By AMY STOCKWELL.
Advertisers want you to buy things. This isn’t necessarily bad [yes, you are reading a sponsored post: we get the irony]. You need to buy products and services. People who publish in magazines, on the internet and on the telly need money to deliver content – and advertising makes money so that you can keep watching tv, browsing on the internet and reading magazines for free or at a lower price. Oh, and advertisers need to sell their products, too.
Just as an FYI, you should know that this post is brought to you by our partners at Fernwood Fitness. But all opinions expressed by the author are 100% authentic and written in their own words.
We all like to think that we are in control of our purchasing decisions – that we buy the things that we freely choose. It will come as no surprise to many of you that advertisers use strategy and manipulation to get you to buy their product. This manipulation may not obvious, but it can push your spending in a particular direction. Some of that manipulation may involve making you feel bad, inadequate or guilty so that you will buy a particular product.
Next time you see a commercial – consider how it makes you feel – and see whether you catch yourself being caught up and manipulated by some of these sneaky advertising tactics:
1. Scare tactics
Studies have shown that if something scares you and then you are flooded with relief, you will make the directed purchasing decision. It’s like a big game of Good Cop, Bad Cop: one person is mean and scares you and then the second person is so nice to you that you’ll give them whatever they ask of you.