The Persuaders

The Future

I think that it is safe to say that we as a society are headed into a world of completely seamless advertising; to the point where we are not sure what’s marketing and what’s reality. Advertisers are being forced into other avenues of advertising by the technological advances in avoiding ads. The more people try to get away from advertisements, the more advertisers are having to think of innovative ways to sell products. If we are forcing advertisers into other venues there is no limit to what marketers will take over. Soon we will not be able to separate reality from persuasive media.

Product placement is becoming more and more common as people avoid commercials with inventions such as TiVo and DVR. But, every time we avoid a commercial, there is another one waiting for us in an unexpected location. Subways, Times Square, buses, the internet, movies, television shows, novels, magazine articles, newspapers, etc are all ways for advertisers to penetrate the consumer’s thoughts without them being able to change a channel or fast forward through it. If we can no longer safely contain advertisements to the obvious television and traditional mediums than the line between advertising and entertainment will, first blur, and then completely disappear.

In my opinion, the future of advertising lies in every aspect of our daily lives. People are already manipulated by product placement in their favorite TV shows and films. When people see their favorite actor wearing, eating or using a particular product it is just like a celebrity endorsement on a TV commercial. People know what they like, but they do not always know, or care, why they like it. Advertising is sneaking into people’s thoughts and swaying their likes and dislikes without people even being aware. The future looks bleak as far as preventing a complete commercial takeover, because people don’t always care if they are being sold to. Most people are so used to having people try to sell them something that we kind of just go with the flow of things. Either we resist the advertising and are forced to face it in hidden, nontraditional forums, or we accept it and permit ourselves to be sold to.

Learned

While watching The Persuaders I was surprised to learn how powerful words can be in eliciting emotions in people. The names of terms and events have such an overwhelming impact on how we perceive them. After watching Frank Luntz talk about the importance of word choice in persuasion I was amazed at how successful he was at not only pinpointing exactly the right words to use and how to use them, but how successful Luntz was at winning over so many people.

Frank Luntz did research to discover what words would best sell an issue. Luntz said, “It doesn’t matter what you tell the public, it’s what they want to hear.” This concept made me realize that politicians actually pay people to help them be manipulative. It is scary how easy it can be to sway people’s opinions. Marketing is all about knowing the audience you are trying to sell to; Luntz says you have to “head the public will”. I feel like as consumers we are just like lab rats that are being studied and experimented on.

After watching The Persuaders I experienced the third person effect; I felt like I was not as effected by media marketing as I probably am. It is becoming more and more difficult to avoid the effects of advertising and manipulative techniques, like the ones developed by Luntz. The Persuaders gave me a bit of a reality check, in that I am second guessing reality itself and what is actually truth and what is being told to me in order to appease me as a consumer.