I'll be the first one to argue that advertisements have no bearing on how me personally as a consumer. I will admit to watching numerous hours of television as a child and being exposed to the billion dollar industries of brand development. I have been making these claims for years but only through reading this recent article that we were assigned did I really contemplate the truth of my assertions.
The article more or less dives into the neurological aspect of commerical consumption by people today; "the amygdala, the hippocampus and the hypothalamus are dynamic switchboards that shape the decisions people make." The brain is entirely responsible for decision making, including the decisions we as consumers make on the types of things we will buy. If the trigger to our decision making lies in our brains, then that is where the marketing wizards of the worlds biggest corporations will aim their advertisements. Sound like brainwashing yet!
If you're not convinced consider this other bit from the LA Times Searching for the Why of Buy. Pepsi and Coke, two of the largest brands on this planet, have been perpetuating their advertisements for decades on the nation's youth. But what we rarely think about is: Pepsi and Coke are the same thing! They are like the article said, "based on a single sensory theme: sugar and water." So why do people ever get in the habit of buying coke rather than pepsi or visa versa, when despite minor taste differences, they are essentially the same thing. Unfortunately, this compulsion to buy a certain way boils down to one thing and one thing only, ads. Reading this LA times article has made me less adament in believing I am immune to advertisement because when I think about it I have numerous brands that I prefer to others. This lead to think why I would ever think I was immune to advertisement when I was clearly not. Are you immune, and do you, after reading this, consider advertisement to be a socially acceptable form of brainwashing?
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