rolling, keep the economy strong
- Advertising became a way of making the people buy stuff to get the economy moving
Another precondition
- technology was starting to boom in the 50s
- list a few things: TV, early computers, many kitchen appliances, cars, vacuums, stuff that was handy and household, etc
- stuff that makes life easier and more modern feeling
Last precondition
- Baby Boomers – this is a big point
- 1947 – 1961 – a HUGE boom in births
- these kids were born into a world that was much different than previous times – more tech, more leisure, more fun, more everything
Advertising starts to use the tools of science and some tricks from psychology warfare
Rosser Reeves – a key figure in advertising
- he work in New York on ads for TV
- he told people who worked for him – “get in debt – buy everything you want or think is awesome – get so deeply in debt that you can bear it, and then work your guts out to pay it all back”
- this was his recipe for success
- who does this actually benefit?
- This benefits everyone BUT you ad your family
- This is what the companies want you to do
- Brainwashing – people were being told “this” is what you want and people were believing it (this could have been anything)
- Ads started selling lifestyle instead of a product – selling an idea (like we’ve discussed)
- They started doing something tricky to your mind – messing with the human reward system (endorphin release)
- Create a way of paying the reward system with something besides food, love, sex, etc
- companies started giving us these reward buffsfor doing stuff that actually rewarded THEM – example buying stuff
- How many people feel a surge of pleasure when they buy something?
- How many people then feel let down when that is over?
- Companies came up with a way of creating need in people – confusing WANTS with NEEDS
- Fashion is a created need – style is a created need – we don’t need these things
- Pants that are “in style’ are called that by the people that make the pants
- They started to manipulate deep human needs that are inarguable – they take advantage of science and psychology and things like Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs – they hook their products and ads to those needs and we fall for it
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