Influence - Advertising

"The secret of my influence has always been that it has remained secret."
                                                                                                         -Salvador Dali

Very simple quote. The secret to powerful influence is in its subtlety. If people realize that they're being influenced they are much more likely to ignore the message, or even lash against the attempted manipulator. True influence slips through the outer barrier and into a person's subconscious. Advertisers know this and have experimented countless times to do so with mixed results.

My favourite quote from The Persuaders was:

"They are the ones who make clutter. They are therefore also the ones who are always trying desperately to "break through the clutter." That's the line you always hear in ad agencies, "We can break through the clutter with this." Well, every effort to break through the clutter is just more clutter."

It quickly and concisely portrays the "white noise" effect of influence. Companies are always trying to find that element to give them the competitive edge. Something that will not only catch your attention, but mesmerize you.

A message that transcends words.

We witnessed the evolution as words like "delicious" or "bright" lost meaning and brands were forced to use their commercials to convey the feeling behind the product. Subtly placing them in movies, while even creating narratives surrounding them in television programs. Two more interesting concepts however were Market Guru Rapaille's idea of the "subconscious code" and the idea of "cult worship".

Rapaille's concept was that the human mind is actually quite illogical and that every word; be it coffee, car, or even mother, all have a mental imprint in our minds, forming this mental highway or subconscious code. All one has to do is to break the code and suddenly companies have the key to a vast majority of consumers. It's still a work in progress in some cases, but it ties in with the next idea. "Culthood" is essentially what all companies are striving for. They want their products to not just be an item, but a very lifestyle that they live (such as Linux Users, Apple, WWF fans from the film). It sounds a little far fetched, but combined with Rapaille's code breaking and the concept of cult "branding" will become much more mainstream in the future.


A world where advertisement owns our subconscious...

So if this were to occur, where exactly would this line of thought take us? As said in The Persuaders,

"Once a culture becomes entirely advertising-friendly, it ceases to be a culture at all. It ceases to be a culture worth the name. It has to have the constant mood that shoppers require."               -Mark Miller, New York University

I especially like this analogy because in it the individuals are literally replaced by shoppers. There are only those shaped by advertising. This is dangerous because it means the media will control our definitions of everything. What men are, women, how we should act, speak, the possibilities are limitless. Yes I suppose you could say society already implies such rules for how we should act, but in many ways that's to keep us safe, not in the interest of being used. Telling us whatever will bring in the highest numbers.

The further integration of advertising is unavoidable, along with the messages they send. All we can really do is encourage you to think for yourself. If we really don't like the message put forth by a company than the product needs to be boycotted by the people. This is far from an easy answer, but if the messages of advertising are unavoidable we should really do our best to ensure the messages are those benefiting a culture, not a shopping mall.

Never stop questioning.