Baraka_Guru

I occasionally hear people say, "I'm not influenced by advertising" or, "Ads don't influence my decisions." I can't recall anyone ever actually admitting to being influenced by advertising. The greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world that he doesn't exist. Well, the greatest trick the advertising industry ever played was convincing consumers that they are independent decision-makers.

I have studied adverting from a psychological perspective. Marketing departments around the world spend millions of dollars understanding human psychology and how to tap into it. It's even a pretty big research industry in itself finding out the best way to influence children into taking action, whether it's directly or indirectly through parents. There are decades of research. There are decades of trial and error, finding out what makes consumers tick, what makes them buy.

Sure consumers get increasingly sophisticated, but so do marketers. There's a ton of money to be made; it's only natural.

The wider issue of separating fantasy from reality in the media is another matter entirely.

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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot