What Made Me Buy That - Advertising

What Made Me Buy That - Advertising?

Heidi here again with some news about how advertising affects our food purchases.  I’m sure you already know marketing shapes our decisions, but let’s look a little bit deeper.  For one, they can prime us to conjure up memories from childhood, which suddenly grabs our attention and makes us feel like we must have this item.  And, guess what, we are not even aware of this! 

In addition, ads with happy people make us want to buy more stuff.  Restaurants and grocery stores already know this and use it to their advantage.  Think about that friendly staff member smiling.  That smile puts us at ease, which in turn makes us less suspicious, as well as less critical, so feeling more relaxed we buy more.  Clever, isn’t it!

Last but not least, there’s classical conditioning. You’ve heard of Pavlov’s dog experiment where every time this Russian physiologist gave his dogs food he would ring a bell.  Eventually, the dogs would salivate when they heard the bell whether or not food was present.  The same thing happens to us!  For example, ads use celebrities or athletes to promote an item.  Now we associate the item with that particular person, and how that person makes us feel.  Next we transfer those feelings for the celebrity onto the item.  For example, Pepsi gave Beyoncé $50 million for her 2013 contract hoping fans would consider its soda as alluring as the singer.  Classical conditioning at its best!

Bottom Line:  Remember that there’s a lot going on the next time you’re out at a restaurant or grocery store.  Choose wisely friends!

 

Reference:  Nutrition Action Newsletter, March 2016, Under The Radar (p.5).