Advertising

1. Select a brief passage from the reading and post it on your blog. Explain why you thought it was interesting.
"We each like to think we (perhaps "uniquely") can resist advertising and it has no impact on us. This notion, which I will discuss in more detail in chapter 3, makes light of the power of advertising and helps us preserve our sense of autonomy and individuality. others are brain-washed by ads and commercials, but not us, we think- as we find ourselves purchasing products we feel, somehow, we must have. Thus, we play into the hands of advertisers who use our illusion that we are not affected by advertising against us. As the president of a large advertising agency told me, "Even lousy advertising works!"

It is interesting at how much of advertising's influence is subconscious. This is a great example of advertising agencies needing a psychological understanding of human minds to successfully socialize and coerce them into buying their product. There obviously is a lot of work and preciseness that goes into advertising so that people will go out and purchase the merchandise that is being advertised.


2. What do you think were the author's key points?
- Advertising plays a huge role in the socialization of people in our society.
- Even if people claim they are not affected by advertisements, they are. Advertisements are everywhere and they all give us a certain feeling.
- People are most influenced by television commercials because people on average watch 3.5 hours of television a day. These commercials are a part of "teleculture".

3. Why is it important to have a psychological understanding when it comes to advertising?
Because the primary goal of advertising is to not just create a desire for a product but to make viewers actually go and buy the product. For this to happen successfully, it is important to know how the person's mind processes images and then makes them want a product. People are greatly influenced by an advertisement even if they don't admit it. This influence can be subtle, but greatly affective. For example, in the reading the author said that certain ads give people certain feelings. A psychological understanding is especially important in the example I used in my answer to the first question. The understanding is important when subconciously influencing the minds of viewers.