Advertising and Our Senses

In today's consumer culture it is apaprent that we are visually overstimulated more than ever before. Between highways plastered with billboards, to every 30 second spot dedicated to a television commercial, our attention has been lost. In an effort to recapture our attention, marketers and advertisers have begun to resort to other sensory stimulating methods.

Visual stimulation, of all the senses, can be seen as being the most used and effective to some extent. However, when paired with other senses, such as sound, comapanies are better able to capture attention and participate in what has been come to known as Sensory Branding.

When using print, audio, and even televised mediums it can become quite difficult to implement various sensory techniques i.e. touch, smell, taste. Therefore, through a variety of createive measures, have advertisers been able to succeed in sensory branding. One of the oldest forms of sensory branding, is perfume companies and their advertisements within magazines. Luxurious images are often accompanied by a sample of the fragrance. This enables the consumer to develop both a visual and aural perception of a particular product.

Apple is one company that has effectively implemented sensory branding within their advertisements. In their Nano chromatic IPod commercial, the company uses color to stimulate consumer interest. The vibrant, colorful IPods are juxtaposed against a plain white background. Color has been shown to provoke emotions within people and develop various positive and negative associations. Humans have an innate reaction to various colors, so when applied correctly, color is an effective sensory branding technique.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftTaWwtbvgM

As such, it can be seen that in the ever expanding consumer culture of today, Sensory Branding can be an effective strategy when trying to position your product amongst the overzealous amount already in existence.

The I That Buys: Narcissists as Consumers

This article examines the characteristics of a narcissist and how they relate with extravagant buying behavior as a consumer. It begins by outlining the various attributes that one would have in order to be considered a narcissist. Such attributes include; “feelings of entitlement, fantasies of glory, and needs for power and achievement” (255). These attributes are described as agentic. Additionally, the concept of narcissism is shown to correlate strongly with positive self esteem, and that this relationship harvests similar psychological benefits.

In relationship to spending, these researchers suggest that narcissistic individuals are more likely to make lavish purchases for themselves and others, in order to be perceived more highly by their counterparts and high society. Their fulfillment with shopping comes largely from the perceived “symbolic” needs versus the average consumers “utilitarian” needs from a product. By purchasing products that have some symbolic value, the narcissist is better able to validate “excessively positive self views” of himself/herself.

Due to the lack of recognition of utilitarian products, and the self-motivated needs to constantly be perceived as great, it is hypothesized that narcissists are more likely to demonstrate poor spending and purchasing habits. Given the frequent turn around of products within consumer culture, one would have to constantly research, spend, research, and spend in order keep up with what is in style.

Using these findings and claims, it can be hypothesized that within the field of advertising, reaching out to the narcissistic consumer may create the most financial gain. While it is not easy to list companies that already practice this concept, one can speculate based on various advertisements. Such speculations may include products such as Louis Vuitton, Ferrari, Tiffany’s and any other company deemed as lavish and exquisite.

Cisek, Sylvia and Hart, Claire. "The I That Buys: Narcissists as Consumers". Journal of

Consumer Psychology. Lawerence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 2007.

The Effectiveness of Sex in Advertising

In his book Buyology, Truth and Lies about Why We Buy, Martin Lindstrom examines consumer-buying behavior from various conscious and subconscious perspectives. Many of his findings are based upon neuromarketing research that he has conducted in conjunction with previous research. Topics for discussion include product placement, subliminal advertising, branding, the influence of religion and superstitions as well as a variety of other prevalent advertising techniques.

One area of focus within this book is the effectiveness of using sex within advertising and it’s ability to both imprint a brand within the consumers mind as well as its ability to sell a product. Lindstrom examines the history of sex in advertising from the 1960s up unto recent times. As can be seen, sex in advertising has grown increasingly more provocative with ad campaigns from both Calvin Klein and Abercrombie and Fitch, just to name a few. While its easy to identify sex within advertising, the main question that remains is how effective is sex in selling a product?

One study conducted by MediaAnalyzer Software & Research found that while sexual advertisements may capture attention, overt sexuality has a tendency to distract the consumer from the actual brand or product. This finding was the result of a study in which four hundred participants were shown a variety of ads ranging from sexually explicit to very bland. This study found that the brand recall of the ads, which were sexual, was low in comparison to the ads that were very bland. This finding was coined the Vampire Effect, in that “the titillating content was sucking attention away from what the ad was actually trying to say” (182). So while our attention may be focused towards sexual content, these findings suggest that consciously we are less able to absorb anything past this.

In opposition to the study above, other research has shown that as consumers we are prone to buy products that enable us to emulate the beautiful. This finding has been attributed to mirror neurons in our brain, which in short are “neurons that fire when an action is being performed and when that same action is being observed” (54). The findings around mirror neurons basically imply that we as people, and in this case consumers, respond to what others are doing as though we ourselves are performing the same actions. In reference to advertising, when we see sexual advertisements that attract our attention our mirror neurons fire off enabling us to feel the urge to mimic what we see, thus purchasing products, which will allow us to feel like the person within the ads we are viewing.

As can be seen there is a variety of contradictory research that examines how consumers respond to sexual advertising. While some research findings suggest that this phenomenon is ineffective, the prevalence of sexual advertisements still remains. Today, retailers such as American Apparel and Diesel Jeans have joined the sex craze in hopes to reach consumers at both a superficial and psychological depth.

Lindstrom, Mark. Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy. New York: Doubleday, 2008.