23 March 2007
A Casualty in the War of Desire
(trying out dramatic, flamboyant titles. It just makes me want to set myself on fire, though.)
Today, we begin with a question (you could even call it, “The Question of the Day” if you like):
To what extent are you a victim of marketing?
Perhaps this is a negative way of asking such a question. I mean, it assumes the answer is no before even getting around to the point of the question. I’m not trying to be overly cynical, I just know that we all are being influenced by something that we probably would rather not be influenced by.
How do I know this? Consider this quote:
“Realizing viewers automatically enter a trance state while watching television, marketers began designing commercials that produce unconscious emotional states or moods within the viewer. The aim of commercials is not to appeal to the rational or conscious mind (which usually dismisses advertisements) but rather to implant moods that the consumer will associate with the product when it is encountered in real life. When we see product displays at a store, for instance, those positive emotions are triggered.” from Television - Opiate of the Masses (article discusses the studies that well-document the ‘trance state’ this quote mentions)
Summarized: when you zone out watching TV, advertisers are screwing around with your subconscious. Taken a step further, they are attempting to implant desire in you for their product.
Maybe I’m just kind of dense, but this type of activity pisses me off. When it comes to messing around with my subconscious and desires, I’d like to think that happens very rarely. Perhaps I’m just too naive. I have enough jacked up desires as it is, like I really need some new ones for product _____.
More to the point, desire is the fuel for passion. I want to be passionate about the things I care about and that God cares about (hopefully those things will line up, huh :P). NOT about popular soda brands, types of cars, or laundry detergent.
In an attempt to be helpful and practical, I’m going to run through the various forms of consumer advertising and what you can do to limit your exposure to it.
- Television - TiVo. MythTV. iTunes Store. DVDs. BitTorrent (ahoy matey!). We live in an age where its trivially easy to see media with little-or-no ads. It may not seem as convinient as flippin’ on the TV, but then neither is buying abunch of crap you didn’t actually want or need. In fact, if you only watch certain shows each week, it can be a whole lot cheaper than a cable bill to use iTunes.
- Internets - This one is easy. Download this program: Firefox, use it, and then pick up this extension for Firefox: Adblock Plus. (both of these are free). Adblock Plus maintains a list of the vast majority of internet advertisers in the world, and automatically removes the ads from the pages you browse.
- Print - I don’t get exposed to this one too often, but suffice to say that many magazines and newspapers are now online and can be viewed from there. I’m also not fully convinced that this form of advertising is nearly as powerful as video is.
- Other (product placement in shows/video games, billboards) - Unless you live in a cave, you will be subject to advertising quite abit in this country. There’s very little overt blocking you can do about some forms of it.
That’s enough pontificating for one day, I think.
Marketing is not a multi-billion dollar industry by accident, and brilliant people are paid top $ to get their brand name or ad to your eyes in new and creative ways (commercials in the movie theater, anyone?). Feel free to share any comments regarding you pwning some marketer’s ploy or new places ads are popping up.
4 Comments currently posted.
Nicholas says:
Kennan says:
I don’t think that marketing is inherently evil. I would like to suggest that there may be a deeper issue here than the marketing. I really like the quote you use, but the alarming part of it to me is not the marketing. It is that, “viewers automatically enter a trance state while watching television.” This seems to be a much larger problem (particularly for Christians who should filter everything of which we partake with the Spirit and the Word). That marketers take advantage of this is not commendable, but I don’t think that marketing (the public expression of views about a product, idea, etc. with the intent to persuade) is inherently evil. Don’t our blogs employ a form of marketing on that level; we seek to persuade people of the value of our ideas via our words? The rhetoric Paul employs when contextualizing the gospel to the Athenians (Acts 17:16-34) could also be considered marketing. I don’t disagree that we should guard ourselves from the abuse of marketing, but let us not make the mistake of throwing the baby out with the bath water as so many of us in the Church are fond of doing.
Eric says:
Thanks for stopping by, Kennan.
Your comment got me to think, which is always a good thing.
I think that marketing’s intent is to persuade, but only in a limited context - the context of purchasing whatever is being marketed. Our blogs attempt to persuade, but very rarely do they attempt to sell anything. define: marketing on Google
Secondly, I would say I was throwing the baby out with the bathwater had I advocated completely removing ourselves from the influence of any type of media whatsoever. Very rarely is marketing of products, especially consumer products, of any benefit to us, believer or otherwise. We have everything we need as far as stuff goes, and more will very, very rarely make us a better person, happier, or able to live with greater ease.
Anyway, perhaps you’re right that I am a bit too hard on the field of marketing, and verbally assaulting all the bad marketers along with the good.
jessica says:
there is a pretty good frontline episode on this topic you can actually watch online … http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/view/
I know you talk a lot about money. . . so when I saw this clip I thought I would pass it along. . .
http://www.pistolwimp.com/media/41738/