How Advertising Manipulates You

BY SOFO ARCHON

Each day, we are bombarded with hundreds of advertisements trying to convince us that we’re not good enough as we are.

“Look, this attractive, popular actress is sporting this swimsuit. By purchasing it, you’ll feel beautiful and important like her.”

“Look, this handsome, confident businessman is driving this luxurious car, and gorgeous women are begging to sleep with him. Get it, and you’ll become a sex magnet.”

The message implied by most advertisements is simple:

As you are, you suck. Here—get this product, and you won’t suck anymore.

Once they convince us that we suck, we follow their instructions, because who in the world wants to be a sucker?

You might be thinking, “That’s bullshit! I’m not influenced by those stupid ads.”

Well, almost everyone I know says the same. I admit—I used to think that way too. But the truth is that we’re all influenced to some extent, whether we realize it or not. If we weren’t, why would companies continue to invest so much in advertising?

Advertising is all about persuasion, and those who excel at it reap tremendous financial rewards. But for persuasion to work, it must operate subconsciously—bypassing conscious reasoning and appealing directly to our emotions. That’s precisely why we tend not to realize that advertising is influencing us.

For example, someone who is repeatedly exposed to a Coca-Cola ad designed to evoke feelings of happiness, love, or togetherness might begin to associate the brand with those positive feelings. The next time they go out to buy a drink, they may therefore be more likely to reach for a Coke. They purchased it because they were persuaded by the ad while believing it was their own conscious choice.

‘Yes Girl’ – 1946 Cardboard Coca Cola Poster by Haddon Sundblom

Starving for Connection

If you feel like crap, there might be a good reason to blame it on the advertising industry. Yet the advertising industry is a natural outgrowth of our economic system, in which businesses that are best at deception and competition tend to be rewarded the most financially. In a healthier system—that is, a system that incentivizes transparency and collaboration—advertising as we know it wouldn’t exist.

Living in such an inhumane system, many people end up feeling lonely and alienated. When others constantly seek to maximize their personal gain at your expense, it becomes difficult to keep an open heart and trust people. On the contrary, you become conditioned to fear them. To protect yourself, you build a thick wall around your heart. Initially, that might make you feel better—but eventually, it brings painful consequences: loneliness, insecurity, anxiety, and depression.

(Note: Of course, the economic system is not the only cause of loneliness. Other factors include social media, increasingly individualistic lifestyles, busy work schedules, and the decline of shared community spaces and activities.)

Human disconnection is profoundly impacting our psyche

The problem is that we humans are highly social—that is, we all have an inherent need to connect and share our lives with others. Connection is crucial to our well-being, and when we’re deprived of it, we suffer. That’s why, in our disconnected society, what we crave most is a sense of belonging.

But we’re not just disconnected from people. We’re also disconnected from nature, creativity, and play, as well as a sense of meaning and purpose—among other things vital to our happiness and overall well-being.

Now, this might sound terrible, yet from the market’s perspective, it’s great! Why? Because in our profit-driven economy, the more problems you have, the more easily you can be emotionally manipulated and financially exploited.

“Do you feel lonely? Don’t worry. Just pay $2,000 for this escort, and you’ll be in the company of an affectionate person.”

“Do you feel like your life has become boring and predictable? Break free from the ordinary. Book this tropical getaway today, and experience the adventure you’ve been missing.”

“Do you feel sad and miserable? Let me help. Take this little pill, and you’ll feel happy in no time.”

Although we may not realize it, much of what we buy is an attempt to satisfy the emotional needs we’re starving to fulfill. Marketing experts know this all too well and exploit our unmet needs through advertising, profiting from our dissatisfaction.

Substitutes Won’t Help

No matter how many things we buy, we always end up feeling dissatisfied. Yes, shopping might bring a fleeting sense of completeness and euphoria, but that feeling is quickly replaced by disappointment and a lingering sense of emptiness. Why? Because shopping can only provide us with substitutes for what we actually need.

Acquiring a luxury car might make you feel worthy of respect. Yet this will never satisfy your unmet need to be accepted for who you are, rather than for what you have.

Booking a 14-day trip to an exotic destination might help you temporarily forget your everyday problems. Yet you’ll soon have to return from your “happy holidays” and confront the harsh reality that has been waiting for you all along.

Buying clothes from expensive fashion brands to feel attractive or good enough might work as long as you’re in the company of people who praise you for your appearance. But when you’re alone, you can’t help but hear that familiar voice creeping back into your mind, whispering that you’re ugly and inadequate.

What some call “retail therapy” is, in fact, a symptom of psychological dis-ease

Those substitutes offer nothing more than a quick fix—they work for a short while, but eventually, they always let us down. To truly fill our emotional void, therefore, we need to stop foolishly chasing things that bring us fleeting gratification and instead pursue what helps us find lasting fulfillment.

We need to stop acquiring products and start collecting heart-opening and mind-expanding experiences. We need to stop showing off our possessions and instead share our genuine feelings and thoughts. We need to stop obsessing over financial wealth and instead connect with our inner, long-forgotten riches. We need to stop seeking distractions and instead create a life we love waking up to.

Changing the System

For what I just described to happen, we must radically change our way of living. Individual change alone, however, isn’t enough. No matter how strong our personal efforts to live meaningfully and joyfully are, the external pressures of our consumption-based, profit-driven economic system will undermine them. Hence, if we want deep and lasting change, we must radically change that system, too.

Let me give you an example to clarify what I mean. A few paragraphs above, I wrote: “Marketing experts know […] exploit our unmet needs through advertising, profiting from our dissatisfaction.” This might sound as if the people who work in marketing are “evil” and motivated solely by personal gain. In reality, marketers tend to be ordinary people who also need to earn a living. Some are even very loving and kind, yet are unable to find work that aligns with their values.

To some extent, nearly everyone is coerced into participating in this unethical and competitive system, trying to sell things to one another. So blaming individuals for doing so when they have no other choice is both pointless and unfair. Instead, we need to address the system and tackle the problem at its roots.

The good news is that we live on an abundant planet and possess the scientific know-how to create a collaborative system capable of providing for everyone’s needs (for more on that, read this article), rendering the current system obsolete. Free from the need to compete for survival, we’ll be able to open our hearts, connect with others, engage in meaningful work, and live truly fulfilling lives. In that state of being, the fleeting lure of shopping will lose all its power over us.