How does advertising work?

[pianistclare]

Wow.
Nice to know that people on CAF are mindless and easily influenced.


I do see new products on TV. I might ask friends if they’ve tried such and such.
But I don’t buy unless I NEED. I also don’t buy without reading reviews.
I also don’t buy everything because I can’t afford everything. I don’t go to sleep at night pining away for high priced phones or cars.
That’s just nonsense.
I also don’t think the Geico Gekko is demonic. But if any of y’all feel compelled to buy me a Galaxy phone, you can PM me.
Seriously though,
Ads can be clever, witty, or innovative, even entertaining. But the demonic resides within the psyche of the purchaser, and has already mad a home for himself there.
What a bizarre thread.

 

[Irishmom2]

But the demonic resides within the psyche of the purchaser, and has already mad a home for himself there.
What a bizarre thread.

This is an excellent point! That is what I meant when I said "no, you made yourself do it. "

It is already inside some people’s head and the advertisements are appealing to that part of people, not the other way around as suggested. If “your sin” is lust, those ads will speak to you. If not, they may turn you off to the product and you might make a point of not buying it. Ever. And so on, for all the sins listed. The ad is not the sinner, the person it is targeted at, and that responds with a purchase, may be, however.

 

[Robert_Sock]

Robert, just spotted this at the Vatican website, it might be worth a read:

PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS

ETHICS IN ADVERTISING

vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/pccs/documents/rc_pc_pccs_doc_22021997_ethics-in-ad_en.html

Thanks for that link! It’s a balanced view of advertizing. But what I was trying to get at is the psychology of worldly “want,” which I consider an evil, as did many of the saints.

Let modest love prompt you to lift up your heart to God. Seek only God. Think of nothing else other than God. Keep your mind free of other thoughts. Give no attention to the things of this world.
–The Cloud of Unknowing, Chapter three

We are all worldly to some degree, and this world could not survive without the vast majority being worldly. But it has to do with the depth of our willingness to be worldly, with many of the saints, as well as today’s hermits, such as the Carthusians, who downright reject this world with all their might.

"The death of the just: Death will reach everyone, the good and the bad; but the destiny of each one is quite different. The just man sees himself in this valley of tears as a prisoner, serving a very hard term. He considers himself a slave in this world, suffering an extremely distressing servitude. He regards himself a sailor caught in a horrible storm. And as death means an end of his confinement, an end of his slavery, and is the port of his salvation, he ceases not to cry with David, ‘Woe is me that my sojourning is prolonged!’ (Ps. 119:5)… He ceases not to ask with the Apostle’… Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (Rom. 7:24)”
-The Golden Key to Heaven, by Saint Anthony Mary Claret

And what I’m talking about is Biblical.

“Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man loves the world, the charity of the Father is not in him.”
-1 John 2:15

“Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”
-John 12:25

Few can achieve this state, and again, if everyone did, this world would cease to exist. This is why we are all sinners!

 

[Michael19682]

I’ve been creating ads for too many years to mention. Won a few awards even…
One of the best (and definitely most disturbing) seminars on creating an ad was based on the 7 deadly sins.

1. LUST: It’s what puts the girl in a bikini on the hood of a car at the car show. It’s the guy drinking coca cola outside in the heat (remember that from the 90’s) It’s almost every ad that promotes a sexy car, bike, clothing. Not to mention the perfume ads…
2. GLUTTONY. Any close up “food porn” of a burger on tv … Enough said. Giant Food for giant sin… Oh, but don’t you deserve a break today? Sure you do. Eat 1,800 calories and rest up.
3. GREED. Yes, you deserve an Audi A8. It’s what you deserve. You worked hard for it… Sure you do. buy buy buy buy… The guy with the most toys wins, after all.
4. SLOTH. One of the harder sells out there, I think. Because it’s hard to get a lazy person to actually want to get out and buy something. But then wherever you see something that is “money for nothing…” “It’s easy…” Anything that offers you a two for one…
5. WRATH. Just look at half the election ads.
6. ENVY. One of the strongest emotions to use when selling almost anything.

1. PRIDE. Oh, yeah. That’s her, with her logo on her purse, her coat, her shirt, her shoes. It’s all about who she’s wearing… not who she is.

Anyway, that’s just my two cents worth.

Apparently worth more than 2 cents.

 

[Bob_Crowley]

WIthout getting into the ethics of advertising, I’ll just comment on how invasive it is. It’s everywhere!

On the computer (there’s an CA advert just above where I’m typing), on every book cover, billboard, TV, radio, fridge magnet, newspapers junk mail, on cars and trucks, on road signs, on money (“In God We Trust” - er. I think that’s on the US dollar), on sales dockets, shirts, uniforms, hamburger wraps, stationery, store windows, flashing signs, and everywhere else.

Then there’ll be a documentary on climate change and carbon based pollution. This will be interspersed by be an ad to buy another car to burn up more carbon, or fly to Europe for a holiday, burning thousands of litres of fuel in the process. There’ll be a documentary on health and fitness, followed by a Big Mac on the screen, and an image of someone being in heaven because they’re sucking on an ice block.

At least earlier generations didn’t have to put up with this constant bombardment of their senses to buy stuff. It just never stops. I can see why the Church had the wisdom to create monasteries, where the world does not intrude.