Show of Hands

I utterly despise the entire notion that you only fall for stuff like marketing if you're stupid. It has nothing to do with intelligence and everything to do with psychology (which totally leads to anti-intellectualism, but that's another rant).

And not only can marketing convince people to do things not in their own self-interest, but it frequently is employed before we have enough knowledge about the subject to determine what's actually in our best interests (cigarettes, anyone?).

Republicans say no, yet they decided to join a political party. lol!
That propaganda no matter the party will get most people. So don't lie to yourself.

It convinced people to vote for Obama...



JK

...and Bush...

McDonalds.

QED

Coincidentally, I'm listening to a really interesting audiobook, The Power of Habit. It's covers all sorts of stuff from how & why we develop personal habits (that can transcend loss of memory centers of the brain) to...marketing. The marketing

stuff is *really* interesting. And yes, it's very powerful.

Yes, the idea of a rational consumer is a myth. We are very bad at making decisions.

Isn't this the entire beauty industry?

No. It is powerful enough to help you see that what appears not to be in your best interest really is, but not enough to get you to act against your best interests.

yes, a lot of marketing is that powerful. they hire psychologists for the sole purpose of figuring out what in the human psyche they can exploit to increase sales. Everything from the color of their signs to the type of words they use in adds

are designed to compel you do buy their product.

www.amazon.com/Trust-Us-Were-Experts-Manipulates/dp/1585421391/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1401750568&sr=8-1&keywords=trust+us+we%27re+experts <-- you don't even have to read the book; just read the reviews, and you'll start to get it.

Aranathi, meet the GOP. GOP, meet Aranathi.