THE PERSUADERS comments

What I learned from THE PERSUADERS:

1.The persuasion industry researched cults and found correlations between people who joined cults and people who joined “product cults”. Consumers buy certain brands to feel like they belong and to make meaning for themselves.

2.Advertising has gone beyond telling the consumer the purpose of the product to creating a meaning or experience that is elicited by using the product. For example, when we put in our iPod earbuds we are able to see ourselves as the silhouettes in the advertisements.

3.In order to “break though the clutter” and combat technology such as TiVo, advertisers seek out ways in which TV shows and movies can not only incorporate their products, but actually build story lines around them.

4. Luntz researches the language that strikes consumers and voters emotions. He said that consumers think about what they hear about 20%, while their emotions take up 80% of their reaction to what they hear.

5.Rather than being one unified nation of Americans with one goal for the common good, the persuaders have created about 70 different demographics of people, plus subcategories, all of whom are focused on their individual wants and needs.

Question: How do we as consumers determine if we truly want or need the things we buy or if we only think we want these things because we have been targeted by the persuaders?